New tanglers!

I taught a Zentangle 101 yesterday (I worked on other stuff too, but I love to share what's created by my classes)

We completed 2 tiles, for a total of 7 patterns.
Here's a few in progresss

My class hard at work! I had a couple and 2 sisters in this class! Such a nice group! No one had ever tangled before they were truly new to the method!

 Look how great their tiles came out!

I love the way I can see individual personalities come through in the tiles!

I also worked some on the Tangle Troves and did a little tangling of my own yesterday!
It was a very good, if very busy day!

Hope your looking forward to a fantastic weekend!

Beginner Zentangle® classes are such fun!

 I had a great beginner class the other day and I love the way their tiles turned out! I wanted to share them with you!
These were their first tiles! I love the individuality of them and the way they really pop!

Here are the mosaics of their first tiles!

We finished up with a second tile as well!

It was a really wonderful class and I'm always reminded when I do a beginner class how much I enjoy the basic process of Zentangle.

Don't forget you have a few days left to enter the giveaway... so tell your friends, make sure you are entering as well. You can do that here

Have a great day! I've got a very artistic friend coming to see me today!

Thursday of Excitement, fun stuff, contest with secrets and fun!

Yesterday was a busy day! I had an amazing class of 4 ladies who spent the afternoon tangling with me and then came home to find out that my pattern BrrrSt  had been featured on Tangle Patterns. Super cool stuff huh?
I was excited, especially since I didn't even submit that one so I had NO IDEA it was coming, it was a cool little surprise! :D

Anyway... so I have some cool pictures to share of my class but I'm going to wait til tomorrow to show you those because I AM JUST SO EXCITED about the tiles I just finished I can't wait to show you.
They're part of the samples for my Tangles and Ink class that I'm teaching wth my friend Sara who is an amazing potter! (SO if you happen to be in the Buffalo area, you can sign up for our September workshop here )
As I was making the samples, I created a tile that I think is my absolute favorite.. ever.
So without any more build up... lol (because I know sometimes stuff I love other people don't fall in love with the same way) but I'm really excited about this one... .
TADA!

Tangles and Ink class sample

 I really like this one too...

Tangles and Ink class sample

I used the inks to kind of create the string and then worked within it on both.
Two completely different tiles, and so much fun. Oh my gosh. I'm going to have to make more.

It looks like it's going to be a beautiful weekend, so I hope you are getting some great plans going and I can't wait to see the amazing things you all create!

OH! I promised a giveaway!
I have put together a little surprise pack that I think you'll like a whole lot and it's going to contain a secret about something fun that's coming that ONLY the winner will learn in advance.

So, to enter.. you have to be participating (link up your art! I may not always comment but I do always look!!!! even if it takes a day or so) and you have to leave a comment for me and tell me why I should pick you as my secret keeper!

 I'd LOVE it if you shared the blog post on your social media too because I'd really love to see some new people come show me their creative side too, but I'm not going to make that a requirement.


Ok! Have fun!

This September- Tangles and Ink!

I mentioned a really cool class I'm going to be teaching in collaboration with another artisian (Sara from Goldhawk Studios!) in September and I got the promo video made!

I'm pretty happy with it and I hope that it intrigues people and they want to come take the class!

I find that I'm enjoying videomaking a lot as well!

Happy Monday, let's get this week started!

Tangled day= Pattern!

Yesterday I started the day out tangling and never really expanded much past that. I did some painting on some sneakers as well, but my focus was on the tangles because paint must dry. :)

Anyway... here's what I did.

Here are better pictures.

I don't know if you can tell or not, but there is a common pattern in most of those. I asked around, I did some research, it's something I've been drawing a lot lately and there is no other step out that I've found for it.
So .. with that said, I give you..... Charmzy

Have fun with it, and I REALLY hope that you will come back and show me what you've done with it! As you can see there's room for lots of variation.

Also, just a note if you haven't checked it out yet, my new venture, Tangle Troves can be found HERE

Video time!

So this is my most recent creation.
I like video and I've been playing with it so that I can teach some basic techniques.

This is more about showcasing some work, but there will be more to come!

So I hope you are working on something fun and awesome.
Tomorrow's post will be very early because I am going to be participating in our local chalkfest so I won't be home in the morning, but I'll get the post made before I go!

Ah... new students!

Yesterday, I was getting ready to leave for my class, a Zentangle 101 class and my daughter said "Have a great class Mom as I was putting things in my bag"
I smiled and said, "They're brand new! It's a 101 class! NEWBIES!!!" and was thinking about how much I love putting the pens and tiles in the hands of beginners. I love the way they light up. It makes me so happy to share this with them and all of a sudden my daughter says, "Have fun changing people's lives tonight!"
It was a little corny, and it was a little silly but it made me tear up a bit too.... because sometimes it really does change people's lives.
I took an informal survey in one of the Zentangle groups I am an admin for, asking "how has Zentangle® changed your life?" and I ended up with 8 solid pages of stories. Hundreds of people shared with me how they never felt artistic before, or how it helped them to cope with loss or pain and illness.
This is something REALLY special
So last night, I had 5 students in my class. I'm going to share with you a couple things I heard that I've heard in some variation before that really hit me last night.
"I've never shaded before"
"Oh! I like it!"
"I DREW that!"
"Shading like this doesn't stress me out"
"This was so much fun!"
"I can see myself doing this next time I <fill in the blank>."

And that is why I adore brand new classes. It's fun and exciting to teach the more varied Zentangle inspired art classes, that feeds other pieces of me... but the pen in hand of a new student is a special moment.

Here are mosaics of their beautiful work! Aren't they gorgeous?

As always people liked different patterns, felt they were better at some than others, but that's ok! That's part of what makes taking a class so much fun!

Today I have no idea what I'm going to do. I'll figure it out in a little while, but right now, I'm just kind of wishing I could teach a group of new people every day!

Tangles, tangles and more Zentangle art!

This morning getting my zen on with a cup of tea

I did get a better shot though...
It's not as cute with the tea but you can see the tile better

Flux, Mi2 and my pattern Brrrst

Yesterday I tangled out on the patio all afternoon. It was very relaxing.. and yay summer! These two were done using Sonya Yencer's shadow technique that she taught at Midsummer Tangle.

Pokeleaf, rixty

Mooka

And then I did this one using some of my favorite drama tangles!

Finery, Striping, Bunzo, Printemps, Marasu

Today will pretty much be spent doing some organizing and maybe a little bit more tangling. 

Today I made a newsletter....

Because that isn't fun to show you on my blog, I will show you pictures of my BEAUTIFUL new business cards. Seriously. Moo is amazing. I am so happy with these.

So those arrived and my banner is on the way and the newsletter is set up to send out today. If you haven't signed up yet, you can sign up here. http://eepurl.com/bhZXV9

Such a great class last night!!!!

Last night's class was fantastic. I can't tell you enough fun it was to watch everyone's eyes light up when they added their white "moonglow" to their tiles.

So, I'm going to show you what we did!

The majority of these ladies had attended last month's Zendala class so to get them warmed up and used to using their new pens, we made a Zendala using mostly patterns they already knew.
This was the easel with mine done on black foam board... which worked surprising well when my regular "large sheet of black paper" supplier dropped the ball on me.

SO much fun!

Then we did a tile... 

Some work in progress shots as well!

Aren't they fantastic!?!?! I love how great they look!

They did such an amazing job and I'm so proud of each and every one of them!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're going to do a Renaissance tiles for our next class in June.