January 02, 2023

Zentangle® – December 2022

January 02, 2023/ Gwen Morrison

31 tiles selected from those made in December. There were not as many to choose from as usual. My week in Carrollton was so busy that I didn’t make as many tiles…and crocheting was competing for time (and had priority since I was working on a lacy white scarf I wanted to wear during the holidays).

Most tiles are square this month…and include experiments with a variety of pens.

Enjoy the December 2022 mosaic!

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, 2022

Zentangle® – November 2022

December 01, 2022/ Gwen Morrison

30 Zentangle tiles made in November…or rather 30 chosen from the much larger number of tiles I made during the month. The tiles are all squares this month – a rare occurrence for me. I was trying not jump ahead to December motifs but couldn’t resist a cluster of stylized trees and red dots! Otherwise, I stayed focused on the fading green and orange color pallet for fall…and then using up gel pens from my sister’s teaching career for the tiles I made while I was in Carrollton.

Enjoy the November 2022 mosaic!

November 01, 2022

Zentangle® – October 2022

November 01, 2022/ Gwen Morrison

31 days in October….31 Zentangle tiles. A lot of the tiles this month have a seasonal palette: orange, muted red, pale green. I had a purple gel pin that I was using up too. Most of the tiles in the mosaic were made in London, Ontario during the hotel room part of my ‘retreat’ from my normal routine. One of the ways I filled the time I gained from not doing online activities or interacting with people was making the tiles. I had taken plenty of supplies.

I also drew 31 tiles that I didn’t color. I’ll probably finish them next month…maybe post the before and after images.

October 16, 2022

London, Ontario Tree Sculptures and Murals

October 16, 2022/ Gwen Morrison

Like many small cities, London, Ontario has street trees to break the monotony of concrete, asphalt, and brick. The tree sculptures make it different. They are positioned along the streets in similar positions that real trees might be desirable, but the sidewalk is too narrow or there is some reason that a real tree would not thrive. The pole (trunk) and the ‘canopy’ of the sculptures take less space…and they will be the same size year after year. I enjoyed the sculptures in the early fall and realized they would make the streets more colorful and appealing in winter when the real trees nearby would be without their leaves.

The city has buildings of various ages…some over 100 years old. Murals have been painted on some of the brick walls.

The sea mural was the largest…partially hidden by a construction project.

My favorite was the mural across from it – also partially hidden by the construction project.

Overall – the sculpture and murals always made my walks around the central part of London, Ontario more interesting!

October 02, 2022

Zentangle® – September 2022

October 02, 2022/ Gwen Morrison

“30 days has September…so this post features 30 tiles. I was consciously using a variety of colors (inks and tiles) and patterns. Some of the tiles were made in Texas…I seem to create a lot of tiles during the week I am at my parents’ house while I sit with them as they watch television or work on a jigsaw puzzle. I am still using older pens and tiles from recycled materials although there were a few official Zentangle tiles I found from a class I went to several years ago…rediscovered when I was packing to move from Maryland to Missouri.

September 21, 2022

Dried Roses

September 21, 2022/ Gwen Morrison

Sometimes the roses I bring indoors for my windowsill or a center piece on the table turn into subjects for macro photography as they fade…before they go into the compost pile. While they all start out as a pinkish red, there are variations in color that develop as the petals dry. Often the color darkens to a burgundy…other times there are tinges of orange and yellow. I used several variations in magnification with my phone (Samsung Galaxy S10e) for these images….was pleased with the results.

My phone is almost always with me and I’m still in awe at the quality of images it can produce. The cameras in phones have come a long way in the past 10 years…and mine is not even ‘top of the line’ at this point! The technology is no longer a limiting factor for much of the photography I want to do. It’s up to me to be creative…and consciously utilize the technology in my hand!

September 04, 2022

Zentangle® – August 2022

September 04, 2022/ Gwen Morrison

31 days in August – and 31 tiles selected for this post! There are more since two of the ‘tiles’ are mosaics of 6 triangular tiles!

There is a little skew toward rectangular tiles this month. All of them were made at home in Missouri. I tend to enjoy the slightly larger format. I have a green paint pen that I use to fill some of the larger areas. I’ve been thinking about the trends in the tiles I am making now. There is joy is not preplanning too much…just starting out and letting the tile emerge from the string or a simple initial pattern…enjoying the color application is much as the drawing!

Many of the square tiles were made in Carrollton…enjoying the leftover gel pens from my sister’s teaching career. I deplete a few more every time I am in Carrollton.

August 01, 2022

Zentangle® – July 2022

August 01, 2022/ Gwen Morrison

31 days in July….31 Zentangle tiles! I made 100 during the month so had plenty to choose from. The majority were circular or square since those are the ones I tend to make when I am traveling…and I made a lot of tiles on the2 road trips in July: to Maryland/back to Missouri and visiting my parents in Texas. I have a box that holds tiles and a few pens that is easy to pack; the color palette is limited though. In Texas, I use some aging gel pens left over from my sister’s teaching career; more and more of them are dry or out of ink each time I visit. Enjoy my July 2022 Zentangle mosaic!

July 06, 2022

Springfield Art Museum

July 06, 2022/ Gwen Morrison

The first time I went to the Springfield Art Museum was back in June 2019 when I was helping my daughter move from State College PA into a rental house in Springfield MO; the key had not worked to open the door to the house and it was too hot to wait outside for the rental agent; we escaped to the air conditioned space of the museum. It was another hot day last month when my daughter, sister and I visited although we went for the museum itself rather than an escape for heat.

The Mend Piece participatory exhibit was just off the large entry way. There were tables of broken white cups with supplies to put them together (twine, glue, white rubber bands). My daughter and sister went on to see the other exhibits while I made my ‘creation’ with ceramic pieces, rubber bands, and a little twine. The twine was more decorative than structural. It was a good experience for me…caused me to realize that my daily Zentangle practice has developed my artist side that had been buried for most of my life! A man that was working on his creation when I came into the room and was still working on it when I left commented that it seemed like it was very familiar with this kind of activity!

I caught up with my sister and daughter in the Watercolor USA exhibit. That exhibit encouraged people to vote for their favorite. It was a difficult choice.

After walking around the rest of the museum, my sister decided to do a Mend Piece as well. She created a flower! It looked best still on the table…not clear that the glue was going to hold well enough.

We both put our pieces on the display shelf along with creations of other museum visitors.

A hot afternoon well spent!

July 03, 2022

Zentangle® – June 2022

July 03, 2022/ Gwen Morrison

30 Zentangle tiles for June; it was challenging find the time to make tiles in June with the crescendo of activity for our move to Missouri…but very worthwhile to help me decompress.

I found myself enjoying new Sharpie Ultra Fine pens and savoring some newly discovered gel pins; both provided the smooth glide of color onto the variety of tile materials during the month. The paper coasters (round and square) were in the box I carried with me on all my travels. I rediscovered an unopened box of the round ones as I was packing…will return to them in the months ahead.

My favorite tiles are probably the light brown ones made from recycled lightweight cardboard or old file folders. Both square

And rectangular.

There are still a few tiles made from old pocket folders saved my daughter’s K-12 days; I found more of those folders as I packed to move…will cut them into tiles as some point.

I had a few tiles that were a narrower rectangle…the back of pads of paper I used up….and then had the cardboard left to repurpose!

June 01, 2022

Zentangle® – May 2022

June 01, 2022/ Gwen Morrison

31 Zentangle tiles for May. It was a little more challenging to do one a day with the flurry of activity getting ready to move….but I did it (although with fewer extra tiles than usual). There were more rectangular tiles in May because I was at home; the rectangular tiles don’t fit as well as the square tiles in the box is take when I travel as happened in prior months…and will happen in June too.

May 01, 2022

Zentangle® – April 2022

May 01, 2022/ Gwen Morrison

30 tiles – because April has 30 days.

It seemed like there were more tile shapes this month – rectangles of different sizes, foot shaped (created on cardboard that held footies I bought for summer) and round.

Many of the tiles were made while I was travelling. I had a box with blank tiles and a few pens that was easy to pack; the color selection was limited. The box was just barely large enough to provide support for a tile as I drew patterns and finished with colors.

I’ve already planned to only create square tiles for the next month so that I can use my phone rather than a scanner for the May post…I don’t want to delay the post because I am between houses (i.e. without the luxury of my full home office)!

April 22, 2022

The Early Christian Monuments of Scotland (eBook)

April 22, 2022/ Gwen Morrison

Internet Archive has the 3 volumes of The Early Christian monuments of Scotland by John Romilly Allen and Joseph Anderson published in 1903 presented in two volumes: The Early Christian monuments of Scotland V1-2 and The Early Christian monuments of Scotland V3.

I enjoyed browsing them (particularly volumes 1-2) from a Zentangle pattern perspective. The patterns looked familiar with many variations of several presented in the book. Now that I am looking at the book again as I write this post…if feel a Zentangle project calling…maybe several. First up – tiles prompted by the ‘spiral ornament’ pages!

March 02, 2022

Zentangle® – February 2022

March 02, 2022/ Gwen Morrison

Even without the Valentine tiles I posted about on 2/14, I still had plenty of tiles to choose from to make the 28 for the February Zentangle post! The square tiles include 2 made from a purple folder I found while cleaning out my office; the color is very dark…requires gel pens for the patterns. There is a square coaster (rounded corners) in the group as well; I found a stack of them that I had forgotten about so there will be more in March.

The rectangular tiles are probably my favorite shape/size. The color of the lightweight cardboard varies slightly. I like the more golden color (the one with cut corners) the best.

The last 4 tiles are on black paper (it is a pad that my daughter bought back in in high school…well over 10 years old)! I’m savoring the black background and the different weight of these tiles…still have more than half the pad left!

February 14, 2022

Valentines!

February 14, 2022/ Gwen Morrison

I used Valentines Day as a prompt for some Zentangle® tiles. At first it was all about heart shaped patterns and red coloring.

My fascination did not last long with the shape…but I did like the red coloring. I started another project with everything the same except for the ‘string’…keeping the red coloring for Valentines Day. It is surprising how different the tiles look with that one change in the frame – string – patterns + coloring - appreciate process.

February 01, 2022

Zentangle® – January 2022

February 01, 2022/ Gwen Morrison

31 days in January…31 Zentangle tiles selected from the ones I created during the month.

I made a commemorative Zentangle tile on the back of the card stock rectangle that was my name plate from the door of my hospital room. The nurse handed it to me just before we headed down to the area where my husband was waiting to take me home….and I covered the back with my patterns a few days later.

There were various types of card stock and cardboard for the square tiles…all reused materials that would have otherwise been recycled. The lighter ones are from decades old file folders from my sister’s clearing out old files from my parents’ storage; some of them were over 50 years old! The darker one was more recent…from boxes of canned soft drinks. In both cases – I use a paper cutter to create the 3.5-inch squares. The limited color palette is caused by me trying to use up older Ultra Fine Sharpies before I open a new package.

The rectangular tiles are all made from light weight cardboard inserted as dividers in boxes of small cans of cat food. There are several kinds…varying shades of light brown. The texture also varies. I used the paper cutter to make them 3.5 x 4.75 inches tiles. Most of the time I prefer the rectangles over the squares – not sure whether it is the larger size or the textures or the colors that are the greatest appeal (probably it is all three!).

January 02, 2022

Zentangle® – December 2021

January 02, 2022/ Gwen Morrison

31 tiles for the 31 days of December….

In the first few days of the month, I continued to use my old pens…but then switched to red (with black…sometimes white) and some Christmas themed patterns. There was a skew toward square tiles rather than rectangular this month…just as there was in November.

I enjoyed the red pen…will return to it for February (valentines). Maybe in January I will pick another color to feature in most tiles….and strive for some very different patterns.

December 01, 2021

Zentangle® – November 2021

December 01, 2021/ Gwen Morrison

30 days in November…so 30 Zentangle® tiles to showcase.

There are a few ‘special’ tiles this month:

This one was started as I was leaving Texas and I took the glittery orange gel pen with me to finish it since it was about out of ink. It ran out before I finished all the fill I had intended….but I still like the tile.

Another special tile is one of the first tiles I made after one of my aunts died suddenly. I acknowledged my preoccupation with her death by using the first letter of her name (L) as the string. There were many other tiles made this month that provided me quiet time to grieve…and remember happy times with her.

And now the 28 other tiles for November 2021!

November 12, 2021

Snapshots of Indigenous Decorative Art in the early 1900s

November 12, 2021/ Gwen Morrison

This week the two books-of-the-week are about decorative art published in the early 1900s about native cultures on opposites sides of the world: The Huichol in Mexico and the Amur tribes in Russia/China (along the Amur River). Both have a relationship to clothing ornamentation.

The sample image from Decorative art of the Huichol Indians by Carl Lumholtz (1904) has a pattern called ‘double water-gourd’ in a ribbon and girdle.

The Decorative Art of the Amur Tribes by Berthold Laufer(1902) also included designs in metal and ceramics. The designs are common in the broader Chinese decorative arts showing the long-term exchange and cultural linkage with these tribes to the rest of China…at least in the early 1900s. The sample image I chose includes a boot – showing how clothing items incorporated decoration.

I like browsing the books and letting the designs prompt Zentangle tiles. I am reminded that art is not static. It is a representation of the moment it was created – a communication through material culture into the future – different but as potent as the written word.

November 01, 2021

Zentangle® – October 2021

November 01, 2021/ Gwen Morrison

31 days in October…picking 31 tiles. They are all rectangular ones this month and all done with old pens…saving my new ones and the square tiles for my road tip. I found myself in so many varying moods during the month and the variable density of the patterns reflects that. There is one tile done entirely in white highlighting pen! Enjoy the Zentangle tile mosaic for October!