Good Tangle Hunting

We were in Stowe, Vermont recently and saw this carpet:

"That would make an awesome tangle!" So we grabbed our camera and quick took a picture. Later Maria did a rough sketch where we were eating as she didn't have her "Field Notes" book with her.

What to name it? How about "stoic"? (Stowe - stoic, we have fun with this!)

I played with it this morning. I like it as I tend to be "drawn" to straight lines and look forward to playing with it some more. Maria likes "curvy." Not to get too stereotypical about male/female archetypes, but it does play to our line of, "I'm zen, she's tangle."

Click any image to enlarge

This is another of many patterns that begins with a grid. It's neat because it looks woven without trying to weave it which we don't do in Zentangle - too much left brain work for that.

We'll break this down in steps in one of our future newsletters.

Newsletter Discussion - March 30, 2010

We just emailed our March 30, 2010 newsletter and we're looking forward to your questions and comments.

If you don't already receive our free newsletter, you can sign up for it here. At that link you can also read all of our earlier newsletters.

Out like a swamp!

We can't remember if March came" in like a lion" or "a lamb," but there's so much rain, it's seems to be going "out like a swamp."

And with all that water, we expect there will be lots of growth - like this Zentangle Maria just created. It's a mix of hollibaugh-like leaves inspired by this plate's border along with a some knightsbridge and a few other tangles peeking through.

Click images to enlarge

Gratitude

My middle-of-the-night thoughts have brought me back, once again, to gratitude. I am grateful for Rick, our family, friends, a warm kitchen, the constant availability of clean water, good food (and some good wine) and always, a pen and paper at hand to ease my aching creativity outbursts.

- Maria

Click Images to Enlarge

Beautiful Day

We stopped by to see Nick and Molly this weekend. They had been creating Zentangles and we borrowed a few to share with you.

May you enjoy them as much as we are.

Maria's Blotter

Maria uses suede matting as a desk blotter. Whenever ink drops or splashes, it's an invitation to a new Zentangle. Here's a shot of her current blotter. She goes through quite a few.

(A dear friend suggested we include some photos of us, so we'll sneak a few in now and then. :-)

Here's another view:

And a closeup:

If there's a message here, it's that mistakes (or spills) can always become seeds for new inspiration. Speaking of spills being a seed for inspiration, there's a great story about what happened after a bottle of ink came uncapped next to her precious Zentangle pattern "field notes" sketch book - but that's another post for another day.

Materials used on this blotter are our regular Sakura Pigma 01, a pencil and a touch of white chalk.

As always, you can click images for a larger view. Let me rephrase that. Make sure you click that last one!