Flippin' for Fengle!

Fengle is a dance for the pen!

It's fluid
It's rhythmic
It's beautiful
It's versatile
But what I like most is: It makes me ask "what if I..."

I usually do Fengle along with a string. I begin the first Fengle in the middle of a string section. I stretch the S's out to reach the edge of the section, then finish the basic shape of the Fengle. I then move to another string section and make another one. Most often, by the time I make my second or third Fengle, they are bumping into each other, and flowing behind, so I let that happen. I then start filling in the Fengles, but usually not one at a time. I might do a few stroke on one, then move to another, so by the end of the tile, they are pretty much melted into each other.

   Those 'what ifs' occur often, as there are many little spaces to fill in and discover.

   And the SHADING!!! There is nothing more fun for me tangle-wise, than finding places to shade after the pen has done its dance. Fengle is one of the most fun tangles to shade, as it automatically creates shapes that magically emerge as you go along. Even more shapes emerge once the shading begins! This is when the dance heats up for me. I turn my tile often, looking for the shapes that I don't see yet. Twirling and swirling, just like Fengle itself.
   Thank you, Maria Thomas, for this lovely gift. Thank you, Laura Harms for posting it as a challenge, as I am so inspired by what everyone has done with this tangle this week, and it's only Tuesday!!

Zendala LOVE!

The new Zentangle® Zendala prestrung tiles are finally here, and it was worth the wait!!!! Right now they are available through a Certified Zentangle Teacher, but soon will be available at zentangle.com. I finally got to sit down and play with this wonderful new product. I've always love using Zentangle to create mandalas. Creating a mandala string can be very daunting. And even though I found a method to help me with that (described on page 10 of Suzanne McNeill's book, Zen Mandalas), I LOVE these prestrung tiles! No thinking, just tangling. Each set has 21 tiles: 3 blanks, and 18 prestrung--2 sets of NINE different strings. The tiles are the same paper used in the official Zentangle tiles... smooth and creamy. I especially love to use the Micron black and brown together.
   If you like the art of Zentangle, you have to give these a try. Doing a Zendala can take you into a deeper level of relaxation. There is something about repeating the same pattern the same amount of times in a circle that is really calming, yet more focused at the same time. It never ceases to amaze me what happens in this process. Time melts away. Lists disappear. Just a sense of being with what is at the end of your fingertips. Pure joy.
   Thank you, Zentangle team, for this amazing gift! I can't wait to teach the next class... coming soon so stay tuned!

Paradox pressures

This week's Diva Challenge is brought to us by Marizaan van Beek. When I saw her challenge tile, I fell in love with it and couldn't wait to start my own Spiral vs Paradox challenge journey.
   On the first one, I drew a spiral string in pencil. I then made another pencil string, cutting the spiral into a sort of pie. This created squares instead of the usual triangles one usually sees with the Paradox tangle. I then picked up the pen and instead of going over the string, I wondered "what if" I did the tangle sort of open-ended in each square. Usually, the edges of the triangle or square is inked and the Paradox is created inside that. I tried it without inking each square's boundaries. It was VERY disconcerting and had me very confused as I went along. But, my algebra teacher in high school wrote in my yearbook: "If confusion is the beginning of learning, then you should be the teacher, not me." I never did learn algebra properly, but I did come away with a healthy respect for confusion and what you can allow for in that space! Regardless of the result of this tile, I had fun trying it out, and it gave me a real appreciation for the usual inked edges...

The next one was a little easier to follow, as I did use the triangle shape and I did outline the spiral and the triangles inside it. Using the traditional practice of always starting (well, mostly) in the same corner, this had a very different flow...

I hadn't gotten it out of my system yet, plus it was a rainy Monday afternoon and my friend had the idea to go have coffee and tangle. Now that's a way to spend a rainy Monday: a big creamy cup of Irish Mocha and a Paradox spiral. There was too much chit chat to pay attention to where each triangle started on this one, but the end result feels exactly like the lovely afternoon.

   Thank you Laura, Marizaan, Loretta and Zentangle!!

Riding the waves

I'm back in the pool of the Diva Challenge this week! I took my calendar to Panera for breakfast on Tuesday, sat by the fireplace and happily tangled Golven, from Mariet. I was tempted to use it in border form, as it works SO nicely for that! But I'm in the middle of a creative explosion over here, so a border it would not be. It appears that Golven wanted to fly off the page, bursting through the string I began with. Borders and boundaries are essential when a creative explosion is happening...  (Did anyone see Modern Family last night?) The dreamers and the realists together create a most beautiful balance. And so it is with Zentangle: The string creates the 'elegance of limits', but always allows for the rush of fluidity. No wonder it's so dang fun.

Letting the days go by...

One of my favorite Talking Heads songs is "Once in a Lifetime." There is something about the song that says a lot to me, although I'm not sure really what it's saying!! And, just watching David Byrne perform makes me realize how much I love this weird world and all its inhabitants. (more fun here)
   What I do know is, it's been a while since I've entered a blog post! As I've been letting the days go by without a post, other things have required energies, and so it goes. Lots of fun stuff, lots of creative juices all around and through. Lots of water flowing underground that hasn't yet seen the light of day, but I can feel it just the same.
   It's all very appropriate that alongside the days going by, is my little Tangle-A-Day calendar that beckons to me to participate. The days visually go by in this little journal, making me very aware of time, and its limitations. As I mark the days with Zentangle, I feel grateful for the chance to do so, and marvel at how fast the days really do go by. Below is my calendar catch up ...

I've also missed posting TWO Diva challenges, although I did do last week's (#60), but didn't get to post it in time. The February 25-27 page below is my response to that challenge. Lots of fun!!! Thank you, Laura!

Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again, after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground.
Songwriters: BYRNE, DAVID / FRANTZ, CHRIS / WEYMOUTH, TINA / HARRISON, JERRY / ENO, BRIAN

Paying Attention

"The practice and art of paying attention allows the brain to move into more synchrony, into more balance, into more coherence." ---Dr. Joe Dispenza

The art of Zentangle® naturally includes the art of paying attention. We watch our hands and pen connect to the paper, making our repetitive marks in a deliberate way. As we spend some time doing this, our focus becomes more refined, and our being becomes steeped in the moment itself. Do this every day and see what happens.
    If you you care to hear more of Dr. Dispenza, here is a video, chock full of amazing ideas.

Some days there is nothing like a nice straight line to get my attention. The rhythm of each line and where it wants to step is a fun dance for me, so February 16 was such a dance. The tangle is one of Zentangle's orginals called BB. I chose this for a friend whose birthday it was, and who also shares those same initials. I don't often do BB, but everytime I do it I wonder why I don't do it more often! I love this, especially layered along a string, and using it to fill in the sections of the string as a monotangle. The other two days were just random designs, although I'm sure they are tangles somewhere. I just didn't consciously know what they were. I also love shading as an exercise in attention. It gives me a chance to play with the lines all over again, hunting down the things that are behind and in front, or finding edges of a long forgotten string. Paying attention is fun.

Spillover Love

Last weekend was spent steeped in big love. A beloved family member left the planet, so we all gathered to remember his life and share the connections we had around him. Even though it often looks like people float near to us, and then away from us, the ties of love that bind us were evident in the celebration. It seemed fitting that the next few days would bring us Valentine's day.
    By Monday I had already done my Diva Challenge before I started in on my calendar entry. I had unexpectedly fallen in love with the square logo presented in the challenge, so I just couldn't help but spill that love again onto another space (Feb. 13). When I did the Fengle heart on the 14th, I figured I might as well add some red to celebrate the holiday. I loved the feeling of the red pen (a Pilot extra fine Precise V5) on this paper, so I backed up and did a little red on the 13th. Then I realized I still loved playing with open boxes that floated behind each other, so today's entry was simply that, coloring the open spaces with the red.

The tangles in between were inspired by CZT Cari Raboin's calendar entry for Jan 7-9, (pictured here) that she posted on Facebook. I was so in love with how she changed the size of her tangle, that I had to try a little of that too! I first thought Cari did Tripoli, but then I thought it might be Fife, so.... the one on my Feb. 14th is Tripoli, and the 15th is Fife.

Thanks to a loving family, CZTs Diana Hirsch, Laura Harms, and Cari Raboin, and of course, Zentangle:) I love how love spills over.