Tag Archives: Zentangle

Line Meditation with Trees.

Finding focus with your line.

I began “collecting” trees in my journals after taking a class on forestry stewardship in order to increase my knowledge of the forest around me. I had never really looked at the rings of trees as storytellers until I became fascinated with some fallen trees and began to learn how to read them. As my knowledge grows, so does the wonder of the secrets the forests hold. I could spend hours in the forest looking at the details of life, growth and decay with my sketchbook in hand.

From these sketch breaks came the inspiration to bring the growth back to my studio where I added watercolor and soon found myself in the trance of line meditations, forming my string (in Zentangle terms) from the shapes of the trees fallen in our woods.

Combining the wisdom I found in the forest, and many of the principles of the Zentangle Method, I soon found myself engaged in a regular exercise of line meditations with the trees.

Upcoming classes incorporating this practice and working lessons are coming soon.

Back to the Basics

Lately I have been playing with some of the tangles that show up in a lot of introductory classes, and are great foundations for learning the practice of the Zentangle Method.

It is really fun to revisit the same tangles in new ways, and I love making a mosaic that spans time, experiences, moods and locations. It is like my own little set of historical markers.

You can see how much variety there is to be had with just a few tangles, I could easily and always entertain myself, find focus and relaxation by just using these tangles.

The above tiles are created using; Florz, Tipple, Hollibaugh and Crescent Moon.

These less traditional tiles are using the same tangles, and playing freely with how they show up on the page. Hollibaugh becomes worm like with the addition of curved lines in the lower left. The tangle weave in and out of the W2 grid on the lower right. The upper left tile has a wine stain that i used to alter between a white pen and black pen.

What’s old is new again!

If you are old enough to remember using floppy disks and their younger cousin’s diskettes – you may have the perfect tangling container laying in the back of your closet!

Not only are tiles exactly the same size as the little plastic diskettes we used to use, but Zendalas are the same size as CD’s! So your old diskette organizer, and CD pockets can be perfectly upcycled to hold your Zentangle tiles.

TanglePod 31 Days of Breath and Focus Day 3 Striping

Join TanglePod for a month of finding the ways to slow down with breath and focus with each of 31 different tangles.  We are focusing on the specific cadence that you can find, and how to use each one to encourage your practice to slow down and be in the moment.  Juliette and I often find different approaches to tangles, and in these short conversations will provide tips on approaching each tangle with focus in mind.  Use your journal, tiles or scratch paper and play with these exercises to see how you can find your rhythm too.  

Listen and see the step outs: Tangle Festival: Day 3 Striping | TanglePod (podbean.com)

The Quiet Side: Exploring the unseen benefits of creative focus

The Quiet Side

Exploring the unseen benefits of creative focus.

I am very happy to introduce my new series, reflecting on the Quiet Side of taking a few moments to yourself, finding creative inspiration and allowing a little bit of stillness into your day.

What draws me to sharing Zentangle isn’t the artwork at the end – it is the “how we get there” that I love. The method is purposeful in its ability to help you relax and be in the moment. As a result of the process, a beautiful piece of art is created.

I encourage you to give regular, quiet, creative time a try.  Learning a new art form like Zentangle is a practice.  Your results each day won’t always be perfect – but you will receive benefits from exploring creativity on a regular basis and spending the time to focus and quiet your mind.

Likes and shares are common on my posts that include images and completed tiles – its a little bit harder to draw attention to the benefits of slowing down, stillness or calm.  What I hope you get from this series is inspiration to find time to get offline, pick up a pen, and perhaps try a few of the exercises I include. And I hope that starts you on a path to enjoying the benefits that a regular practice of focused creativity can bring.

Sign up for my blog directly to allow yourself to get the inspiration and some fun exercises right to your inbox. Expect an issue of The Quiet Side about every two weeks throughout the year.

Happy 2017

Kellie

deliberate – still – appreciate – quiet – focus – trust – deconstruct – beautiful – reflect – relax – discover – create – comfort – shade – breathe – inspire – be bold – embellish – savor – slow – calm – admire – harmony