November 01, 2016

Zentangle® - October 2016

November 01, 2016/ Gwen Morrison

At the end of each month, I scan all the Zentangle® tiles I created during the month and pick tiles for the monthly post – with a maximum set by the number of days in the month. October is a 31-day month so that’s how many tiles made it to the slide show below. I had 48 when I started and found it hard to pick 17 that would not make the cut.

I’m using the colored pens this month…and filling in solid areas. Some of the tiles are on paper that does not soak up the ink (leaving ink blots); it is lightweight packaging material that came with something we ordered…I should put the rest of the blank tiles I cut from it into the recycle.

I managed to create tiles even while we were camping last week!

The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

October 02, 2016

Zentangle® – September 2016

October 02, 2016/ Gwen Morrison

I averaged almost two Zentangle® tiles per day during September – so I had a lot to choose from for the slide show this month. It surprised me that there were so many because I usually make fewer tiles when I travel and I was away from home for more than a week during the month.

I am still enjoying different colored tiles and ink…trying to remember to add shading before I declare it ‘done.’

I noted some event of the day on the back of a few of the tiles – particularly if I savored what happened while I was creating the tile: a birthday, a hike, a particularly good meal. It was not so much that the event inspired the pattern or design; it was the emotional aftermath that the tile commemorated.

Enjoy the slide show of 30 Zentangle tiles for September 2016!

September 01, 2016

Zentangle® – August 2016

September 01, 2016/ Gwen Morrison

The time spent creating Zentangle® tiles seems like islands of calm focus that fit within the context of the rest of life so easily. Perhaps they fit because they are not overly time consuming….or because the rhythm of creating at least one a day has become a habit…a habit that I enjoy.

I’m still cutting tiles from folders with battered edges from my daughter’s years in public school. The boxes of old school paper are finally being cleaned out and we are only keeping a few mementoes rather than every paper. I enjoy the colored tiles.

Different colors of ink are a change too. I may go through a stage when I am back to off white tiles and black in sometime too --- but not in the near term.

Enjoy the slide show of 31 Zentangle tiles for August!

August 02, 2016

Zentangle® - July 2016

August 02, 2016/ Gwen Morrison

I continued to enjoy the colored tiles cut from old folders my daughter used in elementary school – and that I am just now cleaning out a decade and more later. I tend to use more solid black rather than shading on these tiles although I do some shading too. I finally wore out the tortillon I go in the Zentangle® class that I took over a year ago and got a new one.

My favorite tile for the month of July was all purple and black. It started out with some Y shapes that were enclosed in 3 Hershey Kiss shape melted together then reconfigured as flowers in a vase…with auras and the fill. Even if I sometimes start out with a pattern I often don’t stick with it entirely and sometimes I don’t have a pattern at all – just inspiration from a botanical print!

Enjoy the 30 more tiles for my one-a-day Zentangle in July 2016!

June 03, 2016

Zentangle® - May 2016

June 03, 2016/ Gwen Morrison

2016 05 s img626.jpg — I’ve selected 31 Zentangles to include in this post since there are 31 days of May. Five that I chose were made on the back of old business cards – so did not display well with the square slide show of tiles. I liked them too much to pick others so I’m displaying them first. Some are plant like…

2016 05 s img979.jpg — Others start out as webs….

Or loops.

I was inspired by art nouveau books I found on Internet Archive and Hathi Trust as well.

Those same themes show up in the tiles as well. The tiles also are some new colors this month. I was cleaning out boxes of brochures and old folders; instead of putting everything into recycling, I used some of the heavier paper to cut tiles: red, yellow, and rust. I also found some dusty poster board that had probably been on the shelf for 10 years that I cut up into 3.5 x 3.5 inch tiles!

Enjoy the May slideshow!

April 03, 2016

Zentangle® - March 2016

April 03, 2016/ Gwen Morrison

I tended to do more than one Zentangle each day in March. I continued to experiment with color and plant inspired patterns. I also name each tile – but sometimes when I look at the name later I realize that I have completely forgotten what I was thinking about when I selected the name!

Most of the time I am using card stock tiles cut to a standard 3.5 x 3.5 inch size. But I also used a pad from a hotel when I travelled in March…and old business cards.

I chose a project to make the alphabet using the same pattern for all the letters. I finally used up one of my Micron pens (some of the lines got very faint but I decided I liked the effect of the sputtering pen). It felt good to finish all 26 and move on to other patterns again.

As the month progressed, the trend seemed to be toward more color. I told myself that I was trying to us up the colored pencils that are over 40 years old…but it might just have been the moved I found myself in. After finishing the alphabet!

I did try another experiment in March - photographing tiles before I colored them with the idea of creating pages suitable for coloring. The white tiles were not bad but the off white ones were too gray looking. When I use up the card stock I have, I'll switch to white and it will be easier to create those coloring pages!

March 02, 2016

Zentangle® – February 2016

March 02, 2016/ Gwen Morrison

My Zentangle-a-day goal was very easy to meet in February since I didn’t travel way from home and didn’t have many other commitments. I learned the Molygon pattern (upper right tile below) and proceeded to use it throughout the rest of the month.

I often decide that I like to use just one color. I experimented using a label for a tile this month – too glossy, won’t do that again.

I occasional get in the mood to use black paper and gel pens…but not frequently. The biggest tile of the month was the back card stock weight from a pad of paper I used up. The 3.5 x 3.5 inch tiles are still my favorite size.

I found a package of file cards – lines on one side and white on the other. They make for an odd tile size; I don’t have another use for them so I’ll continue to use them but I won’t buy more.

I’m also using up some very old colored pencils – a set that my husband had in high school that are probably 40+ years old. Sometimes I get in a mood to not use any color at all!

But then I swing back to color – sometimes extreme. There is definitely a link between Zentangle and the popularity of adult coloring books! I don’t think I will ever buy a coloring book since I enjoy the Zen aspect of drawing patterns. Adding color is just an extra step

It is true that I don’t fill in the patterns with as much tangling if I am in the mood to add a lot of color.

Sometimes alternating layers of color become a theme.

Sometimes developing something mostly round (mandalas) is a theme.

Sometimes almost round shapes remind be of shields. Botanical themes pop into my tiles frequently.

Toward the end of the month – I made more tiles without color. Looking at them now they could use some additional shading but – for some reason – I didn’t take the time.

February 02, 2016

Zentangle® – January 2016

February 02, 2016/ Gwen Morrison

Last year at this time I was taking my first Zentangle® class. I’ve branched out in several directions from the ‘purity’ of those initial black ink, standard size efforts. Not I like to experiment with colors – inks and colored pencils. The images sometimes take on the look of something ‘real’ although in a very abstract way. I have favorite patterns that tend toward tentacles rather than squares. I take inspiration from just about everything – plants, pottery, tiles, art. Even the size and type of paper title has varied – sometimes because I am trying to use up materials that have been around the house for ages and sometimes because the paper is just handy. The last two in the collection for this month were done in a blank book with a regular ball point pen while I was in an airport! Everyone could us a little Zen in an airport….