A Weekend Away

I had another lovely Zentangle retreat at Copper Beech Mindfulness Institute, my fifth!  I love the location--a huge, connected, multi-building monastery on a forested hill complete with labyrinth and (at least once that I saw, though not this year) Great Horned Owls.  This time, my little room overlooked the woods, my favorite view there. 

I was getting into the retreat spirit early, stopping at the other labyrinth in town--can you imagine, two lovely labyrinths?--which I had never walked.  I do love to walk a labyrinth--it's restorative and contemplative.  And it's the first thing I did when I got to the monastery, walking the labyrinth there, which is my favorite of anywhere.  I love the wide, flat, accessible walkway, and most particularly the beautiful stone circle in the middle.  In fact, I actually bought a print from the Monastery Gallery of a photo of the labyrinth, stretched to make it look painterly.  Lovely.

The majority of the weekend was devoted to Zentangle. I love to learn new Zentangle technqiues, to be challenged in my practice, and to draw with a group.  And I got to do all that this weekend.  Several of the projects were outside my comfort zone--I generally like black-and-white, non-representational tangles.  This weekend we used a lot of watercolor to make little houses and a "creative girl" (inspired by Danielle Donaldson), which would not have been my own choice, but I had such a great time tangling.  And I've gotten more comfortable with color as non-representational, meaning I'm not specifically coloring in particular shapes, but only laying down washes of color before or after drawing. 

The two women at my table were new to Zentangle and asked a lot of questions; so I got to explain and explore Zentangle with them--comfort tangles (the ones you know and use a lot), favorite resources (www.tanglepatterns.com and the books Zentangle Primer and  A Tangle a Day), tips to turn the tiles while drawing, step outs of Huggins and w-2 and pokeleaf/root and Diva Dance Rock 'n Roll, all of which only mean anything to people who tangle. There were tons of supplies, raffle prizes for many (I gave away my blank canvas tote and origami book to one of the newbies at my table who didn't win.) 

We enjoyed several fantastic meals--roasted chicken, lemon fish, roasted potatoes, the best balsamic vinaigrette, orange-y pickled beets, oatmeal with all the toppings (granola, raisins, Marcona almonds, blackberries, cinnamon, yum!), frosted lemon poppyseed cake, a variety of cookies, and delicious little cannoli--it's such a treat to be cared for this way.  It was a lovely little break.

While I was away, Sis worked her last Girl Scout cookie booth for the year and for her term as a Girl Scout (she wants to be an independent Juliette next year, without a troop, so I had my last cookie booth last weekend!)  She also got to walk her horse outside on a sunny day because the ground had firmed up a bit.  (I got to go outside with the horse and Sis yesterday; Patience was so happy that she actually rolled on the ground.  I missed it, though, because I was corralling the dogs who had spooked her just a few minutes before.)  And Bud had his first competition of the year, winning three gold medals and a high score of 9.93 in straight sword.  Yay! 

Fragment dice to choose a tangle!

Zenith of Zentangle

Last weekend, I had a marvelous getaway at a Zentangle retreat at Copper Beech.

Before classes started, I wandered out to the labyrinth, which was covered in ice.  I was nervous about walking on the ice and couldn't do the whole loop, but I enjoyed the solitude and the view.  I even left behind a token I had stamped with the word "peace."  I especially liked all of the other footsepts around the labyrinth which were frozen in the ice.  Just the idea of everyone walking the path separately.  It reminds me of that meme (though it existed before internet memes) about footsteps on the beach and there only being one set at times, when God carried the person.  For me, the footsteps at the labyrinth were the community walking separately but together.

Then it was food and tangling.  We always eat well at Copper Beech!  Salads, baked cod, chicken parmesan, tasty veggie sides, fresh-baked cookies, honey butter with bread.  Mmm, mmm, good.

And on the tangling!  So many great projects, including our double-heart-string puzzle, a piece of which was given to someone else to tangle and returned to us at the end of the weekend.

And the gorgeous bleeding tissue paper that colored our opus tile for our tangled heart.  I experimented with lots of "frills" or "doodads" outside the heart, also with random white dots to highlight the patterns.  And of course, I don't usually work in color.  This was a great way to use color without worrying about coloring or painting in the tangles.  

We also made gratitude bouquets (the vase is made from acrylic paint applied onto paper with baby wipes!), a little book (acrylic paint scraped on paper with a gift card or hotel key card), and a little Bijou tile book which will contain 26 tangles A to Z.  I made the book but will add the Bijous later.  I was mostly focused on the bigger, higher concentration projects like the heart and the puzzle.

I really liked the group of women (and one man) who attended, several of whom I'm now in touch with online.  Of all my Zentangle classes, this one really stands out.  Just lots of fun and inspiration.

Retreating

Gommie and I spent three days tangling our hearts out!  Such a wonderful time.  Before we left for our formal Zentangle retreat at Copper Beech Institute in West Hartford, CT, we warmed up a little at home.  I taught her my Zendala tangle/string TWYST.  With some practice, she got it down.

TWYSTing with Gommie

I also flipped through Gommie's sketchbook, which had these wonderful tiles . . . . 

Which I proceeded to blantantly copy!  I don't know the names of the tangles (except Springkle, which is just an enlarged version of the one I usually do)--and I didn't even get the gist of the middle one.  But I like them and will keep practicing.

We headed to Copper Beech midday Friday.  It's the place I attended my first Zentangle class two years ago.  We had a wonderful time--delicious meals (albeit Lenten, so lots of fish, which I don't generally eat), rejuvenating yoga and meditations, a lovely walk to the snow-covered labyrinth, and, of course, the Zentangle sessions.  I especially liked the yoga and meditations, from my first gentle yoga session to the even gentler Restorative yoga session (where you support your poses with cushions and just breathe into them), followed by a lovely tea in the art gallery (with a delicious "Om" blend of cardamom, rose, etc from Culteavo.)  And of course the labyrinth!  Even partially snow-covered, I like the meditative space.  Perhaps especially snow-covered.  No owls this time, though.

There were about 26 of us in the Zentangle retreat.  For the first night, they split the beginners from the more experienced tanglers, with our experienced group doing a black-and-white project working with negative space.  I liked the results.

On Saturday, we did two more projects, both tangential to pen-and-paper tangling.  With Janet, we explored the use of polymer clay to created tangled beads, basing our designs on such tangles as Printemps and Tipple.  We made canes of our designs and Gommie had the great idea to do a class bead and to share our cane patterns around.  In the afternoon, we experienced Zenquility, or paper quilling.  We used basic flowers with coils and teardrops as the start of a Zendala or other tile.  I especially enjoyed this, seeing the possible applications in Zendalas.  Quilling is much like 3D tangling.

I really liked our session Saturday evening, which was a guided meditation with verbal cues for the tile.  The teacher described the tangles, trying not to name them (though, eventually, she did say flux and pokeleaf.)  It was very similar to something we did at the Zentangle retreat at Kripalu.  See the results in our class mosaic--similar yet so individual!  I can't wait to try this kind of meditation in one of my advanced classes.  Over the course of the weekend, we did a few breath mediations, including one called Four Corners or Box meditation--you draw a box slowly, with the verticals and horizontals representing the exhales and inhales.  We also did the Breath of Joy--three inhales and then an explosive "ha!"

Our class mosaic from the meditation

Our last session, was a very complex terrarium, using some Zentangle patterns and sophisticated Renaissance shading in browns, blacks, and whites.  The result is a Zentangle-inspired art work (ZIA). I have to admit this was not my favorite--with the use of compass and eraser, all that representation and specific orientation, the focus on product over process, and not much repetition of most of the patterns save in the base with meer, nzeppel, and tipple.  We barely finished--you can see I didn't finish the shading or even decorate the mushroom.  Still, I learned some shading suggestions, like working from darks to lights, and picking one side for lights and the other for darks (the teacher arbitrarily does darks on the left and whites on the right.)  And I loved the woodless 6B pencil we got--it's nice and dark and smudges beautifully.

Altogether, it was another wonderful weekend and I look forward to the next year's.

When we got home, Gommie and I continued to tangle, playing with some 3Zs.  I drew a continuous string on six of them and we each went to work.  Here are mine and hers in progress.  See the nice shading on mine?  Yep, 6B!






Happy tangling, Gommie!

Warming Up

My Zentangle practice is warming up in these winter months. I've been working my way through the Zentangle Primer as part of my morning practice.   I'll be teaching more classes this winter and spring, and attending another Zentangle retreat with my mom.  And I might even be giving an interview about Zentangle for a local online news site, which is exciting.  For me, Zentangle is still about the practice, the process, the mindfulness, the meditation, over and above the finished product.  I know that many of the Zentangle artworks that people see on Pinterest and the like is beautifully polished and seemingly unachievable.  I'm intimidated by those examples myself, so I try to see them as sources of ideas and inspirations.  My own lines waver, my spatial consistency varies; I leave smudges sometimes.  But I learn from each one.  And I value the time spent on them.

Zentangle on the Brain

I've been practicing Zentangle everyday, both for my own personal edification and in preparation for upcoming classes.  It's still my favorite way to start the day (even if sometimes, I get so caught up in it that the actual start is delayed!  Some of those tiles take awhile.)

My thoughts o Trump and the RNC

Today's tiles, inspired by a tile I saw online.

A serendipitous photo of one of the tiles with a rainbow from my prism.

And, then quite by happenstance, I came across this bag on clearance at the store.  It's perfect, inside and out, for lugging my Zentangle supplies to and from class.  Can't wait to try it out this week!

In Memoriam

My first public Zentangle art class is tonight; the anticipation has been building all week, as I plan tiles and tangles, prep supplies, and pack the student kits.  I chose the date, partially for convenience and partially in memoriam--it's Aunt Sis's birthday.  She loved art and encouraged my love of art, starting with Botticelli and then moving on to the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.  (I never could quite love Gauguin or Picasso as much as she did, though.)  I'm not exactly sure she would have embraced the Zentangle method of combining patterns--probably too many rules (dots, borders, strings), too much like a cult (that side of the family is not into joining anything), but she would have appreciated the mindfulness, though I doubt she'd have called it that.

Anyway, class is tonight and I'm very excited.  I spent yesterday working on a big Opus (10.5 x 10.5") tile made completely with basic tangles students learn in the beginning; the Zentangle names of the tangles are written along the edges.  I'll use it as a demo tonight.

My Tangled Heart

"Tangled Heart" canvas

I'm teaching some introductory Zentangle classes over the next two months and practicing my own art everyday.  I did this design first as a 3.5 x 3.5" tile and then as a larger 10" x 10" canvas.  I'm using the design for the postcards advertising my Zentangle classes.  I'm so excited!

original tile