November 21, 2019

Greetings! Next week is our Thanksgiving holiday here in the US. This time of year, we talk a lot about being thankful and about gratitude . Gratitude the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness. It is no coincidence that Gratitude is the first and last step of the Zentangle Method. It may be the most important step. Yes, you use the dot, string and border filled with tangles when you create Zentangle art, but what does any of that mean without gratitude? The Zentangle Method has brought us many gifts. The gift of art and creativity. The gift of time and peace of mind. The gift of an incredible community of artists throughout this world. And perhaps the Zentangle Method helps reveal the gifts that we had within us all along. Before all of the excitement and busy-ness of the holiday season takes over, we pause for a moment with this newsletter to express our endless gratitude for each and every one of you who are discovering and sharing your amazing gifts on this wonderful journey.

New Tangle: hollis

Rick writes: Maria and I were recently in Germany for Europe’s first CZT seminar in Frankfurt. After the seminar, we went to Munich. Munich is full of museums and cathedrals and beautiful architecture. We spent much of our time tangle hunting amidst those treasures.   In one museum, we saw a collection of Chinese pottery. We paid particular attention because we were going to Taipei and Seoul for Zentangle events. We wanted to introduce a new tangle on that trip that had roots in that part of the world.

In this piece of pottery is from the Qing Dynasty during the Kangzi Period (1662-1722) we could see the individual brush strokes. Seeing how it was painted might help deconstruct the pattern into a tangle.

I played around with several approaches but none worked in a Zentangle way. I was too focused on trying to reproduce the pattern. So, I looked for the basic structure to see how it might inspire a tangle, even if that tangle was not an exact reproduction. I went back and studied pictures I had taken of other pieces in the museum with that pattern.

As you can see from the step-out below, we use the aura technique throughout this tangle. The elemental shape is an extended curve. And you can always throw in some hollibaugh approach as you draw behind.

While we were in Taiwan and Korea, we saw this pattern in museums and palaces and temples. These two images from local temples are a good example:

This tangle also offers a structure to support other tangles. Notice how the image above on the right holds another shape where the curves separate. Maria took that inspiration and to demonstrate how hollis offers a versatile foundation for tangles and fragments. In the tile below Maria added in some tangled slices of moon pie (She made that name up as we taught the hollis for the first time in Taiwan.

Here are some tiles from that first class.

Although we are sure you will take this in many directions, I set myself some “elegant” limits. I limited my side-by-side elements to only two and I alternated the direction of the curve each time.   You can also alter the shape of the ends and the thickness of the aura. For instance:

As with all our tangles, we look forward to seeing what you will do with it, and watch how these hollis seeds grow and what varieties they generate.   Oh yes, why did we call it hollis? Hollis Littlecreek was the man who taught me many things including how to make and play the Native American style flute. Hollis shared many gifts throughout his life. We trust this gift of hollis will bring you some creative joy and comfort and you explore what it has to offer. We look forward to seeing what you create with it. Enjoy!

Thank You! We wish all the best for you and your family and your community as we pause to give thanks and to celebrate in preparation for the coming new year. With all love and best wishes, Rick, Maria, Martha, Molly and the whole Zentangle crew . . . (Bijou, too!)

BLOG Zentangle

Find a CZT

Visit Zentangle.com

© 2019 Zentangle, Inc.