Zentangle® – What is that?

A couple of years ago, I was browsing the internet and came across something called “Zentangle®.  What a wonderful discovery.  This is an art form introduced by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. It is for those who think they can’t paint or draw.  Have you ever doodled while talking on the phone or listening to a boring lecture?  If so, then, you can do it.   If you are interested in learning about this art and learning to do it, you can just Google Zentangle and find hundreds of websites and blogs that feature it.   To learn about the art and to do it, go to Zentangle.com and tanglepatterns.com.  You will find everything you need to get started.  No expensive tools — just a pencil, pen and paper.  In the beginning, the art was done on 3-1/2″ tiles and only done in black and white.  NOW, it is being done in color and in many sizes up to 24″ x 36”, on cardstock, watercolor paper, etc.

A word of warning!  It can become very addictive!  You begin to see tangle patterns all around you, and no piece of paper is safe in your hands.  Here are a few samples I have done.

 

Most people called their finished art “ZIA’s”.  That stands for Zentangle® Inspired Art, and is proper to use, especially if you use your own tangles as well as the official ones of the Zentangle.com website.  Some of my favorite blogs for doing this art are on the right side of this blog.  You can click on any of them and it will take you to their site.  More about Zentangles® in my next post.

Happy tangling. and thanks for stopping by today.

 

The Biggest Move I Ever Made

I was born in Charlotte, NC and lived there all my life until late 2005.  In 2004, after the death of my husband, following a long bout with dementia, my daughter Carol decided to build a home for me on her wooded property in the country between Chapel Hill and Pittsboro.  It was finished in September, 2005 and I made the move there.

While living in Charlotte, I saw it grow from about 100,000 population almost one million.  I have enjoyed being away from the stress of living in a BIG city, and the relaxed atmosphere here has probably added years to my life.  I wouldn’t ever want to move back!  I live in a great log house on one 5 acres of her property, and she lives on the other 5 acres.  She lives alone, also, after the death of her husband, but we see each other daily, and eat one meal, usually dinner together at my house.  I love living in this stress-free environment!   This is a painting I did of my “cabin in the woods”, complete with deer who visit everyday!

Thanks for visiting today.

New Beginnings at 93

For many years I have put off creating a blog,  so now at age 93, I have jumped in!

I have a philosophy that “no day is complete without finishing some form of art, or learning something new, so I will try to post daily, or several times a week.  I hope you will be interested in what I have to say and show you. My interests are painting (watercolors), making greeting cards, many of which have been published in JUST CARDS,  SCRAP&STAMP magazine, and VAMP STAMP magazine and e-articles.   I also do pen and ink drawings called ZIAs (Zentangle Inspired Art) using the art form created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas.  This relaxing art helps reduce stress and can be done by anyone.  More about this later.  AND if this isn’t enough, I knit and crochet.   I will show you examples of all of these from time to time.  This is a recent landscape painting I have done in watercolor.

Hope you like it.

Thanks for stopping by, and see you soon!              Sarah