It’s so good to be ZEN. Again.

Happy Monday on this cold day in the suburbs of Philly! I’ve been very not-zen in recent months, but I had the incredible opportunity to attend ZenAgain, a reunion and workshop with over 200 CZTs from around the globe. Hosted by Rick, Maria, Molly, Martha, and the rest of the amazing Zentangle crew, these two and a half days were full of inspiration, challenge, and plenty of zen. I wish I had the inspiration to write more detail, but for now suffice it to say I met some incredible people, created some amazing pieces (by my own standards), learned some new techniques, and found my zen (again). We learned FOUR new tangles, experienced a guided meditation with Molly, got some amazing gifts from Sakura and General, and so much more.

Here are SOME of the pieces I created during the workshop. There were others including a (real) marble tile, more gilded pieces (YES, Maria taught us a quick and easy way to do this and I might be addicted), and tiles we tangled using reticula and fragments to contribute to a dictionary of sorts that Maria is working on.

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Now, I’m pushing myself to participate in the I am the Diva challenge so I can KEEP my Zen on…and I’m delighted that the challenge this week involves reticula and fragments, an approach I’m growing more and more fond of with each effort. Rotating, mirroring, so many options for shading… the possibilities are endless.

Reticula A2 with Fragment P4. Endless possibilities, and this is just the simple repetitive approach.

For my reticula I chose A2 – Kind of a diagonal Jonqual-style grid. I filled with with fragment P4 because I thought it would be interesting to see how the folds worked, kind of like an accordion. I love the outcome – even with no rotation or mirroring, add in the shading and it feels very dimensionally complex. If you haven’t played with this concept yet, I encourage you to try. If you want the full experience, go ahead and buy the book – Zentangle Primer v. 1. I promise it’s worth the money (I do not get any compensation for sharing this with you, by the way) for the whole thing, but my favorite part is the reticula and fragments concept. So much fun to play with.

Added: My kitten (Dani) decided this ING reticula and made-up fragment (incomplete, sans shading, but somehow she ended up framing it for me) deserved a placement on this blog since she’s so very cute. So, here it is:

Dani and her ING reticula and made-up fragment.