Maria writes: I really had to think hard about this, as it has been 20 years that we have been teaching about the importance of the Mosaic. I could picture our first (public) class that Rick and I taught at an IAMPETH (a calligraphy organization) conference. We stood up in front of 100+ people (most of them artists) and spoke for over an hour with no notes, agenda, or plan, only unbridled enthusiasm. After a bit of background of how Zentangle appeared to us, and our reaction to it, we finally began to draw all together. A hush settled across...

P.S.  [to Molly’s wondrous weed blog] In our Certified Zentangle Teacher seminars, we point out that nature “tangles” in a hollibaugh fashion. When you look at the natural world: branches, leaves of grass, mountain peaks; you notice most are “drawn” one behind the other – in other words, in a hollibaugh fashion. In seminars, we also show examples of “aura” in nature: tree growth rings, ripples in a still pond, and growth lines on shells. But until last week, I had never noticed nature drawing an aura like this in the air. Every morning at 10:00, the Zentangle staff gathers for tea...

Molly writes: From almost the beginning, one of the first tangles we teach is crescent moon. In the process of learning this tangle, without even knowing it, you also learn the drawing technique we call aura. Aura, in Zentangle speak, is a line that is drawn close to a previously drawn line that mimics its path like a halo. Aura is a technique that we use in many of our tangles and tanglenhancers. Knowing this technique brings ease and confidence to your practice as you learn new tangles, tackle ways to build composition, and look for inspiration on how to...