Weekend tangling in Wyoming!

On September 26, we drove our RV up to visit Jana and Will, and their 2 daughters in Wyoming. I knew Will "way back" in the 1980's, along with his sister, Kathy. Jana (Will's wife) had recently taken an 'Intro to Zentangle' class from me in Fort Collins. SO, there was lots of great history and connections!
     What a great time! We talked about 'schooling at home' versus 'home schooling (two very distinct things!). We also attempted to watch the super moon, in between clouds. Kathy (Will's sister) came over to spend a great evening, sharing tunes and music.
 . . . . . And guess what?!? We also TANGLED! a LOT! Jana had taught their two daughters, Jolie and Samantha, about Zentangle after she took my class. They are natural tanglers!

Here are some photos of the evening:

Getting started . . . .

Jolie enjoyed Bijou

Samantha has a real knack for artful presentation and background!

Jana is a born tangler!

            Feeling the Zen!

Jolie tangled "Cyme" . . . . 

. . . .And then tangled a pumpkin!

Both Will and Tim tangled a tile, but also "talked pottery".

. . . . Our evening's mosaic.

As you might be able to tell, this was a special weekend with some great friends. Will and Jana just made us feel at home, and I loved getting to know Jolie and Samantha!

The Diva's Weekly Challenge #235: "String Theory: Stripes"

Laura Harm's challenges are so fun and inspiring! This week, she has posted a challenge using stripes. (Diva Challenge #235) Take a look at her wonderful example, which looks like beautiful woven cloth. (While you're there, enjoy her awesome family! They rock!)

Here is my tile, using more of a 'striped string':

Home Party and Class

Last night we had a home party/class at Jan and Jimmy's house. Their place is a "mecca" for both art and music (Jimmy is an awesome mandolin player, and Jan is a tangler and a calligrapher, among other arts!): my kind of place! After we had some dinner, we got down to tangling...

I see one, or maybe two or three future CZT's! You never know! :-)

 

. . . And then there's the photo-shoot at the end!

From left to right: Teresa, Whitney, Jan, Jimmy, Peter, and David

I do love sharing Zentangle! (Can you tell??)

Diva Challenge # 234: CanT

I have to say, that I've heard so many wonderful things about the CZT gathering and learning event this summer in Saskatchewan, Canada: CanTangle! It's on my list of travel/Zentangle events to attend. A new tangle named (appropriately) is "CanT" by Chris Titus, CZT.
     This week Laura Harms chose this tangle for her Diva challenge.
This is a FUN tangle to do. It's based on Florz, one of my favorite tangles. There are some wonderful variations and tanglations. Shading choices also give it a variety of appearances.

I would love to hear your ideas, comments, etc!
Happy tangling, everyone!

Diva Challenge #233: Zenith

Laura Harms is back from her busy summer activities, and has chosen the tangle "Zenith" for her weekly challenge at her site,  IAmTheDiva.  Zenith is one of the newest official tangles, created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas, and was released to the newest CZTs at the last certification seminars.  

The step outs for Zenith can be found HERE in the latest Zentangle newsletter. 

This is a tangle that I hadn't tried previously, so it was a good learning activity for me. I'm posting two versions of the same tile. With the first version, I thought it might be done ....

 ..... but after some thought I decided to be bold and add the black background. I think it helps make it "pop" more dramatically.









I would *love* to hear your feedback, comments, etc! Thanks for visiting!

Home party . . . . and art store class!

      Welcome to nine new tanglers this weekend! I had the pleasure to teach two classes: one at a home party, and the other at Jerry's Artarama in Fort Collins.
     On Saturday, Monica and Dave hosted a home party/class. This was my first home-based Zentangle class, and it was so much fun! We started out with time to chat, have some great appetizers and wine, and get to know each other. Then we tangled!

From back to front: Kelly, Susan, Monica, Sheron, and David. (We also had great help from the two "fur babies"!)

... and here are the completed tiles!

Then, on Sunday I taught a class at Jerry's Artarama in Fort Collins. I have to say, Zentangle just attracts the nicest people! Again, what a fun group!

From left to right: Marion, Jan, Jen, Barbara, and me.

Here are their tiles!

Happy tangling, everyone!

On being a teacher and a student!

At the beginning of August, I had had the opportunity to participate as both a student and a teacher of Zentangle! I was able to teach a wonderful group of new tanglers at Jerry's Artarama in Fort Collins, and the next day I was in the role of the student, taking a class. I have to say that I enjoyed both roles equally well!

Our (very) talented class at Jerry's Artarama in Fort Collins. What a fun group!

As you can see by both of these tile mosaics, they were "naturals" at tangling!

The next day, I took the student role and went to Patricia Dusty Darrah's class in Denver. We worked on Fantasy Letters as Zentangle Inspired Art.

First, we discussed tangled that would be good fillers for our letters, spent some time practicing and "warming up", and then started tangling.

The next step was to color the tangles, cut out the negative spaces (a new skill!), then mount the letter on a black background.

(No band-aids were harmed in this phase!)

Here is the final letter, mounted onto a black background.