Tropical Tangles

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Just returned from a vacation in Florida. The nice part? Temperatures in the high 70s. Not so nice? Returning on a 19 degree night.

BUT! While I was there, basking in the warmth of the back yard, I was admiring the tangle pattern on the palm tree... As you can see, it's quite tangle-worthy.

I'm working on deconstructing it!

Squeeze Play

Last week (or so), at the class at Laurel Hill, I was reminded of the value of stretching while making a Zentangle. We'd made our first tile, and I had everyone stand up and do the "breathe and stretch" thing. The sighs around the room were my reminder.

I also find that I can sometimes develop a "death grip" on my pen. I relax, but my fingers often continue feeling cramped.

So, I've dipped into my yarn stash and made a cranium ball. I've recently learned that these are actually hyperbolic planes, but my language brain has always been stronger than my math/engineering brain so I will continue to call them cranium balls. They are just the right size for squishing and scrunching fingers into. I'm going to make a batch and let people use them during class.

Scruncho-scruncho.

Breathing... breathing...

Themes arise, don't they?

First, there was Laura's challenge of the week: Breathe....

(Well, actually, there was something before that, which I will get to in a second.)

Then, I noticed the pattern on my wash cloth.

I've been thinking a lot about my alveoli... which brings me to the thing before Laura's challenge: my current bout of pneumonia...

And I noticed that Samson looks a lot like alveoli, and so does my wash cloth, and I need to remember to breathe to expand my poor plugged up alveoli. So, here's my response to both challenges... Breathe and BREATHE! The big empty space in the middle reminds me to OPEN UP and let the air in!

A Thing a Day - Brave Undertaking

I'm not veering off the path of Zentangle too far... I love it too much! But, every now and again, it's nice to try something new. So, I signed up for "Thing A Day 2011." Like many other "things-a-day" efforts, participants are encouraged by others to post something handmade each day. Unlike other efforts, this one runs for February only! (Smart move: the shortest month!)

I actually used to post a "Daily Notion," and I miss that quite a bit. So, I'm thinking this effort might push me back in that direction.

For my TAD-2011 project, I'm creating an "Odd Fellow" every day. I'm not sure if it's possible to read the explanation in the screen clip I have here, so I will explain. I'm the Creative Designer for a local library's YA Summer Program. A few years ago, I wanted the participants to create self-portraits that were collaged, jointed figures. I cut about a bazillion little bits from magazines and catalogs... all aimed at getting the kids to make figures from abstract shapes. Well! The kids grabbed all the "ready made" faces and other body parts, and I was left with a giant box of clippings! Now's the time to use them! (some of them, anyway!)

After TAD is over, I plan to photograph the fellows and participate in the Million Little Pictures project.

You can read about Thing-a-Day 2011 here.

You can read about A Million Little Pictures here.

AND, how cool is this?!?!? Just as I went back to the Thing-a-Day blog, someone else posted her contribution: A ZENTANGLE. So neat, this synchronicity thing.