March 02, 2025

Zentangle® – February 2025

March 02, 2025/ Gwen Morrison

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.

February 27, 2025

Missouri Trees

February 27, 2025/ Gwen Morrison

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!

February 02, 2025

Zentangle® – January 2025

February 02, 2025/ Gwen Morrison

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!

January 01, 2025

Zentangle® – December 2024

January 01, 2025/ Gwen Morrison

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.

December 01, 2024

Zentangle® – November 2024

December 01, 2024/ Gwen Morrison

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!

November 03, 2024

Zentangle® – October 2024

November 03, 2024/ Gwen Morrison

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.

October 01, 2024

Zentangle® – September 2024

October 01, 2024/ Gwen Morrison

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.

September 01, 2024

Zentangle® – August 2024

September 01, 2024/ Gwen Morrison

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.

August 08, 2024

An Experimental Zentangle® Display

August 08, 2024/ Gwen Morrison

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!

August 01, 2024

Zentangle® – July 2024

August 01, 2024/ Gwen Morrison

I created 79 Zentangle tiles in July and chose 31 (one for each day of July to feature in this post). They are all square tiles this month and a mixture of recycled light weight cardboard and file folders. There were a few cut from card stock. I have a lot of materials for blank tiles in my house…and I am enjoying the variety of pens I have right now too.

July 07, 2024

Library Adventures – June 2024

July 07, 2024/ Gwen Morrison

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!

July 02, 2024

Zentangle® – June 2024

July 02, 2024/ Gwen Morrison

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.

June 02, 2024

Zentangle® – May 2024

June 02, 2024/ Gwen Morrison

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.

May 01, 2024

Zentangle® – April 2024

May 01, 2024/ Gwen Morrison

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!

April 01, 2024

Zentangle® – March 2024

April 01, 2024/ Gwen Morrison

The tile materials for the 31 tiles I selected from my March creations were more varied than usual. The thin cardboard rectangular tiles were the first I made. The unbleached color varies slightly – always warm. I like that this is reused cardboard mostly made from recycled paper/cardboard.

There were two tiles from index cards from my dad’s old office,

Four square tiles that were paperboard coasters,

Five square tiles that were colorful cardstock,

And nine tiles that were round paperboard coasters that were all started with the same string.

It was a good month for savoring tile creation…experiencing the Zen minutes they provided.

March 03, 2024

Zentangle® – February 2024

March 03, 2024/ Gwen Morrison

February was a stressful month. The pile of tiles I selected these 29 from was finished before the death of my mother. At the end of March….I’ll look at what might be different about the before and after tiles. As I write this post, I am still in the stage of being preoccupied and cycling through various stages of grief; when I think I have reached level of acceptance, I find myself thinking ‘oh mom would enjoy hearing/seeing this’ before I consciously remind myself that she is gone; I am realizing that my subconscious is churning away and interfering with my ability to focus too.

The square tiles this month are made on the usual neon colored card stock. Most of the time I can make patterns on both sides of the tile…unless I use the thicker pens and the color bleeds through.

The rectangular tiles are a mix of recycled light weight cardboard from cat food boxes (light brown), the wider tiles that are textured stationery from my dad’s business over 30 years ago that I found in his office when we cleaned it out, and the pale yellow/green 3x5 cards are also from his office (he carried them in his shirt pocket for notes….and then stopped about 5 years ago).

The past few months have re-enforced my self-knowledge that making a Zentangle tile (or two or three…) every day helps me through stressful times.

February 25, 2024

Last from my Parents’ House

February 25, 2024/ Gwen Morrison

The last work trip I made to empty storage areas from my parents’ house before the sale is finalized at the end of the month, was mostly about how to donate, reuse, or trash what was left. I did notice that the Japanese quince was starting to bloom. My mother’s favorite color was orange when I was growing up; the color of the flowers is probably why the bush was purchased…why my mother cut the early blooms to bring indoors.

As I cleaned out the storage areas there were only a few items I decided I could reuse. One was a very large clip board (shown with a standard sized clipboard for comparison). There were two of them. I chose to take the one that had remnants of paint around the edges; one of my sisters took the other. I assume my mother used it when she was taking art classes at the local community college, but she doesn’t remember the large clip boards at all.

There were 4 pieces of Masonite in the pile of wood that we were putting at the curb for pickup (the city does curbside pickups on Friday in their area…but often the items are picked up by others and taken away before the city trucks come). The pieces were lighter in color than the clipboard; I decided they would work as Zentangle tiles…that could be hung together or separately.

Another find – covered with dust – were some vertical blinds. At first, we thought they might be from the window treatment in my dad’s old office – but the ones there are very different. I opted to take them to use as Zentangle tiles as well – probably using the smooth side rather than the textured. They have a hole in the top that makes them easy to hang from a nail (maybe a decorative one).

Now I have taken the moving blankets out of my car; they worked well for all my trips to Carrollton in January and the first weeks of February. The house and storage areas are empty. My parents’ house is ready for a new owner.

February 01, 2024

Zentangle® – January 2024

February 01, 2024/ Gwen Morrison

31 days in January – 31 Zentangle tiles selected from 74 created during the month. I split my time between Carrollton TX and home (Missouri) during the month…with plenty of quiet times sandwiched between roller coaster emotions. The islands of calm creating the tiles were little boosts to my emotional resilience. I created two series.

The first was made on pale yellow and green 3x5 index cards that were in unopened packages of my Dad’s office…found when we were cleaning it out. He used to carry a few cards in his shirt pocket for jotting down notes or making lists. I’m not sure when he stopped, but he has. So – I am using the cards for Zentangle tiles…and thinking of him!

The other series is made on round paper coasters. They all started with the same string (four lines intersecting in the center)…and then the variations begin!

And then there were the colorful square tiles.

I am enjoying looking at the mosaics…thinking back on the challenge of the past 3 months and acknowledging the positive impact of including Zentangle tiles in my daily routine.

January 29, 2024

Patterns in the Snow

January 29, 2024/ Gwen Morrison

A few days after photographing the snow activity around the patio, it was a little warmer (in the teens) and the sun was out. I ventured out at mid-morning to look around the yard and neighborhood. I noticed tracks in the snow. Squirrel?

My real objective was to walk patterns on the untracked snow of the tennis courts. It was my first attempt…and a learning experience.

I had chosen 2 simple patterns from my Zentangle experiences. The free form curves worked better than the “straight” lines.

The contrast between shadows and bright sunlight played havoc with my line of sight. The poles at the ends of the net worked well but the other corners were more nebulous.

Even though I tried to retrace each line at least twice, additional retracing would have made the lines more solid. Maybe wearing snowshoes would make that easier although I am not quite ready to make the purchase (yet).

The tennis courts are an optimal surface to walk patterns in the snow – flat and with ‘posts’ for orientation.

The snow was a good depth…2-3 inches.
It was cold enough (teens) that there had been no melting.

After I finished on the tennis courts I walked along the path a bit – made arches away from tracks made by others. Some had melted through to the asphalt. On the bridge over the channel into the ponds, there had been more traffic and the snow had fallen between the planks.

My winter gear kept me warm enough (down filled coat with hood, tube scarf over my head under the hood, mask, snow pants, hiking boots with wool socks, battery powered heat in my gloves). But I was ready to head indoors!

January 01, 2024

Zentangle® – December 2023

January 01, 2024/ Gwen Morrison

Happy New Year 2024!

31 days in December –31 Zentangle tiles selected from the 75 created during the month. I was in Carrollton for the whole month so these were made in the quiet times during, sometimes intense, elder care; their create were welcomed islands of calm. I found myself reverting to ‘thickets’ again and again!

I left my scanner at home so the images were created with photos made with my phone…not as tidy as the scanned images of prior months but it was the best I could do when it came time to do this post!