Where I've Lived

Linda Farmer recently issued a challenge to tangle your name, although not the way you might think. I tried it and you can read about that in a previous post.  It got me thinking and I decided to tangle where I've lived, using the same idea. My next thought was that I've lived in cities and on streets. I would just have to do a tile for each.

These are the cities I've lived in, and the tangles I did to represent them:

Toronto ON - Tipple

Saskatoon SK - Shattuck

Rimouski QC - Rain

Montreal QC - Meer

Hull QC - Hollibaugh
Chesterville ON - Chartz

Osgoode, which was amalgamated into Ottawa ON- Opus

(Saskatoon again)

Hohhot (China) - Hurakán

Huai'an (China) - Hibred

(Saskatoon again)

And here's the tile:

These are the streets I've lived on (I needed 13 sections!), and the tangles I did to represent them:

(unknown in Toronto; I was 0-4 months old!) - blank section

University Drive - Umble

Simpson Crescent - Strircles

rue Principale - Parabola (by Jo Newsham)

(forgotten, in Rimouski)  - blank section

avenue des Pins - Paradox

rue Radisson - Raddox

Joseph Street - Jonqal

Taylor Way - Tidings

Quill Crescent - Quabog

(unknown in Hohhot)  - blank section

(unknown in Huai'an)  - blank section

Avenue V - Vermal 

And here's the tile:

Some post-tangle thoughts...
I really like Hollibaugh with those curved, ribbony bands. Must do that more.
I've never used Vermal before. It was quite fun and, to me, has a child-like look.
I like Parabola but I always start it too small. Better luck next time.
I find Quabog difficult. I like it... but difficult. I see it in others' tiles so nicely done!

The Google Art Project

Google is collaborating with some of the world’s most acclaimed art museums to enable people to discover and view more than a thousand artworks online in remarkable detail. To date 17 museums are participating, including the  Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the Tate Museum in London, and the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

Using Google's Street View technology you can virtually move around the museum’s galleries, navigate interactive floor plans, select works of art that interest you and learn more about the museum.

Visit the Google Art Project. I recommend watching the three minute Visitor Guide video.

 CONTEST  UPDATE: 

Thanks to everyone who's entered my contest so far! I'm getting lots of great thoughts to share with Zentangle students.

Here's another metaphor, quoted in the Zentangle newsletter of January 2010. This one's from Carol Bailey Floyd, CZT: 

Zentangle is visual music.

Remember that in a metaphor you're not just describing something, you're comparing it to something that is actually unrelated. Referring to some of my earlier examples: the process of zentangle and life (anything is possible...), the zentangle tile and personality (unique and individual), a zentangle tile and life (a different perspective).

Keep 'em coming. Enter as often as you like.

I have five favorites so far. This is going to be tough!

Metaphors. And a Contest!

The Zentangle art form, it has been discovered, engenders metaphors. In fact, it may be more than a metaphor as Carole Ohl so aptly expresses in her blog post from last summer.

A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to something in order to suggest a resemblance, but to which it doesn't literally apply. An example would be “You are the sunlight of my day.” You are not actually sunlight, but you brighten my day. Well, you don't physically "brighten" my day... you get the idea. A metaphor is also something that is used as a symbol to represent something else; the national flag or the capital city are often metaphors for the country or its government, as in "Yesterday, Ottawa announced plans to shorten winter next year."

I was talking with some friends recently and this definition of 'metaphor' came up:

"... a process of comparing and identifying one thing with another. Then, as we see what 
things have in common, we see the general meaning they have. Now, the ability to see the
relationship between one thing and another is almost a definition of intelligence. Thinking
in metaphors... is a tool of intelligence. Perhaps it is the most important tool."

(Louis Simpson in "An Introduction to Poetry" p.6)

I knew we zentangling folks were smart cookies!

"Anything is possible, one stroke at a time."™  

... has been adopted by Zentangle founders Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas as the official metaphor, seen in lots of Zentangle materials. When the zentangle tile is complete, we can give people a bit of good advice for life and encourage them to

"Look at it from a different angle."  

"View it from another perspective."

Even the tile itself is a metaphor. When everyone in a class has completed a tile it's great fun to bring them all together on the table so the students can see everyone else's artwork. Even with the same string, same tangles, and same instructions it's always amazing how

"Every Zentangle tile is unique and original, just like the person who created it."

During a recent weekly zentangle challenge Maria created a spectacular tile with hearts going off the edge of the tile and the negative spaces filled with wonderful, ribbony Hollibaugh. Some people noticed the hearts right away; others needed to have them pointed out. I think there's another metaphor there:

"It isn't always obvious what holds it all together."

 I like to share these metaphors with my students during a class. I'd like to have more metaphors to share. I'd like hear other metaphors that arise from Zentangle. So... 

* * *  I'M  HAVING  A  CONTEST!  * * *

Here are the details:

1. Tell me one or more zentangle-related metaphors that you've discovered. Leave a comment after this post or, if you prefer, e-mail me. Metaphors mentioned above are ineligible :-)
2. You have until 5:31 on March 20, Saskatoon time - the vernal equinox at my spot on the globe - to send metaphors. Okay, I'll be lenient. Let's say midnight your time March 20.
3. I'll share my favorite responses in a future blog post, and I'll choose a favorite and award a prize. There's no rubric or criteria here, just my personal 'Oh, wow!' decision.
4. I'll do my best to have a winner by the end of March, but sometimes life interferes with life. Be patient.

A grammar lesson:
Don't use 'like' or 'as'. That would make it a simile. "Zentangle is like a breath of fresh air" is not eligible. "Zentangle is a breath of fresh air" is.

The prize, you ask?

The prize is one of my original zentangle-inspired artworks: your choice of any one of the apple corer mandalas I've posted here on the blog. You can see three of them here and several more here. I'll contact the winner and get your mailing address. It won't be framed; I don't want to risk mailing glass. One thing to note: "Rose Window" is no longer available. It's been sold.

And just to sweeten the pot, here are two more:

SUN STARS - 12 cms. (5") square; pen-and-ink; colored pencil

©2011 Margaret Bremner (Betweed, Flux, Gneiss, Printemps, Striping, Tipple, wavy lines)

SECTIONS - 12 cms. (5") square; pen-and-ink; colored pencil

©2011 Margaret Bremner (Cubine, Finery, Flux, Meer, checked Aura)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Amazing art cars: one in particular

At a recent Zentangle class one of the students, Noreen, shared this photo with us:

On this website you'll find cars painted by the likes of Andy Warhol, John Lennon, Jeff Koons and Roy Lichtenstein. The one Noreen brought is the “Sharpie Lamborghini” Gallardo by Jona Cerwinske, who is apparently a graffiti artist and - if internet search engines are anything to go by - best known for this car.  

   

“Normally it'd be a sin to write on a $240,000 Lamborghini in permanent marker. Not so with the "Sharpie" Lamborghini, a veritable rolling piece of art. Designed to represent forward movement, graffiti artist Jona Cerwinske's intricate design is nothing short of awesome.”

See more photos here.

Artoo

Zentangle weekly challenge number nine is to use a new tangle designed by Laura Harms, the Diva who issues the weekly challenges! :-) ARTOO is the name of the tangle, and also Laura's blog name for her younger son who was in the hospital for a spell recently.

In the first tile I used a "Brush" pen I've had for a while to do the 'artoos'. I discovered that it's running out of ink, but I like the heavy lines it provided when I pressed a little harder and touched 'em up with a regular pen. (Think I'll get a new one and see what I can do with it.) The second tile is more delicate. Interestingly, both have an underlying spiral form.

HVD2U!

Zentangle-inspired Artist Trading Cards for a Valentine themed swap.

Sand Man, Sand Dancer, Sand Art

Peter Donnelly has three or four hours between tides to produce his artwork. He's based in Christchurch, New Zealand and his canvas is the sand at the beach. He's working down on the beach, of course, and doesn't have an arial perspective of the large images he's making, but he says he's always been able to picture things in his head.

Donnelly's work echoes the philosophy of the Tibetan Buddhist monks who create sand mandalas and demonstrate the impermanence of everything. He knows that it's all temporary and does it anyway. In one video he mentions that he has created 697 works in nine years. You'll see swirls, checkerboards, teardrops, spirals, words, human forms, labyrinths and more. Zentangle enthusiasts will recognize a kindred spirit who also works dark on light, taking the lines and patterns wherever the spirit moves him, albeit on a much larger scale!

Watch a 10 minute video of Peter Donnelly and his work here.

See some still photos and another video, and read a bit more here.

More mandala fun with the apple corer thingy

Previously on the Enthusiastic Artist blog...
We read about using an apple corer gadget as a simple template for a small mandala. This could be used with various art materials, but I've used Zentangle drawing. Here's what I've been doing lately. They are all done on five inch square paper.

SAND STAR

pen & ink and colored pencil; 2011 ©Margaret Bremner

Gneiss, Ixorus, tiny circles

CRYSTALS

pen & ink and colored pencil; 2011 ©Margaret Bremner

Daggerly, N'Zeppel, Rain, aura, tiny circles

FIREBALL

pen & ink and colored pencil; 2011 ©Margaret Bremner

Rain, Aura, tiny circles

PRISM

pen & ink and colored pencil; 2011 ©Margaret Bremner

Beadlines, Flux, Perfs, checked aura, tiny circles

CROSS SECTION

pen & ink and colored pencil; 2011 ©Margaret Bremner

Ixorus, Wud, tiny circles

ROSE WINDOW

pen & ink and colored pencil; 2011 ©Margaret Bremner

Coaster, Flux, Gneiss, Meer, Rick's Paradox, Tipple, Wud, tiny circles

Hearts Challenge

This week's challenge from the Diva (Laura Harms, CZT) is to create a tile with hearts using two previous challenges.

Laura has two little boys. The older is two years old. The younger was a preemie last fall and is now four months out in this world. He's had a lot of troubles and challenges in his short time here, the most recent being a bout of pneumonia. He's in hospital and Laura is staying with him. This week's challenge came with a request for healing energy and thoughts for her tiny trooper.

Here's my contribution.

I used a blind string and Ixorus with heart shapes. The string made an "O" in the middle.
O for Artoo :-)
It looked sort of empty so I added four more hearts for mum, dad, big brother, and baby. Get well soon little guy, and stay that way!

ZEDBRA tangle instructions

Of the eight Certified Zentangle Teachers (CZTs) in Canada, two of us are in Saskatoon. Go figure. Laura Harms and I didn't know each other until we met at the CZT training in Whitinsville in May 2010. That autumn we offered an all-day zentangle workshop.

'Z' in American is pronounced 'zee'. 'Z' in Canadian is pronounced 'zed'. This tangle pattern is black and white and stripey, like a zebra. Or for fun, not zeeebra but ZED-BRA.  It was a collaborative effort, named by Laura and designed my me. See Zedbra on one of my zentangle tiles here (the second last tile). See Zedbra on one of Laura's zentangle tiles here (with highlights, which she does much better than I!).

(Personally, I think of myself as a "See Zee Tee" - it rolls off the tongue more nicely.)

M'Orbs

Follow-up on a previous Challenge...
After the Diva's (Laura Harms) fifth weekly challenge to do ORBS, and the launch of the new tangle(ation) IXORUS, I found myself still engaged in orbs and interested in Ixorus. I went a bit larger and full-color. I began with a two-pencil string and added some large circles with a template. I'm pretty happy with the result. Here are more orbs, m'orbs, "Orbs":

ORBS; 15 cms. (6") square; pen & ink and colored pencil; © 2011 Margaret Bremner

Breathe

Laura's weekly Zentangle challenge number seven: Remember to Breathe. Relax, smile, and breathe.