Coming Around Again

 After ‘graduating’ from the program of learning The Zentangle Process, I was entitled to use the initials CZT after my name. And I was also entitled to teach this process to others. But I didn’t feel ready and I set myself the goal to learn the 100-plus patterns that are part of the Zentangle experience. 

Here I am now, 14 months later, and I can call myself a teacher. I have a small group of women, friends of mine, who were eager to have me show them how to learn various patterns and so, on most Thursday afternoons at tea-time (4 p.m.) we gather on ZOOM for “Tea n’ Tangles” for about an hour of friendly tangling where I teach new patterns, new techniques and tips that I’ve been learning.

The restrictions of the COVID-19 that started back in March 2020 were actually helpful to me as I could easily grasp on-line teaching. I found an inexpensive camera and in a few weeks figured out the basics. Now my three friends are each moving forward with their art skills and I couldn’t be more proud that they are advancing and building their confidence.

My watercolor skills have been utilized as well, but I don’t do as much scenic watercolor work these days. Instead I use both tube colors and watercolor pencils to bring color into my Zentangle art pieces.

I find that with the stress of the various “rules” or “restrictions” (changing daily in some cases) that having the relief of drawing something that requires ALL my focus helps me to relax. Watercolor doesn’t do that for me as much and thus I do more tangling these days.

The uncertainty of this time needs a little more structure and interestingly enough being challenged to put particular patterns in small spaces is just such a structure (as shown above). The idea for this design was created by Deb Bowyer, CZT, a teacher at the CZT: AE2020, an on-line creative learning platform for CZTs - a kind of training for the teacher event. I will do this one again because it is so challenging.

Finally I managed to be at the sunset-watching place in time tonight, capturing the brisk departure of El Sol. We are now in the phase where there will not be any long and late sunsets. The last 8 p.m. set was over yesterday. But this was a clear and lovely event and I got my panorama to work on the camera!

So I conclude my return to blogging with this great view of Moses Lake in Washington State on this August evening. Wishing all my readers near and far good health!

Catching Up....

Right after I posted my last blog about my life in Moses Lake, a couple of special friends died suddenly, within two weeks of each other.

The first one was my former boss at the Peninsula Daily News. Rex Wilson moved to Mexico to join his wife, Olga, in their family business and was suddenly diagnosed with lung cancer and just as suddenly left us all behind three months before his birthday.

The second was a fellow I met while traveling about eight years ago, William Good from Florida, and who became, along with his wife Sandi, delightful additions to my life online as well as when they came to Washington State to visit family. Bill was traveling in Spain with Sandi when he had a heart attack in mid-February, less than two weeks after my boss.

I tried to talk to my husband about the grief I was feeling, but he did not really understand the joy that having any exchange with these fellows gave me - their laughter, their quick wit, their expansive natures causing the lights in my world to shine a little brighter. In some ways it felt like my Dad had died again because there were aspects of each of these fellows that must have reminded me of him.

Then, getting over those sad days, my son-in-law announced his Multiple Myeloma was causing numbers to rise and he was going to have treatments again. So I retreated once more and found myself self-diagnosing anxiety and took on the objective of becoming a healer with art therapy.

"Celtic Knot Flower" is a design from another CZT that
I incorporated into a 12 -inch by 12-inch acrylic work.

This art therapy is called Zentangle™and though it is not advertised as a therapy per se, it is well understood that meditation is helpful and this process of drawing certain patterns was clearly helping me.

Something from my journal that has color and light in it.

I signed up for and was accepted to the 33rd session of training for Certified Zentangle Teachers (CZT) in Providence, Rhode Island for the end of March and beginning of April, 2019. For four blissful days I did nothing but eat, drink and draw with lots of laughter and fun. I concluded my trip with a fresh lobster dinner to celebrate achieving this certification, feeling pretty sure it might be awhile before the next trip and lobster!

Me with my seminar roommate, Norma G.
from Brazil. We had a good connection
and helped each other along.

Home again, I find I am not quite ready to begin teaching The Zentangle Method because I feel I still have so much to learn myself. But I have incorporated it into my existing art activity and have some fun plans for doing more in the future.

This is a small frame purchased at a yard
sale; making the Zentangle appear to be
more worthy... 

This is a Zendala, using tangles from Zentangle, Inc.

The other shoe dropped when we heard that a relative was
diagnosed with cancer, so I made her a blanket with pink
symbols for healing but it had special meaning for me as
it had patterns I have used in tangling.