Zentangle all-day workshop

These are the zentangle-inspired mandalas created by the workshop participants.

Saturday, October 16

Yay! Stoked for the all-day workshop!

We’ve been planning this for a couple of months.  We’ve booked the Devic Center southwest of Saskatoon. We’ve had a couple of meetings and a lot of e-mails. We went out the evening before to set-up. My partner in Zentangle crime is Laura Harms, another CZT (Certified Zentangle Teacher).  She’s 7.5 months pregnant, and her two-year-old son had arrived prematurely.  You can see where this might be going, right?

8:30 Saturday morning. I’m about to leave. My cell phone rings. It’s Laura.  “Hi! Umm, I’m on the way to the hospital for an assessment. We’ll find out if I’m actually in labor or not. I’ll keep you posted.”  I tell her not to worry, and wish them all the best. I’m on my own!

When I tell all the participants the situation and there’s a round of gasps and oohs and anticipation. At 10:30 I received a text message: “Baby arriving today. I’ll be in touch.” Two hours later I received another text message that their son had been "born Oct 16 11:31 am 3 lbs 15 oz”. I share this with everyone and text back: “Congrats from all here! Best wishes to all!!!"

We did four tiles, a total of 22 tangles plus some variations and embellishments. As usual, it’s so interesting to see the variety of interpretations when everyone starts with the same instructions and the same patterns. Two of the participants have learned some zentangle before, but four are beginners.

As a special zentangle-inspired art project we had decided to have everyone create a mandala. Using a mandala meant that we could stay with the idea of not drawing a picture of something, and it matters little where ‘up’ and ‘down’ are. I cut 6”-square papers and drew pencil circles and rays on them ahead of time. We gave each student a colored pen and a matching pencil. Away they went! I think mandalas welcome sparkle and I often put tiny gems on mine, so I brought along some gems for the students to use if they wanted.

You can see more photos of the day on my Facebook artist page.

I cleaned up the room and packed up the car. Then I walked the stone 7-circuit labyrinth accompanied by four young cats who practised stalking and pouncing when I passed by and climbed all over me when I sat on the bench at the center. When I drove away the western sky was pink and orange. Four deer crossed the country road and stopped on my right as I drove slowly by.

Must do this again sometime!