Zenspar
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Zenspar is a journey in joy to the world of Zentangles and Zendalas. Stay tuned to discover the latest Zentangle designs and updates.
Zenspar
5M ago
This week brought an unexpected adventure. Our cat, Tux, was bitten by a snake, presumably a copperhead, the ubiquitous poisonous snake that plagues the South. Rest assured, he has recovered now and is back to his rambunctious self. And he has forgiven me for quarantining him for a week. All is well here.
Tux the Brave
The role of caretaker is one I take (too?) seriously, so art time suffered a bit. But I did manage to complete three more spreads in my Madam Butterfly mixed media journal. (To keep him calm, I spent a lot of time with Tux, resting on the bed and reading The Grapes of W ..read more
Zenspar
5M ago
I love finding new techniques for making journals. Here's a new one. There are 8 pocket pages, of which 4 have file folder tabs. This was from a kit from Pink Monarch. I learned how to use book binding tape--so exciting! It's about the size of a deck of cards, so I can fill the pockets with Artists' Trading Cards.
I made two birthday cards this weekend.
Our local little free art gallery was getting hungry, so I made these mini collages that are also paper clips and dropped them off.
The long weekend gave me a chance to organize my desk and supplies. Ahhh.
Back to work yest ..read more
Zenspar
5M ago
In my junk journaling journey, I've discovered mini file folders. Think file folder for 3 x 5 index cards. After watching some tutorials this week, I embarked on making them into a new art journal. They allow me to pursue the junk journal techniques I'm learning--making pockets, "belly bands", tucks, tags, tabs, collages, etc.--and to use my own art rather than the pre-made kits. This journal began with some printed mini file folders from The Graphics Fairy. The theme is Madam Butterfly. There are 5 folders, so 20 pages. (I love the feel of this journal in my hands. It has a high holdabi ..read more
Zenspar
6M ago
A little mixed media, a bit of Zentangle, a touch of origami.
Here's what happened:
"For absent mothers. For absent children."
The cover of my "Sistars" photo book, from CZT AE2023.
This lesson was by Lisa Hoesing, CZT.
A photo page from the "Sistars" photo album.
The squares behind the envelopes are a 1-inch grid. These are for collage pieces. Or tiny letters!
  ..read more
Zenspar
6M ago
This week has been teaching me to rest and listen to my body, so I don't have a lot to show.
"Ankh: The Key of Life", a CZT AE lesson by Rashmi Agarwal, CZT, had me drawing on vellum again. I created a papyrus-like texture on the "back" of the tile and added the ankh symbol on the front.
Gelly rolls and pastel pencils on the back
Microns on the front
Can you see the additional blue I added on the back?
It represents the Nile. The egg represents birth/life and the arms represent
the earth, with papyrus and the blue lotus flower.
I recently purchased some lovely papers from Pink M ..read more
Zenspar
6M ago
If you've been following the blog for a while, you have heard me mention CZT (Certified Zentangle Teacher) AE (Artifex Editio, or Master Class) 2023. This online class from 7F5R Studio in Singapore includes 27 classes from CZTs all over the world. Once purchased, it is available for 1 year. My year is about 2/3 up! So I've been working to move along through the curriculum, since I would hate to lose any of its great opportunities.
This week, both classes involved 3D projects. The first, "12 Faces", by Nina Dreher-Goddertz, resulted in a dodecahedron, from a single sheet of cardstoc ..read more
Zenspar
7M ago
The Zentangle Method focuses on trusting the process. There is rarely any planning, other than giving a random line, or string, to break up our paper into smaller spaces. This freedom helps us be more meditative, more mindful as we fill up space, one stroke at a time. And the mindfulness frees us to follow unexpected leads that pop up.
I want to show you how today's piece evolved. I set out to follow the Zentangle Method, and put down my string in pencil. I laid out a rectangle, a circle and part of an oval. I used a compass and an oval cutter for this part, which we don't encourage in Zentang ..read more
Zenspar
7M ago
In my former life as a middle school French teacher, I had colleagues in the math department who, to hear the kids talking, tortured their students with the phrase "Show your work!" In my days, we never had this demand. We got credit for giving the right answer, and didn't even have calculators to find it!
"Show your work" comes to mind this week. Making the art is not always the challenge, but sharing it is another matter. Technology doesn't frighten me. I would just rather do something else than sit at the computer or look at my socials. I just wanted to clarify this with you, reader(s). I k ..read more
Zenspar
7M ago
Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Weil Lecture on American Citizenship at UNC-Chapel Hill. This year Judy Woodruff, veteran journalist and news anchor with PBS News Hour, gave the lecture: America at a Crossroads. How do we heal our polarized country? Her speech definitely had an impact on my art journal, which filled up with reds and blues as I used torn pieces of a travel brochure left over from a recent trip to Memphis. (I was not trying to react to her depiction of our red/blue country.) I pulled her headshot out of the program, previously destined for the recycling bin.
It's ..read more
Zenspar
8M ago
In last Wednesday's post, I omitted the picture of a piece I had completed for the Certified Zentangle Teacher master class. The class, "Undersea Pearl Garden" by Theresa Marshall, featured a new-to-me pattern, Infinity and lots of layers of shading. The background, a tan Zendala tile, invites us to use every tool in our box to shade, deepen and highlight. (This is true for all "mid tint" papers, be they gray, sage, tan, or any other "in between" color.)
Thursday night, Lar and I went to see the Wim Wenders film, "Perfect Days". I mention it here because it truly influenced my thought ..read more