Happy Holidays and Wishes to All; A Zentangle Christmas card

Just a peek at the finished zentangle-inspired holiday card.  It was fun to make, and exciting to see finished.  It was printed on a pearlized finished card stock, so it has a nice sheen, which you can't see.
I especially like the philosophy of zentangles, which includes "there are no mistakes."  Whether each stroke is perfect or not is beside the point.   The completed whole has it's own charm, with or without mistakes.  Thanks to my grown-up artist children for their help in accomplishing a daunting task.   Only they know how I agonize and fret, and they always come through with the perfect assistance.  
So, my own little reminder about holiday gift giving came from my very precious daughter-in-law, who sent a beautiful expression of gratitude and acknowledgment.  There is no more meaningful gift to give than to thank someone for being in your life, letting them know they make a difference, and they are valued.    My sincere wish is that YOU will know how much I value and appreciate you in my life, and what a difference you make.  This would truly be a lone and dreary world without the support of friends and family.   Happy Holidays, and may all your wishes come true.  (Note:  Be careful what you wish for. LOL)

Music of the Season

It always bothers me when the stores start playing Christmas music the day after Halloween. Not kidding. Also, one of the radio stations started it's seasonal onslaught the first of November. Maybe in my old age, the Grinch has taken hold, and the Ghost of Christmas Present is visiting this Scroogina, because I prefer shopping online or not at all, to having to hear another version of "Holly, Jolly Christmas." So, I'm offering a list of my current favorite Christmas Music, to which I don't get tired of listening.  Voila, Here it is in no particular order.  The "mood" dictates.

Yo-Yo Ma and Friends, Songs of Joy and Peace
James Taylor at Christmas
Anuna Christmas Songs (The a capella vocal group of Riverdance)
Swingle Singers The Story of Christmas
Modern Mandolin Quartet Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite
Kim Robertson Christmas Lullaby Solo Celtic Harp
Sarah McLachlan Wintersong
Mary Chapin Carpenter Twelve Songs of Christmas
Tingstad and Rumbel The Gift
Windham Hill Celtic series
Kurt Bestor
Anything Cambridge Singers, with John Rutter
And our all-time favorite, John Denver and the Muppets.  
Thanks to Jonathon and Allison for the following suggestions.  Enjoy!


If you like Handel's Messiah, my favorite version is Narada's Hallelujah! Great Choruses from Handel, sung by His Majestie's Clerkes, a small vocal ensemble and an authentic instrument Baroque orchestra.
This year I also added Susan Boyle's Christmas album, just for the principle of it all.  I'll buy anything she does, just because.....maybe I relate. (except I can't sing like she does.)
Announcement:   This weekend, I will unveil THE Christmas Card, second annual Zentangle.  Stay tuned.

THE Music of the Season

When I started this blog, it was with an intent to be creative.  Sometimes it morphs to showing others' creativity.  This post is a bit of a departure, to show a truly talented, hard-working artist.   It just happens he's related to me and I'm proud to claim him.   He has his own You Tube channel with thousands of admirers.  And yet he's so humble. 
Enjoy this beautiful expression of the Christmas season.

UCA Compendium

You might remember (or not), that my camera died on the day of my big zentangle workshop, so I haven't been able to document my activities. I finally got the most fabulous camera on the planet....a Canon PowerShot S95, but with my amateur abilities, you won't notice how great it is. But, I can blog....yea.
   Every November, the calligraphers have a family and friends event, with activities for all. This year, we made cards, notebook holders, carved stamps, wove keychains or friendship bracelets, and origami folded wreaths. Here is a photo gallery of some of the things we made.


This is what you might need to carve stamps, which is one of my new favorite activites. If you want a tutorial, my good blogging friends, Lori Vliegen, or Martha Lever, both have info and great examples. Yes, you can carve a plastic eraser.

Here are a few of my attempts. They're really fun.

It's hard to get a size reference, but they're small....about and inch and a half square. It took me a minute or two of practice to get the little incidentals carved out, as you can see on the heart card.

This leaf stamp was a hit. Can be done alone or multiples.


I think I'll carve various flowers and leaf/stem combos, after seeing this.


Here is the notebook folder, made with a 5 x 8" legal pad and a 12 x 12" scrapbook paper.

 It has two large gold paper clips with ribbons to mark pages in the notebook.

Take a 12 x 12 scrapbook page, find the paper grain direction, cut 1.5" off of the cross grain side (bottom).  Place the page with the front side down against the table, fold the left edge over 1.5".  Fold the bottom edge up 2.5"   ( If you are using a paper with a definite up and down pattern, like I did with bugs on it, you only need to be aware of the paper direction on the front, so your notebook holder doesn't look upside down.)   The tricky part is cutting a mitered bottom edge.

To find out where to cut, fold the left edge over, mark it on the bottom edge, then cut diagonally from the bottom edge up to the fold, and straight out to the side.    When the side is folded in, and the bottom is up, the corner is mitered.   Use double stick tape to hold the left edge down and the miter in place.     Put double stick tape on the back (cardboard side of the paper pad), and stick it down on the right edge of the paper, and centered top to bottom.   Score the paper along the left edge of the notebook to fold up.  Then score again 1/4 inch away, to close over the top.  Decorate the front with brads, punches, stamps, ribbons, and use the 1.5 inch strip you cut away to cover the ugly edge of the note pad, cut to size, of course.

I'll show you the form of the keychain/friendship bracelet, although it isn't finished. It's just like the boondoggle we used to do as kids. When this is finished, I'll show you exactly how to do it. Easy, easy.

Stay tuned. Have some crafty fun. xoxo

Aspen, the Star

Last spring, I blogged about teaching zentangles to my grandson, Will's, third grade class.  While I feel extremely grateful to have three fabulous grandchildren living nearby, I feel only "half" here, because another three (and a third) grandchildren live far away, in Tennessee--the eastern part.   So, I periodically have to bribe them to come to visit.   The zentangle workshop was such an excuse, and even though we couldn't afford to bring them all here, we're lucky that Jonathon could bring Aspen, the oldest, turning ten next week. 

We hiked them up the mountain before they caught the airplane back home, since they would be sitting all day.  Great view of the valley from Desolation Trail overlook.
I'm showing you her zentangles, because she's really something.   And one of the best things about her, besides her inner and outer beauty, is that she freely admits she's an artist.  I hope she always knows that.  Here is her very first zentangle, created in May when she was here with her mom, brother and sister.  She made this for her Dad, stuck at work in TN. and she hid little messages in it, like "I love you", among others.

  The evening before our workshop, she created a show and tell for us.  This letter is about 8 inches tall, made of wood.

And her first project at the workshop was a charmer.   You can see she wrote a little quote in cursive on the upper right.   I added a mini puzzle piece of gold leaf.   She was generous enough to give it to me.  I love it.

And even though I've only shown you ONE grandchild's art, ALL of the others are artists, too, as are their most wonderful parents.   Art isn't just an activity, it's a way of life, a way of being and expressing in the world.  And it is a unique expression of a unique individual, personal to each, and precious to a grandma's heart.

Just a few of the family artists.   John, Jonathon, Aspen, and Allison.

A Group of Tangles

At last!   Someone was kind enough to send me a CD of our workshop.  While much of it was li'l ole me, demonstrating patterns, a snap was taken as evidence we accomplished something.   And the dear participants made a beautiful thank you card for me, complete with zentangles on them. 
They did a mighty fine job.
Below are some of the projects we undertook.  They could make a little booklet, tangling either the inside of the letter, or tangling around the letter, leaving it blank.....for gold, maybe?

  
The second day of the workshop was adding gold leaf.  The stunning shine doesn't photograph well, but you can get an idea of how the gold adds a touch of class.  See the little zentangle on the left?   Just a nice line of gold really pops.  Jane H. is the artist on this.

This last one is by Nancy O, one of the fine calligraphers and artists in the group.

A tangled zen preview

My camera has died.   There is no hope for a resurrection, so I cannot post any photos of the UCA Zentangle workshop until I beg for copies from some of the attendees.  In the meantime, Jonathon, co-facilitator extraordinaire, has given me permission to show his work.   In his blog, he writes:
CAVEAT: If you are not familiar with Zentangles, this is not a good example of one!  For the following reasons:

1. It uses color.
2. It does not use ANY known zentangle patterns (called "tangles").
3. It has an orientation (that is, there is a "right-side up" to it.

But for those of you familiar with Zen, this is what my Buddha Nature wanted to draw today.  What can you say to that?

 You can see what a very artistic and talented son I have, and I am extremely proud and grateful.
And as soon as I get a new camera, I'll show what my equally talented 10 year old (almost) granddaughter, Aspen,  created in the workshop.   Stay tuned.

I got a new set of graphitint pencils (Derwent), which I used to color this one.

Whether one is doodling in zen, tangling, or merely following one's Buddha nature, I hope you'll pick up a pen and have a moment to yourself.   Breathe, accept, let go......ahhhh.