Zentangle® – March 2025

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31 Zentangle tiles for March….a single one selected for each day of the month.

After light blue and white tiles in February – I skewed to the colorful cardstock for the March tiles. Toward the end of the month I started making tiles as part of my daily wind down before bedtime – no blue light and some focused activity is a good way to end the day!

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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.

Illustrations in Children's Books - Soviet Union 1980s

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Internet Archive has quite a collection of books for children published in the Soviet Union for export during the 1980s. I was very familiar with books for children published in the US during the same time because I was reading a lot of them with my young daughter in the early 1990s. The illustrations are the big draw – as the sample images from the books I browsed last January show. They are often colorful…sometimes artsy or whimsical…sometimes realistic. Enjoy browsing some children’s books!

Raggity and the Cloud

Sun Sews a Shirt

Fly away, seagull, fly away

My first book

Little Arthur's Sun Two Armenian Stories

Zentangle® – February 2025

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28 days in February…28 ‘tiles.’

I cut light blue cardstock tiles and used them for half the tiles.

The two other groups started with a Flowering Dogwood coloring book page with a leaf and the flower. I am using it as the string for a ‘pattern art’ activity included in a Missouri Trees program (Flowering Dogwood is Missouri’s state tree) at a local library for children…so many experiments as part of my preparation. My scanner opted to make the page into two images, so I am including them here as a rectangle and square tile rather than the page with both. As you can see…starting with the same string can still lead to a lot of variation!

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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.

Missouri Trees

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The topic of the session at the two libraries in a nearby county was Missouri trees. Since it was the fourth (and last) event for our 3-person team of Missouri Master Naturalists, we managed to gracefully recover when one of us (the one bringing some small redcedar branches) had a tire emergency on the way to the first library. She managed to get there a few minutes before the children arrived, but we had already implemented a backup plan by cutting a few low branches from another tree! We were ready to go when the first 15 students (and 6 parents) arrived!

There were four activities:

Examining small branches of trees (river birch, redbud, maple, redcedar, shortleaf pine and eastern white pine). There were some extras that aren’t native to our area but are native to North America and that thrive planted in yards and gardens that we showed too (Southern Magnolia and Eastern Hemlock…the tiny cones on the hemlock fascinated the whole group).

Examining things left from last fall: glycerin and plastic sleeve preserved leaves, seed and seed pods, pine cones, and a white oak seedling.

Counting tree rings (everyone with their own tree cookie) along with some pictures that showed that the rings are not always neat concentric circles.

Looking forward to spring and the state tree – the Flowering Dogwood…with a pattern art project. The picture is of some samples I made beforehand, but the students did beautiful work on their pages…and were very focused (and quiet) while they worked.

The session was a great finally for our series!

Frozen Cranberries

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The cranberries I froze back in November and December are enhancing my winter meals. I like the flavor and color they add! Here are a few of my recent cranberry additions…

I processed frozen cranberries into bits to fold into oatmeal cookies; I liked the tang of the cranberries as a change from raisins. My husband surprised me by liking them as well since he usually says he wants plain oatmeal cookies – no raisins or nuts.

I processed frozen cranberries into bits to fold into oatmeal cookies; I liked the tang of the cranberries as a change from raisins. My husband surprised me by liking them as well since he usually says he wants plain oatmeal cookies – no raisins or nuts.

Cranberries also are great in spicy soups. The one I have enjoyed most recently was one I made with left over taco meat. I cooked arugula and cranberries before adding the left-over meat. The cranberries split as they cook…and can we squished…no need to process them beforehand.

Cranberries are always good with any chicken or turkey dish…probably because of the priming from Thanksgiving meals over the years.

…. I am savoring the supply I still have in the freezer.

Zentangle® – January 2025

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31 tiles for the 31 days in January. They were all square, mostly done in black ink (a few white splashes), and lots of colors. I did quite a few while I was watching football games!

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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.

Zentangle® – December 2024

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31 tiles for the 31 days of December.

They are all presented as square tiles this month. I segregated the ones I made in New Mexico for this first group of 12.

The rest were made mostly at home. I am using a lot of different colors of card stock…mostly black or white pens although there is a smattering of other colors.

Making Zentangle tiles almost every day is rewarding…and a way to create islands of calm in otherwise hectic days.

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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.

Frost Patterns

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On one of the mornings I had an early Physical Therapy appointment, the temperature was in the teens and sunny. When I parked, I noticed the car parked next to me had frost on all its non-vertical surfaces. I couldn’t resist taking a few pictures with my phone!

A little magnification made the variations in the crystals more visible. Some looked like feathers, others like brittle stars from the sea. In some places the crystals had become so dense that they became an aggregate. The sun was beginning to melt some of the crystals; I thought about why some areas were melting and others were not.

A few seconds of photography and I hurried into the building feeling grateful for the little bit of creative time – one of my favorite ways to start the day.

Zentangle® – November 2024

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November has 30 days – hence 30 tiles picked for this post. I made slightly more square tiles than rectangular ones…and had almost 60 tiles to choose from. The black card stock is still my favorite, but I did some on recycled cardboard and other colors of cardstock. Each tile is unique…some with favorite patterns and some with new or experimental ones that appealed to me in the end. Tiles are like rivers…never the same twice.

Most of the time I ‘fill the tile’ but I managed to avoid the tendency for a few and they are probably my favorites…I’ll do more of this in December!

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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.

Pumpkin Art

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My son-in-law hosted his annual pumpkin carving event last week for his research group. I am always impressed with the artful carvings the undergraduate/graduate biology students produce – or maybe my son-in-law is an excellent pumpkin carving coach! (click on the image below to see a larger version)

Zentangle® – October 2024

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I made considerably more tiles in October than I did in September – acclimating to my increased activity level taking two classes (Missouri Master Naturalist training and Identifying Woody plants field class). I enjoyed the usual square and rectangular tiles – skewing somewhat to black tiles.

I did 6 tiles using simple tree leaf/fruit coloring pages for the ‘string.’ I found the pages to include in the educational materials I was collecting about our native trees for younger audiences. It was a fun experiment. I think I will make a version of the pages that has just the outline of the leaves (not the venation) to increase the variety of ways the spaces could be filled.

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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.

Zentangle® – September 2024

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With the two classes requiring more of my time, I didn’t make quite as many Zentangle tiles in September…although more than 30 that I needed for this post. It is a great way to destress…for the time it takes to create the tile!

All the tiles are square this month. I cut plenty of tiles before the month began and just used my supply. I like the variety of the different colors…although I am still drawn to the black tiles and the gel pens. When I find a black tile at the top of my stack, I rejoice. Maybe I’ll do a whole month of black tiles at some point.

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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.

Zentangle® – August 2024

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I created 69 Zentangle tiles in August and chose 31 (one for each day of the month) to share in this post.

I bought some Papermate white ink pens and thoroughly enjoyed creating black paper/cardstock tiles. But – the pens are not going to be ones I will buy again. They either ran out of ink quickly or got clogged because I used up 3 pens in one month! I’ll be experimenting with other colors of gel pins on the black tiles in September.

There were a few tiles that were other colors. I am in the mood for colorful or off-white card stock right now – not the recycled light weigh cardboard.

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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.

An Experimental Zentangle® Display

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When my sisters and I were cleaning out the storage shed at my parents’ old house, I found 4 vertical blind pieces – probably detached from a set long since discarded. They were smooth white on the underside and a patterned white on the other. There was a hole in the top that could be used for hanging. I brought them home thinking perhaps they would work to display Zentangle tiles. It’s been 6 months…but I finally did the experiment; I opted to use a repositionable glue stick to attach tiles made on black paper. It worked relatively well. It’s only been one day so I’m not sure if I used enough glue to keep them in place.

The paper had the advantage of easily curving with the vertical blind piece. I’m not sure if cardstock would be as easy. Maybe I will try using the other side of the blind. I have 3 other pieces to try and, right now, I am thinking of using them separately rather than as a group.

I have other types of blinds that might work even better for Zentangle displays since they are flat…and shorter. It will be good to make displays (maybe seasonal) rather than simply putting the tiles in a box at the end of each month!

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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.

Philbrook Museum of Art

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On our way home from Oklahoma City we stopped in Tulsa to see the Philbrook Museum of Art. We started in the gardens before the day got too hot to enjoy them. There were plenty of plants and water features…sculptures and activity areas (like creating poems with word stones).

The garden on one end of the house was probably my favorite because there were swings in the metal arches. My daughter and I sat in one and coordinated our pushing off (no brakes)! There was a zinnia that had been broken and dumped nearby (picture taken when we stopped the swing…just before leaving it).

Inside I enjoyed the Native American themed rooms – particularly the mosaics and pottery. The pottery was a mix of historical and modern pots. I have been sensitized by my visit to the First Americans Museum to think more critically about how some of the historical collections were created.

There were views of the gardens from the museum…a different perspective than walking through the gardens.

I thought about the building as a residence and decided it was too big to be comfortable as a home! The house was built in the 1920s for Waite Phillips and his wife; it was donated to the city of Tulsa in1938 and opened as the museum in 1939. I noted the fireplaces and some of the columns/ceilings that were obviously original to the house. They work well as a museum.

One of my favorite items was titled ‘Texas Seed Pod’ made of porcelain by Janet A. Frankovic in 1990.

We learned that the museum/gardens are decorated for Christmas…and my daughter and I already making tentative plans to visit again in December!

Library Adventures – June 2024

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My most frequent interactions with my local library are digital…checking out Kindle books. In June, there were 3 interactions that were not digital at all!

The first one was volunteering at one of the branches with the Friends group used book sale. It was a smaller branch and was only a one-day event. I helped with the set-up the day before and then with the first hours of the $3/bag sale. There were quite a few people that stopped by and left with 1 or more bags of books and the Friends netted $295 from the day. My favorite was an elementary school aged boy that came in with his mom and picked out two bags of books; he was very pleased with his haul and shared that he might share some of them with his older brother.

The second interaction was an art class that was announced in the monthly library newsletter. It was free…held in the early evening…2 one-hour sessions over 2 weeks. It was scheduled in the branch library closest to where I live. I signed up. We made a color wheel the first session and then did shades of the same color (by adding white) on the same small canvas in the second.

I took a picture of the plate I used to mix the paint for the shades of ‘red’ in the second class.

The next day I made Zentangle patterns over the white space of the canvas (and into some of the painted areas as well).

The class was a good learning experience. 1) It was my first experience with acrylic paints…and I realized that I enjoy the pens and Zentangle too much to make time for paints! 2) Canvases are not smooth enough for pens. I used a Sharpie Ultra-Fine pen and it was hard to control the tip of the pen over the bumps of the canvas fibers.  3) A free class is a low-risk way to try something new!

The third interaction occurred when we had a form that required notarized signatures. My husband found out that the library had a notary so we took our form there and indeed the person at the desk was a notary – it was very easy!

 Positive interactions at the library….it’s more than just a place to check out books!

Zentangle® – June 2024

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I created 74 tiles in June…and chose 30 to feature in this post. I did less traveling in June; all of these were made in Dallas or my home near Springfield MO. At my home they were made at my computer table rather than in a glide with a clipboard to support the tile as I had been doing in previous months; for some reason, being at the computer table was easier on my back!

Backgrounds were still the theme when I started many tiles. There were a few that carried over the three-hash-line fill from May.

But the majority used what I think of as ‘screen’ fill. Many of the tiles were created on cardboard cut from separators in cat food boxes.

There were also a few that used circle shapes to fill the background. That might be the one I will continue into June.

And the remaining tiles – where the background was not a factor. My favorite was the blue and green inked square…full of the paradox pattern.

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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.

Zentangle® – May 2024

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I created 68 Zentangle tiles in May…plenty to choose the 31 to feature in this post. These tiles were made at home in Nixa…in Dallas…in Hot Springs…in Eureka Springs. Enjoy the results of my ‘islands of calm’!

There were several themes for my tile making in May. Trilliums (flowers with 3 petals) were in 4 tiles.

There were 4 ‘spider’ flower tiles as well.

I seemed to enjoy three-hash-line fill for a lot of tiles. The 11 below are my favorites.

And then there were the 12 more to make the 31 picks for May.

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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.

Out and About with Company

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When my sister and brother-in-law were visiting – stopping for a few days at a RV park near us before they continued on their month long travels – we enjoyed the botanical gardens and the zoo, then decided on a less active day starting with brunch at my house (I made a ‘full oven’ of food: egg casserole, chunks of seasoned new potatoes, and pumpkin bread) followed by a walk around the Springfield Art Museum and then the Springfield Conservation Nature Center.

The art museum was opening their Art in Bloom event – with the fashion component being the main part available for viewing. My favorite was the creation that was inspired by the hallway long tilted sky – probably my favorite piece in the museum!

Of course, there were plenty of other things to enjoy in the museum – other fashion and art works. I’ve picked some of my favorite views from the pictures it took.

Then we were off to the nature center…not for a hike (one of my guests was having back problems) but for the center itself. The turtle tank was being renovated so there were two large snapping turtles in a tank that was too small for them long term but offered views from two sides. It was a great photographic opportunity.

And then they headed off to prepare for the next leg of their trip.

Zentangle® – April 2024

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The end of the month and preparing to write this post reminded me that I needed to find the driver for my Epson V600 photo scanner to install on my MacBook Air. I found it easily enough and the install was uneventful…and I was pleased that it worked more reliably that the Windows driver on my old laptop!

As usual I had plenty of tiles to choose the 30 from for this month. It is easy to have a few blank tiles and a pen available all the time. I create most of the tiles in my office at home although this month one was made when I was traveling and eating alone…while I waited for my food. More were made in hotels in Dallas. Creating a Zentangle tile always provides an island of calm!

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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.