The Call...

This week the community of tanglers that was brought together – knitted together – by Laura's challenges, found out that Laura and her baby son, Artoo, are facing major life challenges themselves. The Call went out for us to create a Zentangle (or ZIA*) heart incorporating two previous challenge themes.  Laura wrote, "and maybe you could send your healing intent to our little baby as you do your entry." 

Well... that is exactly what has been happening this week. I have been visiting each heart-felt message, artistically expressed as they have been posted each day – and I have been moved to tears at times, by the great wellspring of Love and Community Spirit that is being sent out to Artoo, Laura and her family (Artoo's older brother and his Dad).

And so, with healing intent, I too answer The Call with this simple Zentangle. 

(Click image to enlarge.)

I used these two challenge themes: Breathe (since that's what Artoo is struggling to do for himself right now) and Simplicity.  The simplicity of a single tangle, Zander.** My heart felt so full of 'healing intent' – way too big to fit onto a single Zentangle tile, so that is why my heart design disappears off the edges.

I wished, as I drew this, that I owned a flask of Lucy Pevensie's cordial:

"In this bottle, there is a cordial made of the juice of the fire-flowers that grow in the mountains of the sun. If you or any of your friends are hurt, a few drops will restore them." [Father Christmas, from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis]

...for with a single drop of such a cordial, I could restore Artoo to perfect health.  However, although we don't have access to magic cordials in the 'real' world, the healing intent that has been brewed up by this tangled community for Artoo this week – in answer to Laura's Call – is surely magical.

And, as I thought about all these magic, tangled hearts – so full of healing intent – that have emerged in response to Laura's Call for our heart-felt support, I remembered the beautiful song that Regina Spektor sang (for the Narnia movie, Prince Caspian) called "The Call."  I played the song, as I tangled my heart... hence the title of this post.

Listen, Artoo – these hearts are our battle cry! 

We're fighting, in spirit, by your side. Holding you in our hearts.

With a heart and mind full of loving-kindness, I answer The Call, and send Artoo and his family metta:

I send them, with this tangled heart of mine, "...love that is firm but not grasping, unshakeable but not inflexible, gentle and settled, hard but unhurting, helpful but not interfering, giving more than receiving, dignified but not proud, soft but not sentimental."

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*ZIA = Zentangle inspired art (see explanation here).

**There is no online instruction for Zander, that I know of... but there's a great example of it on Kass Hall's website here. Kass is a talented, Australian CZT, based in Melbourne. (Kass also describes her experience at the CZT training in October last year... which is very exciting for me – as I shall be following in her footsteps

Just Breathe...

This week's challenge from I am the Diva: "Breathe." 

A little back story... 

In April 2010, I fell in love with Zentangle. It was, indeed 'love at first sight' for me... exploring the world of tangles: because of the infinite possibilities; because it was truly about what is Reality in any given Moment; and because it narrowed my focus down to a 3.5" square of reality. 

Meditation – being still, grounded, centred, and (imagine me using Nigella Lawson's voice to say this last bit), "deep, deep contentment." Zentangle improved my focus, concentration, mindfulness, and – an added bonus – all my other artistic endeavours benefited from time spent tangling.

At times I have found I'm almost watching my pen to see what will emerge from my creative subconscious. Not directing the design but, one pen stroke at a time, waiting to see what happens... and then developing that idea (a great way to avoid rules!). This is something I learned many years back, when I first started studying Chinese Brush painting. That art form never really clicked for me until I just 'allowed' the brush to make the marks it was designed to make and stopped trying so hard to produce a specific effect.

I haven't felt, these last ten months, any hint of hard slog practice with Zentangle – only Play! And the more I play, the more I want to. I breathe, relax, let go and I allow the Zentangle or ZIA to happen – not stifling it with any rules that it 'ought' to follow, or preconceived ideas of what it 'should' look like when complete. I believe that, once an idea (artistic, or in any walk of Life) becomes a dogma it ceases to grow. So I push at the boundaries constantly. 

Back to the topic of breathing... these last few months I have also made new discoveries about the way I draw. For example, my pen will draw more flowing, 'dancing' lines on an exhaled breath (it's true!) than on an inhaled breath. So, by becoming aware of my breathing as I create each stroke, the way I draw has been transformed. Here is the Zentangle (traditional format) that I created for the "Breathe" Challenge. 

(Click on image to enlarge.)

Being reminded (once again) to observe my breath, I found that I was creating a very playful design (some elements of which weren't really 'proper' tangles!). Once I'd finished, I finally coloured the Laced blue, as it ran through, across, and around the tile. This brought all the various elements together, to create a linked harmony to the finished piece – and I (yet again) changed the orientation of my tile.


A little more on my philosophical wanderings through Zentangle land?

I've also studied what I watch when I am drawing. For example, if I'm drawing a line parallel to another, I look at the line I'm following (not the line my pen is making). What else do I watch? When I was speaking with a wonderful Chinese calligrapher (a Master of his art), William Lai, he asked me, "What is the most important thing about a beautiful vase?" The answer seemed obvious to me, so I answered, "The empty space within." He smiled his unique and twinkly, wise smile and I knew I'd said the right thing (I was rewarded with a Chinese candy!). So, when making pen strokes, I'm nearly always watching the white space I am drawing 'around'. This, of course affects not only the way that I draw, but also the way I think about the way I draw. (How very existential that is!)

As I contemplated this week's challenge, my mind kept coming back to the chorus of this song by Anna Nalick, "Just Breathe." Of course, while actually tangling, the song in my head was replaced with beautiful, tranquil, silence (tangling being one of the few activities capable of stilling my mind!).

Just Breathe

Because I have received a great deal of feedback about my inclusion in this blog of all the tangles I use, I have included a digitally edited version of this week's Zentangle, naming each of the tangles (if I have any of them incorrectly labelled, CZTs, please let me know!). They are: Laced, Verdigogh, Printemps, Jonqal, Ennies, Pokeleaf, Pokeroot, Fescu, Betweed, W2, Huggins, Cadent (those last three used the same grid, and flowed from one to the next).

(Click on image to enlarge.)

Now that I've bent your ear... I'll go back to my drawing board. For, as much as I love keeping up with what others are creating and sharing inspiration and encouragement (the reason I'm on the Internet so often), I am not able to resist the siren call of my first love for very long — tangling with paper and pen.