Alfie writes:
Today's tile was designed and tangled for you by Maria, with today's video commentary from both Maria and Rick. They seem to work well together, like the tangles she chose. These tangles are some of her absolute favorites for many reasons.
Mooka has flowy spirited lines that can grow in almost any direction. She loves to shape and extend those mooka tendrils so they explode onto her tile in a state of joy and contentment (perhaps describing her life and the gratitude she has for it). She also is known to smile (a lot) whenever she draws mooka, so there's that.
The other tangle, mi2, is an early design by Mimi Lempart who attended our very first CZT seminar. Maria is partial to mi2 because she finds it is such a simple yet "magical" tangle with its own surprise ending. Even after many years of tangling it, mi2 still manages to evoke in her a sense of wonder and playfulness. All it takes are a few elegantly intersecting curved lines and a touch of shading to release its "wowness."
You can only imagine Maria using these two dynamic tangles in one tile . . . well, she could hardly contain her delight!
Now, after all these good things we have shared with you, my friend, Bijou, says it's time for you to choose YOUR tangles. Find the tangles that perhaps make you feel as Maria did when she created this tile. Know that, like acquaintances, you may not be so enamored on first introduction, but with time, it may end up to be a favorite friend. Remember, each artist will have their favorites. Each tangle has a different story for each one of you.
And so, my friends, "All good things must come to an end."
Wait, wait! Who said that anyway?
I asked Maria to look it up and it turns out it's a proverb from around 1374 by some dude named Chaucer. I forget his first name, but surely he was not into Zentangle drawing. For if he were, he would "knoweth" that Zentangle is not only good, but only gets better!
And, it certainly "needeth" not come to an end!
Oh, yes! I finally opened Bijou's gift. He gave me me a beautiful golden clock. I take that as Bijou's way of telling me and all of us that it's now time to "Choose Your Tangles"!
Bijou writes:
Today's Bijouism is "Choose Your Tangles."
(It also happens to be Bijouism #12. We didn't plan it that way, but synchronicities like that happen all the time around here.)
I love all of my Bijouisms (!) and this is one of my favorites because it has so many meanings and metaphors.
You can read it as "Choose YOUR Tangles" as Alfie said above. You have seen so many tangles and tangling ideas in these 12 days. Our desire is that you take these ideas and inspirations and apply them to YOUR tangles . . . which may not be any of the ones we worked with in this series. And even if they are on a list of YOUR tangles, when YOU tangle them we want them to look like YOUR tangles . . . not (necessarily) like ours or any one else's.
Another part of "Choose YOUR Tangles" is our desire to inspire you to create YOUR tangles, just as Mimi created mi2.
You can also read this Bijouism as "CHOOSE Your Tangles." This suggests that it is up to you to trust your own imagination and creativity to CHOOSE which tangle to draw.
My favorite part of this Bijouism is that "Tangle" is another word for "pattern." Think of all your patterns of thoughts, actions, reactions, and responses. You have the ability to choose those, too!
As Rick likes to say, you have a natural, imaginative, beautiful, artistic, and creative "response ability."
And as I like to say, "Anything is possible, one stroke (or thought, or question, or insight, or inspiration, or step) at a time!"
With all Appreciation and Gratitude, we invite you to deliberately choose YOUR beautiful tangles!
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Given the time theme in today's photo, I asked Rick to take a picture of this clock face that Maria created some "time" ago.
I think you might enjoy it . . .
Welcome to the Project Pack No. 12 and the twelfth day of the 12 Days of Zentangle!
It goes without saying that 2020 will go down in history as remarkable year. This year we all experienced the unexpected, the unknown and the uncertain. There were challenges that required our patience and strength in order for us to contribute to what the world needed.
In our Zentangle practice we encourage you to embrace the unexpected, the unknown and the uncertain as a part of your creative process. We encourage you to look for opportunities and to shift your perspective.
As we bring a close to a pivotal year in history, Project Pack No. 12 will offer us a magical time of rebirth, restoration, and awakening. We are excited to begin this year’s 12 Days of Zentangle, that we are calling the 2020 Zentangle Renaissance.
Day 12
Wrap-up
Project Pack No. 12 materials available here.
The winner from Day 11's blog is Chandra Merod! Please send your snail mail address to info@zentangle.com
Note: to curb spam on the blog, comments require approval. If you do not see your comment right away, please do not resubmit. All comments will be approved before winner is selected.
Nancy Wilcox on
I spend nearly every day of the year working on my own artwork, but I always take this time off to enjoy the 12 Days of Zentangle. Thank you for doing this each year.
Mary Kay Watson on
cindy brandt on
Happy to have watched and learned many new things with a Renaissance touch. Sad to see this finale of this year’s 12 Days of Zentangle even though it holds all of the golden gorgeousness. ~ Rose
Rosemarie Crawford on