


Filed under Art, drawing, Zentangle Art
Do you have favorite tangles? The ones you refer back to again and again, especially when you’re stuck and can’t think of a tangle. Your comfortable go-to tangles. Maria Thomas calls those her “mac & cheese tangles” 🙂 Some of my favorites are Poke Root, Printemps, Tipple, Flux, Hollibaugh, and Rain (created by Zentangle®). You will see these tangles in many of my tiles! I’m taking a break from classes this summer because when summer starts in Alaska, people are outside fishing, camping, hiking, traveling, gardening, etc. So this is usually the time that I put a fall class schedule together but this summer Jake and I bought a small motorhome and have been camping a lot. I’ve been away from technology and tangling is perfect when camping! All you need is an ink pen, pencil, and paper!
I admit that I don’t do well with change and so I have a hard time with structured challenges. I have to force myself to try new tangles and I tend to fall back on my “mac & cheese” tangles. But since I have time and I’m off camping, it’s the perfect time to challenge myself. I’m starting out small and doing mono tangles (one tangle) and I’ll choose different tangles that I’ve never done before! Yikes, be brave! I’ve always wanted to do Mak-Rah-Mee tangle, by Michele Beauchamp, CZT. This tangle has always intrigued me because it’s so pretty and I love how it flows, but looks hard to do. But I actually found it easy when following the step out at www.tanglepatterns.com It looks similar to a craft knot like you’d find in macrame. I love fiber art! I added some Tipple and finished the border using Curly Q, by Diane Lachance, CZT. All were really FUN tangles to do! Sometimes we just need a little push…in my case, a BIG push!
So I’m challenging myself to do a new tangle every week until classes start again in Fall. Why don’t you join me!
❤️ Donna
Filed under Alaskan Life, Zentangle Art
Hi! Before today gets away from me, I want to share a FUN project we did around this time, last June 2016. As you know I work for Blaines Art Supply, and last June, many art supply representatives came up from the lower 48 to throw a “Make it & Take it” event. I set up my tent, tables, and examples of my Zentangle® coffee cups I had done at home. I was so excited!!
Blaines Art donated white coffee cups and black pens (there is a beverage bar inside the store). We were going to have a tangled cup competition and I was ready! There were lots of other tent “stations” like alcohol inks, painting sneakers, Gelli printing plates, lots of different types of pens, watercolors, markers, and papers too to experiment with. Many of the products were on sale.
I had drawn some simple Zentangle tangles and their step outs on big pieces of paper and taped them to the side of the tent so people could follow step-by-step. I also had Zentangle books, supplies, business cards, and my up-coming classes. Everyone’s cup was sooooo different and creative! Some took their tangled cups home and some we displayed in the store and for the rest of the month people could vote on their favorite one! The WINNER got a goodie bag filled with awesome Zentangle supplies so they could keep tangling!!
Even though it was a COLD day and my hands were frozen we all had a good time! Jake even took over the booth so I could go inside to warm up 🙂 I think we should do this again!
♥ Donna
Filed under Art, drawing, Zentangle Art
Hi! Let’s fast forward to today… I’m still living in Anchorage, Alaska, in the same house for 20 years, and I still LOVE teaching the Zentangle® Method™. I have recently finished teaching my Fall/Winter/Spring Zentangle® art classes and now my summer begins. So now that I have more time, I’ll try to catch you up on some of the fun zen-happenings!
I just returned from teaching a Zentangle Basics 101 Class at the Machetanz Art Festival, in Wasilla/Palmer, AK. This was my third year teaching there and I absolutely LOVE going there! It’s held at Mat-Su College (UAA), in the beautiful Mat-Su Valley. The campus is lovely! It’s about 1-1/2 hours away and one of the most gorgeous drives you can imagine with huge snow capped mountains everywhere you look! The people are so friendly and the life style is slower than Anchorage (more zen…I like that)! The last two years I got to teach two Zentangle classes, but due to budget cuts this year, the art festival was only one day. I felt very honored to have been asked back again! Thank you!! ♥
There are lots of different art classes offered, like painting (oils, acrylics, pastels, watercolors), alcohol ink, encaustic wax art, wood burning, Zentangle and more.
This year I had the most awesome group of students who were soooooo excited to learn all about Zentangle! We had a blast! It was very relaxing, as this year I prerecorded 5 hours of “zen music” on my mini-iPad and I bought a small but powerful speaker for it. It was perfect! In the “basics class” we learn the Zentangle® Method™, history of the art, language, the many benifits, and we create two beautiful Zentangle art tiles using six simple tangles. Each tangle I chose teaches something different that they will use often.
I’ve got to admit that I’m pretty spoiled as the room has a camera, computer, and TV so I can tangle right along with the students in real time! But I always have my backup easel and pad!
AND I’ve gotten the same room for three years!! It’s at the end of a long hall, hidden away so it’s very quiet and peaceful! AND I’m right next door to Rex who always helps me with the computer and equipment
When the class is done, we go around and collect all the tiles and put them together and create a big mosaic. Below is this year’s mosaic! It is truly magical to me that I give the same directions to everyone but each tile is soooo incredibly different and unique!! It’s exciting and so much fun!!
The best part of the day is when everyone hovers over the mosaic trying to find their tiles! And guess what…many can’t find them because they ALL are so beautiful and creative!! Most of the students at the beginning of class said they couldn’t draw, but as you see everyone drew beautiful art pieces and walked out as “artists”!
To see more mosaics from previous years, go to “Student Art” on my website www.tanglealaska.com I hope I’ll get to come back again next year! I LOVE teaching Zentangle®!!
Keep tangling!
♥ Donna
Filed under Art, drawing, Zentangle Art