Challenges and Blessings

It's been quite a while since my last post. There was the usual busy rush of holidays of course, compounded with seasonal colds and the cross-country trek we make each year to see our extended family. There was an unexpected hitch in our plans though, when one of the twins got so ill that we needed to take him to the hospital.

We received the news that our son has Type 1 Diabetes, which is an auto-immune disorder where his body attacks its own insulin-creating cells in his pancreas. Apparently brewing silently for some time, the stress of being sick plus the rigors of travel triggered a crisis for his body and the Type 1 Diabetes announced itself with a five day stay in a children's hospital 3000 miles from home.

The last two months have brought some of the biggest challenges since I became a parent as we learn how to measure his blood sugar, calculate and inject doses of insulin, and generally learn a whole new way to structure our lives.

But despite these new challenges, the holidays have brought some blessings as well:

It's very much a manageable health condition, and my son is doing a wonderful job acclimating to this life-long change.

When my husband and I were in the hospital with him, our other two children were safe and happy with cousins and Aunts and Uncles.

When he was finally discharged from the hospital, we had a week long stay with my parents who were a great help and support.

As far from home as we were, we got great care.

We have wonderful health insurance, which is an indispensable blessing I wish for everyone.

The twins just turned 11 years old and are safe and happy.

Our child can continue to do all the same things as other kids his age, albeit with a bit more planning and preparation.

And I even received an art blessing over the holidays, as my father passed on to me some beautiful drafting tools he's had since his college engineering days. You can see them here, next to the zendala I created using a compass from the set.

zendala for Diva Challenge #301

There's something very satisfying about the high contrast of black ink on white paper, and it was especially soothing to blend the mandala-style radial symmetry with the organic nature of Diva Dance. I'm so grateful to finally carve out time to create again and to return to the meditative process of Zentangle.

Let's try something new for the new year. Here is a version of my Zendala that you can print out and color or shade as you wish. There is a little space next to my initials where you can add your add your own as you put your mark on our collaboration.

If you try it out, please post it on your blog, Instagram, or other social media site and leave the link in the comments below so I can see it!

PurposeWorks Coloring Page #1

Art, Synchronicity, and the Power of Yes

I recently accepted a friend's invitation to go through 12 weeks of journal-writing and creativity exercises together using the book The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. I'm three weeks into this intriguing process and in the third chapter Cameron discusses the idea of synchronicity, "We like to pretend it is hard to follow our heart's dreams. The truth is, it is difficult to avoid walking through the many doors that will open. Turn aside your dream and it will come back to you again. Get willing to follow it again and a second mysterious door will swing open."

I know I'm not alone when I say that this is an incredibly busy time of year. I've been busy with the usual holiday preparations but also very busy making new art and accepting new art opportunities when they arrive.

This week the Diva gave us all a second chance to try out the ideas of Reticula and Fragments. There's that door swinging open again, and this time I'm saying yes.

Diva Challenges #294 and #295 

reticula and fragments
for diva challenge #294

reticula and fragments in offset grid
for diva challenge #295

I've been wishing for more chances to connect in person with other artists and hopefully meet mentors for my art learning journey. An internet search for local art classes a few months back helped me discover the nearby artEAST art center. They have a variety of classes just as I was hoping to find, but they also have opportunities for sharing studio time with other local artists. Yes!

I've already posted about the wonderful evening workshop on printmaking I took last month but I also enrolled in a colored pencil realism class that meets once a week. The class size is so small that everyone gets one-on-one time to be mentored by the instructor.

Realism takes a lot of time but I have some work in progress to show. I like how you can see the various stages and layers that each petal will go through from just the wispy beginning of an outline to fully saturated with color.

purple hydrangeas, work in progress: colored pencil

tulips, work in progress: colored pencil

I have been wanting some guidance in getting better at drawing people and places. Craftsy, a resource for online crafting and art classes, has been offering a ton of holiday specials lately. I snatched up a few drawing classes on urban sketching and capturing likenesses. Here's some of my "homework" (click the thumbnails to see a larger version).

I've been dreaming, and I've been practicing, and synchronicity has been bringing me opportunities to practice and dream some more. What are you saying yes to?

Principle of Design: Pattern

Pattern. If you know only one thing about Zentangle, you know that it's all about pattern!

pat·ternˈpadərn/noun1. a repeated decorative design.
2. the repetition of specific visual elements such as a unit of shape or form.

Diva Challenge #293: Keeko
Some of the simplest visual elements you can repeat to create pattern are dots, lines, curves and circles. Keeko taps into this fundamental aspect of pattern design with an elegant simplicity. This simple building block can be a source of meditative repetition or inspire a curious "what if...?"

Keeko, Arc Flower for Diva #293

Keeko in 3D on a warped grid
for Diva #293

It's A String Thing #171
For some reason, I have never really embraced the Zentangle pattern Crescent Moon, another fundamentally basic pattern. I didn't find it very pleasing to draw and frankly I've avoided it. When this week's String Adventure called for Seawave (which I feel in love with instantly) combined with Crescent Moon (my nemesis!), I knew I had to find some inspiration.

On Pinterest I found a be-fescue'd version that I find absolutely delightful. I have to give credit to Mary Bartrop (CZT13) for making me a Crescent Moon convert! Shout-out to Lily Moon and Helen Williams for their inspiring versions as well. I've pinned a few to my Patterns and Tangles board if you want to check them out. Once I've found some inspiration, here's one way that I use my sketch book to record inspiration and to help me generate ideas.

use your sketchbook to generate ideas

And here's the tile I created after finding a way to love Crescent Moon after all and marry it with that deliciously textured and organic pattern Seawave.

Crescent Moon, Seawave

for IAST #171

The Zentangle Method naturally incorporates many of the classic principles of design while still allowing for a relaxed and improvisational experience. I like to use my sketchbook to try out new ideas and consider questions of contrast, balance, and rhythm in the context of these patterns we call Tangles. Then when I sit down with my pen and a tile, I take a deep breath and allow those explorations to blossom into a complete thought.

What about you? Which principles of design come naturally to you when you tangle?

Pinterest: Principles of Design poster

Create an Outgoing Signal

It's been a stressful week in the United States, capping a long and divisive election cycle. One aspect of my personality is that it's very easy for me to soak up other people's worries, fears, stresses and add them to my own.

"In our always-on, always-connected world of television, social media, and on-demand everything, it can be stupidly easy to spend your entire day consuming information and simply responding to all of the inputs that bombard your life.

"Art offers an outlet and a release from all of that. Take a minute to ignore all of the incoming signals and create an outgoing one instead. Produce something. Express yourself in some way. As long as you contribute rather than consume, anything you do can be a work of art." -- James Clear, Make More Art: The Health Benefits of Creativity 

It's probably no surprise that making art has been a very useful coping technique for me lately. Here's what I've been up to...

Diva Challenge #292

This week theDiva challenged us to use CZT Nadine Roller's tangle Eaxy. I chose to pair that high-focus, geometric pattern with the curvy, flowing lines of l'Eaura by CZT Ria Matheussen. I sometimes find it hard to blend straight line tangles with more organic ones, but I really enjoy the contrast that this combination creates.

Eaxy, L'Eaura for Diva Challenge #292

A bunch of new art opportunities have opened up for me lately, one of which was a night out with a very dear friend to take a printmaking class at artEAST Art Center and Gallery. My Zentangle practice got a chance to cross-over to this new-to-me media as I carved simple repetitive marks to indicate the texture of owl feathers on this printing block.

On the right, the block I carved with an owl on a branch.
On the left, a print I pulled from the block using black ink on white paper.

In the class we printed our newly carved blocks multiple times and using different colors of ink, making several small editions.

A variety of block-printing ink colors allows for lots of printing options.

It's hard to choose, but I think maybe this one is my favorite. Huge thanks to a wonderful artist and teacher, Leslie Nan Moon!

Owl, block print on paper, in blue and green

What is Talent?

Jalousie, Shing, Tagh, Fescur, Mooka, Msst, Hurakan
for the Halloween themed Diva Challenge #291

When I was younger, I loved exploring art materials and I deeply envied certain friends who created incredible art. Some time in my teens, when my own drawings didn't live up to the images in my head, I believed that I just wasn't as naturally talented or artistic as the peers I admired.

Around the same time I received lots of encouragement from teachers for the essays I was writing in school. Getting the ideas in my head down on paper in an orderly fashion seemed to come easily for me.  It felt like the opposite of drawing. I figured that I was meant to continue to pursue writing but that making art was not in my future.

I am so grateful to the Zentangle Method for providing an accessible entry point to making art and changing my mind.

Quoth the raven, "Nevermore"
Flux and 'NZeppel for Diva Challenge #290

Today I believe that anyone can learn to draw, that drawing is a way of thinking about and seeing the world, and as they say in Zentangle, "Anything is possible one stroke at a time."

Today I believe that the passion, commitment, patience, and hours of practice accomplished artists put into their work often gets mis-characterized as "natural talent."

Today I believe in growth mindsets and failing forward.

My beliefs around talent have changed dramatically since those tender teenage years and it's been a truly joyous discovery to see how wrong I was.

detail of an abstract encaustic painting

Facets, Corner Box, Chard, Cubine, Hubred, Dex
for the straight lines Diva Challenge #286

illustration of poppy and lotus seed heads
encaustic collage  with pastel

Tripoli monotangle for diva challenge #284

Kill All Your Little Darlings (for Artists)

For this week's Diva Challenge #289 we looked to nature and the falling Autumn leaves. The maple tree in my front yard dropped this green one a few days ago and then overnight the rest on the tree turned a brilliant gold.

I decided to use CZT Lynn Mead's technique for "zentwining" around my leaf shape. For a little while I got really attached to how it looked at this initial stage and I was wary of doing more to the tile and potentially messing it up.

But there are no mistakes in Zentangle, right? Or rather, only opportunities to honor what shows up and to "fail forward."

work in progress: zentwining patterned ribbons

"To be afraid of failure is to be afraid to learn. Failure is a wonderful way to experience life, because life is a learning experience. When I fail I should rejoice, because I am closer to finding what works! Yay failing!" -- Seb Barnett

This hesitation reminded me of a conversation I had recently with artist and educator Kirsten Wilhelm when I attended a two-day studio workshop at Northwest Encaustics in Seattle. I was struggling with where to go next on one of my paintings when Kirsten advised me to "kill my little darlings" which is a reference to some age-old writing advice that advocates ruthless editing for the good over the overall work.

Kirsten's approach to teaching de-emphasized the importance of a final result and prioritized experimentation, pushing boundaries, and going too far in order to really know what "far enough" looks like. When she heard people start to worry over a piece, as I was, she repeated this light-hearted mantra: "If you're not failing, then you're doing something wrong!"

Here's what happened when I kept developing this autumn leaf-inspired tile. I think, at the very least, this stage keeps the eye more interested than the original.

Autumn Leaf with Zentwine for Diva #289
on 6" x 6" bristol paper

Letting go of my attachment to the original drawing is a practice in itself that bears repeating. Artist Jane Davies kills her little darlings as part of creating the depth and dimension that is so integral to her signature style.

"I like to build layers on the canvas or paper to build in a sort of history and the sense that there is something under the surface. Which there is. There's -- I swear there's masterpieces under there but I've just covered them all up. Yeah, I paint over a lot of stuff. I get attached to the parts that I really spent a lot of time on and worked and worked and worked. But okay, I'm attached to it and I paint over it. Now we've got a new beginning." -- Jane Davies

I've got one last group challenge piece for week to share with you. Here's where I started my tile for It's A String Thing adventure #167:

work in progress: Ponio, Winflo for IAST #167

Again, I was ready to leave it at this stage. There's a certain elegance in simplicity, like an uncluttered room. But there wasn't much interaction between the tangles. In the spirit of failing forward I pushed it a little further.

Almost certainly the Winflo and Ponio designs could still have more interaction, but for now this is where I leave it.

Ponio and Winflo for IAST 167
on traditional Zentangle tile

By the way, encaustic a painting technique that uses pigments mixed with hot wax and manipulated with fire. Here's a peak at one of my creations from the workshop. Follow me on Instagram to see more!

Had an amazing weekend of art-making at Northwest Encaustics studio. Here's one of my finished pieces. Wood, wax, and fiber, manipulated with heat, brushes, and carving tools. #encaustic #artofinstagram #mixedmedia #contemporaryart #encausticart

A video posted by Julie Bazuzi (@julie.bazuzi) on Oct 17, 2016 at 3:38pm PDT

Artist Spotlight: Seb Barnett

It's been a while since my last post. One thing or another took my focus this past few weeks.

Today I learned some terrible news that a beautiful soul lost the battle with depression and took their own life. Seb Barnett was an incredible artist who inspired me and encouraged me. I wish I'd known you better when I had the chance. The world is less bright without you in it.

Blodeuwedd by Seb Barnett

I remember that Seb often railed against the idea of artistic "talent" as something you either had or you didn't. Instead Seb championed the notion that accomplished artists were the ones who put years and years of work into honing their craft.

So here I am, back at it with blogging my progress, still at the beginning of my journey, trying to follow your lead and put the work in.

Diva Challenge #287

I started with a watercolor background, created the design using Staedtler fineliner pens, and then I deepened the color shading with Neocolor II watersoluble crayons and Prismacolor colored pencils. I learned a valuable lesson about the way that finely sharpened colored pencils can sometimes scratch through the softer, more fibrous watercolor paper I was using for this piece. You might notice that one of the abstract orb shapes looks a bit more like a pearl than the others. That one got a bit of Liquid Pearls paint to cover the damaged paper.

Windsor & Newton watercolor in
Transparent Yellow and Quinacridone Magenta

Work in progress, after inking the design I
added shading with watersoluble crayon and colored pencil

Diva Challenge #287 on watercolor tile
Dreamcatcher, Nebel, Yincut, and Sandswirl

Daniel Lamothe's Dreamcatcher pattern is quite stunning all on it's own. Here I let it take center stage with a mandala-like circular symmetry. I used a Uniball Signo white ink pen and a white chalk pastel pencil on coal black Strathmore sketch paper. I was inspired to try my hand at the convergent shading technique shared by Lynn Mead.

Diva Challenge #287 on black tile

This post is for you, Seb. You are missed.