Zentangle in Haiti

Follow this link:

http://redthreadpromise.blogspot.com/2013/12/haiti-visible-red-thread.html

 to read a wonderfully inspiring story about kids in Haiti learning to create Zentangles! :-)

-Sandy

A Haiku Hello...

A haiku hello
   Have you tangled recently?
      Please share your work here!

We would love to feature more student work here on the Zentangle for Kidz website. So here is a new challenge for you to try:

hurry, avreal
ibex, keeko, umble, ahh
huggins, hollibaugh

Opportunity:
   zentangle and poetry
      pair together well.

Haiku you can do:
   tangle names provide the words;
      just count syllables.

Seventeen total
   syllables are all you need
      Five, seven, and five.

Will you try to write
   A haiku inspiration
      for Zentangle art...

Or perhaps compose
   a haiku based on tangles
      featured in a tile.

In the example above, I first wrote the poem, using tangles that started with the letters that spell "haiku." I ended up having multiple "h" tangles...because they made me happy. Then I drew a string with enough sections to accommodate all of the tangles. For this piece I used an Apprentice™ tile and pen (also known as a Pigma 05). It felt a bit strange trying to force all of the tangles into a section ... I had to think about where each one would go in advance, which is not how I typically work. But it felt good to challenge myself.

Perhaps you are not interested in writing poetry. No worries! If you do not wish to write a haiku, you could choose to draw a Zentangle tile or ZIA (Zentangle-Inspired Artwork) based on someone else's poetry.

An option: tangle
   A design based on haiku
       that someone else wrote.

I'll post some "Tile Starters" in haiku format soon. I will write some, but I hope that others—students, teachers, parents, etc.—will choose to contribute so that this is an interactive endeavor!

Why haiku you ask?
   I give Caroline credit
      for this new focus.

For those who don't know, Caroline is my daughter; she's in 10th grade. In Caroline's Zentangle blog that she started in August, she ended her second entry with what she called a haiku of forgiveness for the imperfections in the tile she created:

You may get a smudge,

an unintentional mark,

but it's all okay.

Ever since, haiku structure had been occasionally taking over my thought process. I have been going through phases in which I can't help but try to find ways to express ideas with the 5-7-5 syllable structure.

I love haiku. You?
   Here's why it appeals to me:
      Pure simplicity.

I have chosen haiku because it is short and sweet ... a form of poetry that anyone can enjoy reading and/or writing. No need to rhyme. Haiku is deceptively simple. Often with haiku, ideas have to be cleverly conveyed to fit within the constraints. It's a challenge, but a manageable one. The words of a haiku are like the strokes used to compose a tangle. The strokes that are chosen and the way those strokes are arranged can have a beautiful impact ... in a small space.

Happy Tangling!
-Amy Broady, CZT
Knoxville, Tennessee

Guest Artist - Ellen Wolters

As you may remember, everyone who entered the final Challenge was a "winner" of a Tangle Card pack. I recently received this note on Facebook:

Ellen Wolters > BEEZ ink Studio       Been playing in my kidsclass with the Tangle Cards I won with your challenge! We had real fun, check it out:
http://tekenpraktijkdeinnerlijkewereld.blogspot.nl/2013/09/beans.html
Again thank you so much for the cards!

I was blown away by how clever the idea was. We ALL know that Lilah Beans have "tangled" hair - but I had never seen hair THAT tangled!  What fun to use her hair as a "sampler"?

Here is Ellen's post from her blog along with the great images (used with permission of course). 
The original post (in Dutch) is HERE. I had Google translate it into English:

A while ago I took part in a challenge by Sandy Steen Bartholomew. She is the author of many books on tangling, but also an illustrator and much more. 

Her daughter created Lilah Bean, a bean-shaped creature ​​in various tangles. 
 

I won a prize for the challenge: a set of cards with tangles and the Kids' edition with Lilah Bean! Of course they had to be played with. The children made ​​their own Lilah Beans (Bean Blackbird, Maud Bean, Bean Simone, Lindsay Bean, Eva Bean, Bean Marijn and I of course, made Ellen Bean). 

We gave the Beans a nose and ears. You can purchase such a card set or read more about Sandy Steen Bartholomew. Look at her Facebook site: Sandy Steen Bartholomew or shop in the online store.

These were made by ​​the children. Everyone tangled on each drawing in one or more boxes. 

Ellen's Blog is:  http://www.tekenpraktijkdeinnerlijkewereld.blogspot.com (Drawing Practice The Inner World) Be sure to look around on the site. Ellen has made some great videos (she has one of my Annee!) and tangled alphabets, etc.... enjoy!

And the Winner of the Tag — You're I T T T! Contest is...

TBD. To be determined.

Did any of you wonder about the "Tag — You're I T T T!" contest?
(I T T T = Invited To Tangle a Tag.)
Anyone?
The contest ran for several weeks and was supposed to end August 18th. Did you notice that I never posted a winner?

Well, that's because no one wanted to play. I had zero entries. Not a single one. To be honest, I felt like a kid at recess who wants to play a game that nobody else is interested in. But maybe I was just the lone kid left in town when everyone else was on vacation. For whatever reason, I didn't get any tag entries. So I decided to put a freeze on it (Freeze Tag, remember that?!) until after Sandy's Pingline contest. Which was awesome! I am so excited by the artwork that was posted to our Facebook page for that one! Wow. So fun!!! Which is what it's all about.

My teenager Caroline thought that tangling tags was really fun. Here are some of hers. She's not eligible for the contest, however. So NOW is there anyone who will play with me? I hope so! I am making the new deadline September 15th. You now have about 2 weeks...I bet you can find a tag to tangle! If you can't find one, why don't you make one? Just cut up an old cereal box or file folder...make it a simple shape or a funky one! Punch a hole and add some string or yarn if you want.

I am going to follow Sandy's lead and invite you to post your entries at the Zentangle for Kidz facebook page. If you do not have a Facebook account, you can still email your entry to me at cztamy@gmail.com, and I will happily post it for you.

Adults are certainly welcome to enter, but only kids will be eligible to win the prize--a pack of Yoga for Your Brain Tangle Cards, Kids Edition. Because I hope to have a range of ages participate, the winner will be based on a random drawing of those who enter.

Please tell me you'll play! Please tell me you're glad that the contest is still going on and you still have a chance to enter! Please send me entries, or post them to our facebook page! It would be fun! And it would mean a lot to me.

Happy Tangling!
Amy Broady, Knoxville TN

High School Tangler - Christina Turturiello

CZT Linda Cobb sent me some amazing work by Christina Turturiello a senior at Honesdale High School, Honesdale, PA. 

Christina took part in a HS Summer Arts Academy Zentangle class taught by Linda Cobb and Linda Halvorsen. These pieces are so beautiful - I hope they inspire you too!

Tag--You're I T T T ! Who's Playing?

What kind of tag will YOU tangle?

Earlier this month I introduced a new contest...yikes! That was almost two weeks ago! You can see that post here. Time really does fly faster in the summer! Have you tangled any tags yet?

I need explain the rules, and I'm eager to find out who's going to play. Will YOU? Please? Everyone is invited...but the prize is only for kids, of course.

It's simple to play; just tangle a tag and take a picture or scan it. Send the jpg file to me at cztamy@gmail.com. I will need your first name and last initial, your city & state, and your age in years along with the grade you will be entering this year. For example:
Caroline B. from Knoxville, TN (age 15/grade10).
If you only want to put your state, and not inlcude the city, that's okay, too.

 

If you are under the age of 13, please check with your parents and make sure you have their permission to enter! If you are 13 and older, you are still welcome to check with your parents, of course. They like it when you tell them what you are up to.

If you are over 18, you are welcome to send me photos of your tangled tags...just note your first name, last initial, city, and that you are an adult. For example:
Amy B. from Knoxville, TN (adult).
These entries are not eligible for the prize.

Next week, you can submit another tangled tag to have another entry. (It has to be a different tag, however--no multiple entries of the same tangled tags.) You can submit one entry per week. Well, you can submit more than that, but only one entry per week will be eligible for the drawing...and only entries from kids. The contest will run through Sunday, August 18th. That's 3 weeks; you can have up to 3 entries that count for the prize (as long as you are not over the age of 18). You are welcome to send more than that!

When you send an entry to me at cztamy@gmail.com, I am assuming that I have the right to publish it here on th Zentangle for Kidz blog and to identify you by your first name and last initial, your location, and your age/grade. I do not know how many I will be publishing--but I'd love to publish a bunch!

Above is a snapshot of some tags I found here at my house...different sizes, colors, and shapes. I know I have others, too...but this is plenty to get me started! I'm excited about the tags with windows...but I have no idea how I am going to tangle them yet!

Please leave me a comment below if you are intending to play TAG! with us...and I'll be checking my email for entries!!!

Let me know if you have any questions....
Happy Tag Tangling!
-Amy Broady, CZT-

Zentangle-y Mural

We started work on a fabulous Zentangle-y mural yesterday as part of our town's Spring Into Warner event. To see lots more photos, take a look at my Studio BeeHive blog post. 

If you wish you could have been there... there's still more to do! May 24th and 31st from 3-5pm and finish work on Sat. June 8th from 11am on. It's really FUN!

The Lilah Beans are IN the Building!

My daughter Lilah and I spent this weekend making signs for the windows of OUR new studio, The BeeHive. It's open to the public on Fridays from 3-9pm and Lilah likes to teach everyone how to draw her Beans. Of course.

I made a huge banner to let everyone know the hours and that there was "Zentangle® Inside," so she let them know that there would be Lilah Beans too

 Here is a glimpse into her artistic process.

Most of Lilah's art starts by laying out the text (the words) first. Since Lilah Beans are slightly mischievous by nature, they slip into the picture before it is their turn...

"Cool Beans!"

Oooooo.... Monster Beans...

It was very important that every letter in the word "Friday" have at least three Lilah Beans each.

 Uh-oh, this Bean is really going to be in trouble! Swinging on a can of paint?! Well, I guess that is truth in advertising. Last Friday did get a bit rowdy (Katy Perry's song is dead-on). By the time all the Lilah Beans left at 4:30, the chaos had reached every nook in the studio... even the bear's cave in the forest bore strange markings on the walls!

 You are wondering - "Where does the inspiration for these crazy little Beans come from?"

 The Original Lilah Bean!!

If you are in the Warner, NH area on a Friday afternoon, Lilah and I (and the Lilah Beans!) hope that you will stop in and visit. And maybe create something too.

Happy Holidays!

Read the rest of the post, here. ;-D

Family Zen Zone

Hello Tanglers! Mrs. Broady here...I've been busy teaching and tangling and rarely sit down long enough to post, but I am so eager to tell you of one of my latest Zentangle adventures.

The school where I work has a wonderful program called P.A.W.S. (Participating After-school With Success). It is organized by our amazing PTA and it runs twice a year. Students sign up and go to a six-session series based on a fun theme, like Cooking or Kickball...or Hip Hop...or Legos...or Duck Tape! One year I taught an Origami P.A.W.S. class, but my family schedule doesn't always allow me to be part of the P.A.W.S. class offerings. This fall, however, I found a way to make it work. I've always thought it would be neat to do a hands-on art class that parents could enjoy right next to their kids; since I love tangling with my daughter, I thought Zentangle would be ideal. And so I proposed Family Zen Zone. I had three families sign up and we have been meeting on Mondays to tangle together since late September. We had a fourth family participate for few sessions, too. I taught 4 or 5 new tangles each week, except last week I only taught one: Auraknot--a complicated tangle, but so worth exploring! At that class, we didn't even do a tile, we just explored Auraknot on paper, and I challenged everyone to do a tile at home over the course of the week.

I have enjoyed this class immensely and am sad that tomorrow will be our final official session. But I am so glad for the time we have spent together!

The students and their parents did beautiful work.

Here are some of our class mosaics:

This is the grand mosaic of everything they have done so far!

I am sharing all this to encourage others to seek opportunities for parent/child tangle sessions. Perhaps a CZT in your area could offer a workshop or series of classes. How fun it is for parents to learn the skill of tangling right next to their son or daughter!

One of the Moms who brought her twin daughters to the class became so enamored with Zentangle, I think she's been tangling day and night between every session! She brought me some of her completed ZIAs, and I just have to share them here.

Can you believe that she has been tangling less than two months?!

Thank you, Nancy!

Fashionista pics

After seeing what Eva and Mia did with their Tangled Fashionista artwork, I shouldn't have been surprised to see my own daughter's art. Tangled Fashionista was originally intended to be a satire - a spoof- of the glamorous fashion magazines that fill the racks at bookstores. I thought it would be fun for teens and adults, but it really seems to appeal to kids too!

Last week I was cleaning up Lilah's "art studio" and found her copy of Fashionista. I was curious - and nosey - and here is what I found... (Coloring books.... not just for tangling anymore!)

The Tangles of Kells... for Kids

In August, I posted about my new ebook, The Tangles of Kells. (Read the post HERE). Although the movie is animated, and it is meant for kids, it didn't occur to me that the ebook would ALSO appeal to kids! I received a reminder in the form of an email from Elizabeth:

First off, I had no idea that the Secret of Kells existed, but my children did! I had a wonderful afternoon watching it on Netflix with my 6 year old and pausing it and watching and pausing, etc. She loves to tangle, so we had a great time looking at all the art. It's gorgeous!

Second, I wanted to send you this picture of Mia on her birthday. She loved Tangled Fashionista! Feel free to use it on your blog or where ever you like :).
Attached are some jpgs.

(LOVE the green-haired Lilah Beans!!!)

The dress was done by my 6 year old, Eva.

Nice use of sparkle gel pens!!

 The boots by my 11 year old, Mia.
Peace,
Elizabeth
http://yogafairy.com/