The Dayton Art Doll group has taken on the alphabet! 

Each art doll's face is a letter (Scrabble tile) of the alphabet, with each doll's adornments relating to the letter it represents. We are attempting to get 26 beaded (and otherwise) art dolls completed by August. Where they go from there, we don't know. As with most creative adventures, we will just have to wait and see. The dolls pictured are (leaping) "L" and (heartful) "H".

Playing with Zentangle® opens up the creative process. I can see it in the mixed media piece I did in a workshop this past Friday night (Gallery 510 Dayton Ohio). Our fearless leader, Loretta Puncer, planted the seeds by giving us each a canvas, magazines for collage colors, paints, and various found object fun to play with. This is what happened to me as I dipped and dabbed my way through the evening.

This is a detail of one portion of the painting. It's not finished yet, as on the way home in the car, I pulled off a piece of string (on purpose) that I had glued on and painted over. I really liked the way it left a white space once I took it off, but it disturbed something else that was glued, so the adventure will continue...

I'm still steeping in the week I spent in Massachusetts at the Zentangle Certification Seminar. What a great group of people. You have to figure if 60 people came from all over the place (Hawaii, Canada, Netherlands, Alaska, California, Texas...) to spend a week doing Zentangle, then there is something really magical about the process. And that there is!

I've spent the past week or so having lots of fun immersing myself in all the patterns. And of course, it's then natural to find patterns everywhere I look.  Here is a photo of (one of ) my workspace and my journal of patterns that has sprung forth!

Zentangle® is an easy-to-learn method of creating beautiful images from repetitive patterns. It's an art form that everyone can do, even without 'art' experience. To learn more, visit http://www.zentangle.com.

I love teaching this wonderful art form!!

Creativity blooms from an open crack somewhere in the cosmos. When the time is right, a little bloom springs forth from an open seed, adding one more speck of life to the universe. The process seems like a mystery... why does one seed open and one does not? The potential is in each seed, just waiting.

This little spot is about the potential. You will find a little bit of process, a little bit of product, and if you can see the mystery, that is there too.

Enjoy.