April 01, 2019

Zentangle® - March 2019

April 01, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

I made some physical tiles this month since I am going to class in March where all the work will be with Micron 01 pens and card stock tiles. I felt like I needed to reacquaint myself with the feel of the pen and paper. It’s been almost a year since I started using the iPad and Apple Pencil…and once I made the change – I didn’t look back. Until now. Here are 6 tiles that I made the old-fashioned way – reacquainting myself with pen and pencil and tile.

Of course – I still enjoyed creating iPad and Apple Pencil Zentangle tiles as well. I like the black tiles and white lines. I appreciated the shading I could do with the Procreate app too; color matched to the ink…a lot more flexible that the graphite pencil and tortillon. Note that one tile in this group is only half done --- it is one to come back to sometime…and finish the other half!

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.

January 02, 2019

Zentangle® - December 2018

January 02, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

“Thirty days has September, April, June and November…all the rest have 31 save February…” – so there are 31 tiles for December.

f 20181205_021645476_iOS.jpg — My favorite is one that looks a little like Christmas confetti (with snowy auras). And digital confetti pieces are not damaging long-lived plastic debris in the environment. All for the good.

f 20181216_171831670_iOS.jpg — I also tried again making a Zentangle in a busy airport terminal as I waited on my flight home from Texas – with more success than in November. I was much more relaxed on the flight as well.

I probably skewed toward Christmas related colors more frequently in December

But not completely. There was a string of cloudy rainy days that just called for some yellow patterns on the black tiles….and there were two that really did brighten an otherwise dreary day.

December 02, 2018

Zentangle® - November 2018

December 02, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

Lots of colors – tiles and pens. At the end of the month I reverted to black tiles. I think I like the dark background the best.

The travel during November did not impact my tile creation; carrying the iPad and Apple pencil are very easy. I experimented creating a tile on the flight to New Mexico after I realized that Bluetooth connections were permitted on the plane. Creating the tile was not as Zen as I like; full planes are too crowded and often bumpy. The tile did not make it into my top 30 tiles for November.

October 01, 2018

Zentangle® - September 2018

October 01, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

…”30 days has September”… so I’ve selected 30 Zentangle tiles to feature from the ones I made during last month.

I’m presenting then in the order they were created – Starting with the blue that was part of the series at the end of August.

Then there were yellow ones. I think I chose yellow to help brighten all the rainy days we were having.

Then it was pink and purple. I was thinking about the very short time in my daughter’s life when that color combination was her favorite. It did not survive early elementary school. I made a new template to go back to square tiles. I prefer them to the rectangle.

I changed to orange thinking ahead to the fall.

And then found my way back to yellow when we finally got sunny hours for several days in a row.

July 01, 2018

Zentangle® - June 2018

July 01, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

I enjoyed using light blue brush color this month…particularly with black background; the color dominates 21 of the 30 tiles I selected from the tiles I created in June. I’m still pleased with my iPad (and Procreate app) for creating tiles…no need to worry about running out of ink like happens with a physical pen! I experimented a little with different backgrounds but came back again and again to the black. It’s may favorite (maybe) because it is still new for me; I didn’t have light colored pens or black card stock easily available when I was making physical tiles.

The other 9 tiles I made simply for variety. I thought I would create more tiles with two or more brush colors this month but was too intent on the Zen to make a big change like that; many of the June tiles were created in the scant quiet moments in Carrollton – to make a calm space and time from the jumble of emotional and physical challenges of being at my best to help my mother in the hospital, in rehab and at home after she broke her hip. As this post is published, I will be on my way home and she is about ready for outpatient PT!

November 01, 2017

Zentangle® – October 2017

November 01, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

Zentangles at Staunton River were done on a clipboard – newly purchased, with a compartment that was more than sufficient to hold all the pens and blank tiles. The light outdoors and inside the tent was very bright (sunny days). The Zen of creating the tiles different-than-usual. I picked 10 tiles I made during the 4 days.

I am still enjoying the tiles made from the Seltzer Water cardboard. The color and weight appeal to me. The paper cutter to process the boxes has a semi-permanent home on the island in my kitchen.

zenoct (17).jpg — Picking an old business card as a tile is my favorite for a ‘quick’ Zen fix. I am noticing that I am making a dent in the business cards left over from my career. It feels good to be pre-purposing them rather than simply dumping them in recycle.

September 01, 2017

Zentangle® – August 2017

September 01, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

It’s the first of the month – so time to showcase the Zentangle tiles from August: 31 days and 31 Zentangles. 9 of the tiles I chose to include in this post were the backs of old business cards and 22 were square tiles cut from Seltzer water boxes. I realized that I have some patterns that I am using again and again…it’s time to find some new favorites! One theme I used in August was to use some of the lighter – subtler – colors on the cardboard tiles. The color often seems to be embedded into the light brown of the tile: grays, light greens, melons, pinks. The last two are probably my favorites.