This is an old post (from a few years ago) that I just realized I’d never published. Samplers are fun projects to practice patterns you haven’t used in a while. And of course, good old Paradox, one of my all time favorite patterns. So complex-looking, yet so fun, simple, and relaxing ..read more

The other night, I watched a couple of tutorials on using watercolor pencils that taught me a couple of very simple but important techniques. First, it’s important to use watercolor pencils like pencils. In other words, use them to shade, applying darker and heavier color in some places and lighter, more feathery color in others. Second, when activating the pencil color with water, don’t use a very wet brush, and work from lightest areas to more heavily shaded areas. This serves to push the color into the most heavily shaded area, which is true to what the artist would ..read more

Last Friday, I led an online Zentangle workshop with students in the summer English language program at the University of Minnesota. I showed everyone how to make a mandala that uses the tangle pattern Pretty awesome, if you ask me! Thanks so much, everyone, for your participation and companionship on this artistic journey. I hope you'll continue to draw.  For anyone interested in learning how to draw the viney shape that organizes the overall composition of these mandalas, please see the following YouTube video:   https://youtu.be/6q67Y_EY16A ..read more

Yesterday I met with some family members to do some drawing on Zoom. I was very happy to be doing remote drawing, but I also needed help with technology details related to using a document camera in Zoom to teach Zentangle. Many thanks to you, Skylar, for helping me troubleshoot and solve the issue. Shown at left is what we worked on together. I am lately having tremendous fun with exploring tangles that work with Hollis, the viney-looking pattern that structures the composition overall. The Zentangle folks introduced this pattern last year, but I've only just started learning to draw it ..read more

ON Friday I facilitated a mandala-drawing workshop at the request of Erin Acharya, Hypno-birthing Childbirth Educator. (For more information, visit www.birthevolved.com.) Erin wanted participants to be able to create a mandala related to their thoughts, feelings, and internal images about birth, new life, and motherhood. While reflecting on patterns that might fit the vibe of this workshop, Hollis (the vine-like, curvy pattern that divides the space in the mandala(s) below) seemed to be the hands-down winner. For me, this pattern communicates flow, growth, and femininity while providing ..read more

After about four months, my husband and I are finally feeling more or less settled into our new home in Running Springs, CA. I've been away from drawing for a while and am looking forward to getting back into posting and doing some remote teaching, if I can figure out how to do that. I drew this Crazy Huggins monotangle while watching Zentangle's Hot Air Balloon tutorial. This particular part of the project was meant to be the gondola that gets attached to the balloon drawing with strings, but since I wasn't impressed with the way my balloon turned out, I've decided to just enjoy this as a ..read more

Just now, my husband and I are on the road, moving away from Minneapolis and driving toward a new home (cabin, really) in Running Springs, CA. It will take time to settle in, but I hope to be blogging more regularly by this spring. Please visit again soon ..read more

I have been drawing many mandalas lately and decided that it was time to find a place to display them. I created this mandala board which keeps the mandalas securely in place but also allows me to reposition them easily. For a little backstory on a few of these, see the following post ..read more

I have a little more time now than I've had in recent weeks...yay! To celebrate, I have a few pictures I'd like to post. These are mostly mandalas. I've been drawing a lot of mandalas. This format is so intriguing to me that I'll probably be staying with it for a while. 1. This first one reminds me of shredded wheat biscuits. (Right?) For a journey through the beginning of this mandala to its completion, click here. 2. This mandala is based on hexagram, otherwise known as the the Star of David. It's a fairly simple structure to draw. For a peek at the skeleton of this mandala, click here ..read more

Some (or perhaps most) of these tiles appear elsewhere on this blog, but I wanted to publish this album link for ease, at least for now. The tiles pictured under the link below give a good idea of my basic style and sense of design from a few years ago.  https://photos.app.goo.gl/ptcsy1EmGKg1ivry5 Recently, I have done more with mandalas: And the occasional private class ..read more