February 01, 2018

Zentangle® – January 2018

February 01, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

I created 101 Zentangle tiles in January! The number surprised me so now I am thinking up reasons that I created so many. It was probably a combination of things:

I was at home more and creating tiles is something I enjoy doing when I have time.
There were new pens involved. I had bought a package of 24 Ultra Fine Point Sharpies and was trying to use up the last of the old set…which I did toward the end of the month. Then I was keen to use the new set. What a luxury to have pens full of ink…no skips!
The cleaning out of office supplies resulted in a lot of materials that could be made into tiles (via my paper cutter). I am overwhelmed with a variety of tiles at this point and a pile to of sheets still to make into 3.5 x 3.5 inch squares.

With the 101 to choose from – picking 31 was a challenge. 10 are from old business cards and 21 are from recycled materials (card stock, file folders, Seltzer water boxes).

The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

December 01, 2017

Zentangle® – November 2017

December 01, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

It was a challenge to pick 30 tiles from the 73 that I created in November. The first 13 I made while I was traveling in Texas for the first 2 weeks of the month. I used a clip board or the small box that I used to store pens, blank tiles, and stencils (from the Buntini boxes) as a support for the tiles. I made them in the airport, sitting in rocking chairs or on a bed, outdoors, early in the morning….wherever I was creating the Zentangle created a bubble of calm that made the stress of travel melt away.

I also continued to use the lap table that my daughter used for art work when she was in elementary school. It has handy storage areas on each side to hold pens and blank tiles.

I keep the lap table down in the den and usually am listening to news while I create my tile; I need the Zentangle calm to not be overwhelmed by what I hear!

10 tiles were created in my home office – the place I create the majority of my tiles most months…just not this November!

November 25, 2017

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 25, 2017

November 25, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Millions of Free Botanical Illustrations from the Biodiversity Heritage Library – I look at a lot of books digitized by the Biodiversity Heritage Library via Internet Archive – but their Flickr Account is a good way to see images – lots of them. And it isn’t just botanical. There are birds and insects and mammals and people that study them!

Gorging on Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #112, #113, #114 - Three of them!

The Ultimate Guide to the Wild Turkey and The Fascinating Behavior of Wild Turkeys and Tracing the Wild Origins of the Domestic Turkey – Lots of articles about wild turkeys came out before Thanksgiving. These were my favorites.

BBC - Future - How popcorn became a much-loved snack – Learn a little fun history. Who doesn’t like popcorn?

A Short History of the Crosswalk | Smart News | Smithsonian – Another little history of something that is now quite common. Crosswalks didn’t exist until 1951!

Best National Parks – There are a lot of preferences! How many of the 10 ‘most visited’ have you seen. I’ve been to 7 of them. I’ve only been to 1 of the ‘least visited.’

Urban Refuge: How Cities Can Help Rebuild Declining Bee Populations - Yale E360 – Some examples of how urban gardens impact bee populations; it turns out they are measurably positive! 13% of New York State’s bees were found in New York City community gardens.

Paper Engineer Creates Magnificent Pop-Up Cards – Beautiful and fun to watch opening (i.e. the video).

Stunning 100-Megapixel Moon Photograph Created from NASA Images – From the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter…my daughter helped do the initial image calibration on LRO bak in 2009

See a Brilliant Blue Butterfly Take Flight for the First Time – A video of a blue morpho butterfly emerging from its chrysalis and tumbling to its first flight (it may take time to start…but it’s worth the wait!

November 01, 2017

Zentangle® – October 2017

November 01, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

Zentangles at Staunton River were done on a clipboard – newly purchased, with a compartment that was more than sufficient to hold all the pens and blank tiles. The light outdoors and inside the tent was very bright (sunny days). The Zen of creating the tiles different-than-usual. I picked 10 tiles I made during the 4 days.

I am still enjoying the tiles made from the Seltzer Water cardboard. The color and weight appeal to me. The paper cutter to process the boxes has a semi-permanent home on the island in my kitchen.

zenoct (17).jpg — Picking an old business card as a tile is my favorite for a ‘quick’ Zen fix. I am noticing that I am making a dent in the business cards left over from my career. It feels good to be pre-purposing them rather than simply dumping them in recycle.

October 01, 2017

Zentangle® – September 2017

October 01, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

“Thirty days has September…” so I chose 30 Zentangle tiles from the September pile for this post. It was a busy month and making a tile was a respite from the flurry of all the volunteer activities that were ending and starting and overlapping. I consciously tried some different patterns this month: some that I created as I made the tile and some that I found from other places. I like that and realize that the concentration required to create or try a new pattern adds to the value of creating Zentangle tiles. Click on the grids below to see enlarged versions of any of the tiles. The square tiles are all cut from Seltzer water boxes and the rectangular ones are old business cards.

September 01, 2017

Zentangle® – August 2017

September 01, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

It’s the first of the month – so time to showcase the Zentangle tiles from August: 31 days and 31 Zentangles. 9 of the tiles I chose to include in this post were the backs of old business cards and 22 were square tiles cut from Seltzer water boxes. I realized that I have some patterns that I am using again and again…it’s time to find some new favorites! One theme I used in August was to use some of the lighter – subtler – colors on the cardboard tiles. The color often seems to be embedded into the light brown of the tile: grays, light greens, melons, pinks. The last two are probably my favorites.

August 22, 2017

3 Free eBooks – August 2017

August 22, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

I’ve been enjoying colorful magazines on various topics that are from 2016 and available on Internet Archive. It’s like browsing through a stack of periodicals in the dentist’s office!

House Beautiful (from US and UK) from 2015 and 2016. Available from Internet Archive here. Lots of food for thought if you are redecorating, renovating, or moving to another house and wanting to add something to make it ‘home.’

World of Animals from 2014 and 2017 available from Internet Archive here. Great pictures of animals – many in action – from all over the world.

Canadian Architecture and Design 2009 available from Internet Archive here. Again – great photography…beautiful places. I hope pocket doors become popular again!