August 01, 2021

Zentangle® – July 2021

August 01, 2021/ Gwen Morrison

The July Zentangle tiles are neatly divided by shape and where I made them. The rectangular tiles were made in Maryland and finished with Ultra Fine Sharpie colored pens that are running out of ink. I’ll buy some new pens for the August tiles.

The square tiles were made in Missouri and Texas…finished in Texas with gel pens left over from my sister’s teaching years. I had a few instances of smeared ink (the gel pens don’t dry as fast as the Sharpies). But it was fun make selections from a largish box of pens – riches of glittery color.

At home or traveling – making Zentangle tiles is something I manage to fit into almost every day!

The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. “Zentangle” is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

July 24, 2021

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 24, 2021

July 24, 2021/ Gwen Morrison

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Night Sky Celebrations Across the National Park System – We’re not doing this kind of traveling this summer….but maybe we’ll do several of these ‘star parties’ in summer 2022.

Tooth loss associated with increased cognitive impairment – Another reason to not neglect going to the dentist! It’s not just about preserving cognitive impairment either….quality of life is a big motivation as well.

Top 25 birds of the week: Seabirds – From around the world…a few I’ve seen in North America.

Mucus and mucins may become the medicine of the future – There is still a lot to learn about how this might work….but it appears that this is an opportunity to treat disease by enhancing the mechanisms already used by the body. Maybe one of the first uses will be for eye drops to treat eye infections rather than the antibiotics used today.

Protect Pollinators – reform pesticide regulations – Hopefully the action requested by these scientist from around the world will happen…our ecosystems are having enough challenge dealing with climate change. Many pollinator species won’t survive the continued threat of status quo pesticide use.

Keeping your composure: Creative Ways to Compose Your Photographs (part 1, part 2, part 3) – Always good to browse through these kinds of tutorials…pick up some new ideas, celebrate the things you are already doing.

What to do with food waste? – It doesn’t appear than there is any one strategy that will work broadly. I’m glad I have already dramatically reduced food waste and then have a large enough yard to have a compost bin.

Waterfalls of North Carolina – A few years ago, my husband and I made a waterfall themed trip to New York. It seems that North Carolina would be another state that has a lot of opportunities for waterfall photography. Maybe next spring?

Creativity Myths – A recent ‘letter’ on The Painter’s Keys website. I enjoy the twice-weekly blurbs that appear in my inbox (free subscription) and often follow the ‘click here to read more’ link.

Exposure to light with less blue before sleep is better for energy metabolism – I already change the color balance on my PC screens to ‘nightlight’ between sundown and sunrise. Maybe we will do more eventually based on this and subsequent research. It is probably true that no one should be watching a television screen just before going to bed!

July 19, 2021

A Zentangle® Project – July 2021

July 19, 2021/ Gwen Morrison

I made 4 tiles using the same starting idea and similar patterns. The starting idea was to make a frame that was connected to the string of the tile…and the string was not a single line but something that had more heft (Iike yarn). Sometimes the yard looped…sometimes it simply undulated across the tile. I filled some of the spaces created with auras or orbs. I scanned the tiles just after they were drawn and then after I added color and highlighting. It was a short project…enjoyable.

July 01, 2021

Zentangle® – June 2021

July 01, 2021/ Gwen Morrison

30 Zentangle tiles selected from the tiles made in June after I returned home from the road trip to Texas and Missouri. They are all rectangular rather than square and colored with old Sharpie Ultra Fine pens that are low on ink or have failing tips. Maybe I’ll buy a new set of colorful pens in August. Enjoy the June mosaic.

I’ll be going to Texas and Missouri in mid-July and am anticipating another round of tiles colored with gel pens that at my parents’ house in Texas. Until I leave on the road trip – I’ll be picking the Sharpies that are still functioning. I might start drawing tiles and saving the coloring for when I am in Texas!

June 07, 2021

Springfield, Missouri Farmers Market

June 07, 2021/ Gwen Morrison

My daughter took me to the Springfield, Missouri farmers market two times. I was overwhelmed with the place (and the household moving activities we were embroiled in) during the first visit…didn’t buy anything! The market is held under a covered pavilion with food trucks and a few vendors extending beyond the covered area. And it has more vendors than just farmers! The second visit was easier for me because we were done with the hardest parts of the moving and the market was more familiar.

I bought a large bulb of fennel with feathery top and a large mug for next winter’s hot tea. When we returned to the new house, my son-in-law promptly put the bulb in water to keep it fresh longer but we both started eating fennel with almost every meal (except breakfast).

I noticed some murals on the buildings around the pavilion and took some pictures with my phone. There are probably more…I’ll look around more next time I visit later this summer.

The experience prompted me to realize that I should frequent the farmers market back home in Maryland…as a substitute for my not participating in the CSA this season (too much anticipated time away from Maryland to handle a weekly share).

June 03, 2021

Zentangle® – May 2021

June 03, 2021/ Gwen Morrison

So many tiles to choose from! I colored the patterns (drawn with a black ultra-fine Sharpie pen) using miscellaneous gel pins that my sister had from the last years of her teaching career; the large number of colors and types of the pens prompted me to make a lot of tiles – even though some pens were drying out and stopped working before the tile was finished. The iridescence of the many of the gel pens does not show up well in the scanned imaged; the actual tiles look more interesting than the scanned versions! There were 91 images to choose 31…more challenging than usual. Enjoy the May Zentangle mosaic…..

I like gel pens for fill rather than drawing of patterns since the pens tend to skip and blotch more easily than the Sharpies.

The gel pens were a great diversion for my time in Texas in May. I’ll look forward to using them again next time I am in Texas.

May 06, 2021

Filling time at the Hospital – Zentangle® Tiles

May 06, 2021/ Gwen Morrison

One of the ways I filled the hours of inactivity at the hospital was making Zentangle tiles. Their creation was easily interrupted and then continued…..fitting around conversations with nurses and doctors and varying interactions with my mother as she improved. There was a feeling of accomplishment and optimism when a tile was finished.

Being creative in times of stress has always been a good coping mechanism for me. Making a Zentangle tile is a form of respite…a little art that makes it easier for my mind to be creative in other ways too…coming up with solutions to whatever happens in the next hours at the hospital.

May 02, 2021

Zentangle® – April 2021

May 02, 2021/ Gwen Morrison

Savoring the Zentangle tiles I made in April. There were the usual shaped tiles that I scanned before I lift on the road trip:

Rectangular

(cut from recycled dividers of cat food vans)

Square

(cut from file folders and light cardboard boxes)

Circles

(paper coasters)

Then there were square tiles I made on the road trip and after I got to Texas. Since I don’t travel with a scanner – I used the phone’s camera set to square images….which works almost as well as the scanner.

Overall, I was pleased with the results of the scanning and photos. There was the usual challenge to pick just 30…and I’m savoring the variety of patterns and colors that show in these mosaics. I am getting closer to using up enough of the Ultra-Thin Sharpie pens to buy a new set….it will be like mid-year Christmas!

April 01, 2021

Zentangle® – March 2021

April 01, 2021/ Gwen Morrison

Even though I am getting outdoors more with the improved weather, there is still plenty of time to create a daily Zentangle tile – or two or three. My favorite tile material is the cardboard dividers from the boxes of cat food; it has a slight texture that I like…and the size/shape appeals as well. It’s thick enough that I can make patterns on both sides of the tile.

A tissue box makes for some odd tiles. I’m using this one as a bookmark in one of the few physical books am reading.

The traditional square tiles are made on a mix of card stock, recycled cardboard (FedEx envelope, tissue box, and canned drink boxes).

I cut one sheet of blue card stock into 4 tiles…no wastage of the sheet. I’m not sure I like the larger size.

I bought some triangle tiles and use a few of them each month just for variety. They are on the small side

Making Zentangle tiles is something I do every day…it’s a positive habit….something I enjoy for the quiet focused time it creates in the day – a bubble of calm - and the result is enjoyed immediately/savored for longer. The tiles that are started without a clear plan and then emerge are my favorites.

March 29, 2021

Zooming – March 2021

March 29, 2021/ Gwen Morrison

The sunny March days have been so pleasant – great times to be outdoors and photographing what I see. I’ve been venturing out from home a bit more too – Brookside Gardens, Howard County Conservancy’s Mt Pleasant, and Centennial Park. There are still zoomed images taken through my office window (birds and the moon framed by tree branches); the sunrise and daffodils are from my house as well. Overall - this is just the beginning of the season for spring flowers. Can you find:

Skunk cabbage (Mt Pleasant)
Mourning Dove (my house)
Shelf fungus (2 of them - Mt Pleasant and my house)
Witch Hazel (Brookside)
Gingko tree trunk and branches (Centennial)
Blue jays (my house)
Dried hydrangea flowers (Brookside)

Enjoy the slideshow for March 2021!

Getting outdoors on these spring days is a mood boosting activity as well as good exercise. I’ve gotten comfortable enough wearing a mask that I just keep it on if I’ve in a place where I might encounter someone else on the trail. I enjoy it in the moment and then again when I view the images on my bigger screen monitor…and formulate the blog post. The activity is a bright core with tendrils of benefit that are longer lasting.

March 17, 2021

Green Zentangle® Tiles for March 2021

March 17, 2021/ Gwen Morrison

St. Patrick’s Day was my prompt for cutting some green cardstock tiles for a March Zentangle project; I cut the tiles to have no waste of the cardstock pages so they are 4.25 x 5.5 inches. I’d got the cardstock from my sister – left over from her teaching days when she retired. The color was dark enough that it required use of gel pens which I generally use only for highlighting - a change of pace (and challenge). The pink gel pen on the green paper was not very appealing to me. Later in the month I started using the black Ultra Fine Sharpie again.

The two favorite tiles from the project were the last ones I created! On one I made flower patterns with the white gel pen then added black auras and green poke leaves with Ultra Fine Sharpies. The other one was a grouping of 5 pattern clumps with connections made with circles, auras, and fills.

March 01, 2021

Zentangle® – February 2021

March 01, 2021/ Gwen Morrison

I created a lot of tiles in February – not counting the Valentines themed tiles I already posted. I am continuing my theme of utilizing tile material completely (modifying tile sizes that I cut to leave no small pieces of card stock/cardboard unused. I also started making two-sided tiles when the cardboard is ‘blank’ on both sides; these will lend themselves to hanging mobile type displays eventually. All the tiles were physical ones this month and I will probably continue that way until I use up the Ultra-Thin Sharpie set that I’ve had for a few years now; some of them have run out of ink already.

Most of the tiles were made without a plan in mind….I like to start with a pattern and then build a tile from the middle out – or start with a frame…with or without a string. Often I am surprised at various stages along the way – when I finish the drawing in black ink….when I finish ‘coloring’….when the highlighting as been added as a last pass. Sometimes the parts that remain as black lined patterns are a frame or simply the background. The white lines always draw my eye.

February 14, 2021

Zentangle® Tiles for Valentines

February 14, 2021/ Gwen Morrison

I decided to make Valentine themed tiles for my February Zentangle project. I used some heavy pink paper my sister gave me – leftover from her teaching days when she retired. The paper cutter made quick work of cutting 4 tiles from 2 pieces of the 8.5x11 inch sheets (with no waste). I used a black Sharpie Ultra Fine to draw the patterns and various colors of the same type pen to ‘color’…some gel pens to do a bit of highlighting. Enjoy the slideshow of the 8 tiles below!

The is extra printing on some calendar squares…some that are holidays and others that are ‘tradition.’ Some make good prompts for projects and celebration. They are evocative of the same day in other years and are part of the annual cycle. I tend to like them as signposts of a longer rhythm than a month, a week, or a day.

February 08, 2021

The Coffee Toed Cat

February 08, 2021/ Gwen Morrison

Sarah Resized_20210127_165118.jpeg.jpg — Descriptive naming is something we all learn. Often those names are temporary nick names. They have value beyond simple description…they are fun too. One example that I heard recently was my daughter saying her cat had coffee toes. Do you see them in the picture? And the coffee toes are symmetrical too!

When I first started working in the computer industry in the 1970s, I realized that creating names was a skill I needed to develop. Naming of variables, lines of control language, and file names required a huge uptick in that kind of thinking for me and many others as well. Some of the abbreviations we use today (like using 4 instead of FOR or 2 for TO/TOO/TWO) was one of the techniques I learned in the 1970s since many of the names then were limited to 8 characters and couldn’t have spaces or special characters. The numbers were a kind of punctuation as well as a ‘word!’

Unfortunately - there is a dark side to the naming skill - when it is derogatory or bullying. It would be great if the public discourse could reverse the uptick in that kind of naming over the past decade….develop a trend toward fun and descriptive names like ‘the coffee toed cat.’

February 02, 2021

Zentangle® – January 2021

February 02, 2021/ Gwen Morrison

One of the outcomes of the pandemic is my increased production of Zentangle tiles. There are so many that picking per day is quite a challenge! I decided to count the Large Zentangle Tile as a project and posted about it separately back on the 17th. That still left 66 other tiles to choose the 31 to show in this post.

2021 01 f img243 (7).jpg — My favorite is one I didn’t like as much until I colored and highlighted the pattern. That seems to happen to me a lot.

The square tiles had a variety of light weight cardboard made into 3.5 inch tiles with a paper cutter – the white boxes that tend to be slicker, the brown light weight cardboard, the green file folder. I’ve included the triangular tiles at the end of this group; they are the only ones that are not recycled materials! I tried to pick tiles that had a uniqueness about them – pattern, color, or highlighting. Some of these are old tiles that I colored/highlighted this month.

The rectangular tiles are all produced on cat foot box dividers – the smaller side is 3.5 inches. This is my favorite tile size. The cardboard absorbs the ink very well and has a slight texture. The size provides more room for the ‘magic’ of the patterns to emerge. It is thick enough use on both sizes – maybe that will be something to start doing in February.

January 03, 2021

Zentangle® – December 2020

January 03, 2021/ Gwen Morrison

It was a big month for Zentangle tiles. I was creating quite a few and then adding layers (color and highlighting) to old ones. The average was 3 tiles per day! That made it hard to choose 31 to represent the month.

My favorite place to make the tiles is in the rocker recliner in my bedroom – using the back of my iPad for the surface; the texture and color (red) of its cover appeals to me and the size is right. And then I can do some reading before or after I create a tile.

My favorite time to make tiles is in the evening although in December I used Zentangle tile creation as a break throughout the day. I like to open the blind next to the rocker recliner in the mornings…let the sunshine stream in….view the little bit of activity in the street (people walking – sometimes with their dogs…cars going by).

After I scanned the 93 tiles for December, I arranged most of them under a plastic tablecloth on the kitchen table. My husband and I enjoy the mosaic while we eat…and any time we are in the area (which is frequently since it is the center of the house).

Noting the date – one of my grandfathers was born 120 years ago on January 3, 1901. His family worked on a farm they did not own and both parents were immigrants from eastern Europe. He got elementary level schooling and owned his own land by the time he married. The family didn’t speak much English until his son started school and it became important for them to be fluent. His son graduated from college and so did all his grandchildren although the college degrees for his grandchildren happened after he was gone. I was the oldest and I was studying for an undergraduate chemistry final on the day he died. His first present to me (I still have pieces of it) was a small wagon with blocks. These are some highlights of my memories of him….

December 02, 2020

Zentangle® – November 2020

December 02, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

30 Days in November…such a challenge to pick just 30 from all the tiles I worked on in November! I am striving to do all the layers before I put the tile in the collection for the month….but have a pile of tiles I’ve made over the past few years that I took out from under the plastic tablecloth on the breakfast table when I put out the Christmas cards; I am still coloring and highlighting those old tiles….savoring them again.

There are 9 rectangular tiles (made from the separators in the cat food boxes). My favorite is the first one….reminiscent of fall bouquets.

2020 11 img053 (11).jpg — The square tiles are more numerous. My favorite is on the left; it looks a little like a ruffled headdress to me.

I didn’t take enough materials to keep me busy during the NCIS commercials….and used the cardboard backing of a pad of paper for a Zentangle tile – an irregular size. It reminds me of coiled snakes – or maybe pangolins.

2020 11 img053 (31).jpg — Another unusual shape for the month – triangular tiles. I didn’t quite get the 6 lined up perfectly for the scan but it was fun to make each gingko leaf tile….and then put them all together. I’ll be doing more of experiments…seeing how they look singularly and together.

The time I spend making Zentangle tiles is enjoyable and rewarding. I am often pleasantly surprised by what I create by the time I finish. I never thought of myself as an artistic person, but maybe that was an assumption I made based on experiences in elementary school ‘art’ classes. Somehow the things we did in art class were not what I wanted to do!

The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

November 29, 2020

Decorating for December

November 29, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

My husband and I opted to decorate for our at-home holidays – perhaps not as much as some previous years but enough to remind us of the season.

I replaced the Zentangle tiles under the plastic tablecloth on our kitchen table with Christmas cards. I’m glad that I have a good collection of cards from prior years because fewer people are sending cards…following the same trend we’re in sending holiday messages via texts or emails rather than cards.

There are also cards with magnets glued to the back that I put on the refrigerator, the metal door out to the garage, and the frame of the French door in the breakfast area that we rarely open. I had a small wire tree that I previously used to display hangable art glass; I put the Zentangle coasters I made last year on the tree and am very pleased with it (it was a lot easier than putting up our larger tree that requires moving of furniture to make room and then circling around it with the lights…carrying up bins of ornaments from the basement).

Overall – we put the inside decorations where they can be enjoyed over meals and shared time in the den.

We put the artificial wreath on the front door and are still working to get the timer set to come on just after dark. That decoration is to add some cheer to the neighborhood. Our across-the-street neighbors have decorations in their yard – maybe more than last year; their young children are probably full of anticipation for the coming month.

I’m already beginning to think about special things we’ll do – maybe driving around to see the lights one evening, buying a red velvet cake….or maybe it should be a carrot cake, having logs ready for a fire in the fireplace, making sure the ingredients for snow ice cream are in the pantry. It is looking like a December that still includes most of our favorite things!

November 27, 2020

Alfred East’s The Art of Landscape Painting in Oil Colour

November 27, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

I happened upon a book on Internet Archive I had browsed back in 2012 – The Art of Landscape Painting in Oil Colour by Alfred East…and enjoyed the illustrations again.

I particularly enjoyed the ‘Studies of Effect’ series. Since I’ve done a lot more thinking about light as I’ve improved my photographic skills, I probably appreciated them more now than I did 8 years ago.

These days – there are other steps I typically take when I spot something of interest in Internet Archive – either the topic of the book or the author…or maybe just a single picture. I frequently look for the biography of the author in Wikipedia (and maybe follow some of the external links or references). Since East was a British artist, I did a search on The British Museum site and found 32 items! It’s awesome to be able to follow whatever questions I develop looking at old books; perhaps I appreciate the ease more since I remember heavy reference books and card catalogs…and being frustrated when the library didn’t have what I was looking for. It’s very easy now to find an overwhelming amount of information.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Bald Eagle. As we were driving to put flowers on my mother-in-law’s grave (she died in 1990) on Thanksgiving morning, we drove by a historical manor house set well off the road with outbuildings. I noticed a white blotch near the top of one of the trees near the house. It was almost too far away to figure out what it was but when it moved, I realized it was a bald eagle. It turned further and took off as the light turned green and we moved in the other direction. What a great contribution from the natural world to add to our Thanksgiving!

November 15, 2020

Coloring Zentangle® Tiles – November 2020

November 15, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Next month I am cutting back to one Zentangle Tile collection post per month. The pile of colored tiles was way too big to do it this month! I’ve managed to choose 16 from the 100 or so that were made over the past month – some of the original tiles were originally drawm over a year ago and just colored and highlighted in second and third rounds. A few started out with colored rather than black ink patterns. The white gel pen adds a lot at the end…although the one with the green gel pen is one I like as well. somehow the rectangular tiles made from cat food box dividers are my favorite types of tiles right now. I like the color and the texture of them…and the larger space for patterns.