In June, as many of you may know, I went to Rhode Island to the CZT training with Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas, founders of Zentangle. It was an experience that I will always treasure. On day one, class one, I sat down in an empty seat at one of the long tables set up for us to hear and watch the talks. I introduced myself to the person on my right and the person on my left. Amazingly enough, out of the 110 attendees at our training, both of these people lived within 50 miles of me in California.
This serendipitous experience gave me the idea of having a Certified Zentangle Teacher's get together at my house. Yesterday, it happened. We ended up with five CZT's at my house yesterday morning for a few hours.
Each of us shared our Zentangles and other artwork that we had brought with us. There was much beautiful art to see. CZT's tend to be talented, interesting people! Then we tangled together, with each person having brought a favorite tangle pattern to share. You can see here one of the tiles we did, with some of the variations as each individual interpreted the patterns in their own way. The big triangle in the center, do you know the name of that tangle? We just called it the L-tangle because you draw L-shapes over and over. If you know its name, please leave a comment! I offered my favorite tangle 'Dillo, and you can see the armadillos marching around on one side. Finally we learned Cirque, on the other side. It has cool basket-y shapes with flux-type leaves. Really easy as pie to draw once you see the step-outs. I enjoyed the effortless of it. This confirmed the Zentangle motto, Anything is possible, one stroke at a time! And I always love learning new tangles I had never seen before, especially from a person rather than from a webpage or a book.
I had a really great time with this wonderful group. Each of the people had a unique perspective and much to offer the others. We discussed meeting once a month and rotating through each other's homes. Sounds like it will happen!
I love the Zentangle community, not only this new local group but world-wide. This was an added gift. I thought I had discovered a wonderful new art form, meditative, a straight shot into the zone. Little did I realize that I had also discovered a community that has values I wholeheartedly subscribe to. Above all, encouragement. Appreciation for whatever you have done that touches the others. Taking the time to find the gem and focusing on what is working.
When I go online, I discover so many interesting, talented, creative people who just revel in sharing with one another. Even if I can't read the language of their websites, I can appreciate the Zentangles they post. The Zentangle community's spirit is completely supportive, never critical or harsh. It's a heartfelt group. Many people share their work and many others comment freely. I can always feel that supportive feeling when I engage with this group. And I know that believing in each other helps us all to flower and grow.
If you want to get connected to this wonderful group, please see my blog post on Online Resources.
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