getting it done

April 8th, 2015

Since I promised myself that I would be more diligent about getting things done, I hauled myself out of my reverie and decided to experiment with a black tile.  Now normally I like to use white, but I needed a  little change to force me to get mobile and motivated. 

As always, Zentangle is always a great way to start the day, and I enjoyed doing this one. I didn't find the white gel pen to work that great, but  I used it along with a white sharpie oil paint pen, a infinity gold metallic pen, and a sakura Pen-touch white quick dry opaque pen. The blue dots are a gel pen.  I like to experiment, and am a hoarder of pens. 

It's a short post today. Think I'll take a peek at the Diva's challenge for this week and see if I can manage something there. 

Here's the tile. 

Here comes Peter Cottontail..... again..

Guess who's coming... Yup the Easter Bunny and frankly I'm tired of him.. Every year he brings chocolates to the house and I end up eating them. Pretty soon I'll be knocking out another wall. We tell people that we are aiming for the "open concept" look, but really it has more to do with my spreading hips. Oh well, I might just eat one chocolate, just so he doesn't feel he's wasted his time. 




 I attended the " We Love to Tangle" gathering in Calgary on March  21, 2015,  and had a great time. This event was organized by Sandra Chatelaine and over 50 tanglers attended. 
Laura Harms, Nina Kliman, Cindy Hagen, and Margaret Bremner gave tangle demos and Laura told us her story of becoming acquainted with Zentangle. Sooo interesting! Lots to see, artworks, friends, and new ways of doing some familiar tangles.
Thanks Sandra for bringing us all together, and thanks to the CZTs for demoing for us.

After coming home with all that enthusiasm I sat down and did some well needed artwork. Needless to say the housework is not actually getting done, but I am a lot easier to get along with. 

Here is the result of my fun time with the pen and paper.

Please hop over and visit my webpage at:

http://vals.webs.com/

It's good to Disagree ..

Yup, I know this looks bad, but really all is not what it seems. Since the  December retirement, we have been getting along along famously. Mostly because Hubby has been hiding out in the garage building "props" for the club he belongs to, and I have been doing my normal things around the house as well as my zentangle.

Today, however we took a trip to the big city to purchase some shelving for the revamp of my studio downstairs. Now hubby is quite the handyman and can build almost anything, a talent for which I am in total awe. I myself can't measure anything right or hit a nail straight.  On the other hand,  I am the one with what I refer to as "vision".  I thought it was a good idea that we visit the Habitat Restore and try to see if we could cut costs and pick up some building materials for cheap.
Walking around the store I pointed out various items that with a little tweaking, we could incorporate into our reno scheme!
"Well" he said, "Maybe we could use these wire shelves, but there isn't any hardware with them".
"No" I replied,  "We just threw out some of these things, and besides everything falls through the wires."
                         "I m not buying more of these."
I could tell his heart was just not into this as his suggestions were getting blown out of the water without a second thought. But to be fair, his ideas were crap. After an hour we were back in the van, empty handed and miffed at the stubborness of each other. We just couldn't agree on anything, so we didn't get anything.
Twenty minutes later we were playing the same game in Windsor Plywood a lumber store not far from the scene of the first heated discussion.  Again, no agreement was reached on the shelf issue.

 Back in the car to head on home. This was getting too tiring. Arguing our respective cases like a prosecutor and criminal defense lawyer was draining to say the least.
As we drove out of town, I happened to notice the "Lowes" store.
"Let's stop in there. Maybe they have some shelving ." I suggested.
We pulled in and trudged into the store, spirits broken and feet aching.

We limped around the store, when lo and behold there is was!  A large pile of vinyl flooring that was exactly what we were looking for........ last week!  He looked and me, and I looked at him and slowly our smiles widened.
Without a word he sprinted for a cart while I stood guard, and we loaded up what we thought we would need and an extra box just to be sure. Suddenly, life was good again. Next time we are looking for something, we'll find the perfect shelving! It's just how life goes.

                                                         January 14, 2015.

                                                      Nzeppel,  Maryhill, Shuttuck

Sometimes Time Just Slips Away

No apologies for my lousy blogging skills. And yes there is a song with the same title as my Blog.  I'll just ask... Where the heck did the last few months go?  Let's pull up our socks and do a post.

Did I mention that my Hubby is retiring at the end of the year? No? Well it's true, and we have been looking forward to this day for 38 years. Or so we thought. Since our announcement of his plan to kick the job to the curb, we have been bombarded with well meaning advice. None of which we plan to use.

Some advice is just plain scary. I recently had a conversation that went something like this.....

Me:          "Did I tell you that Hubby is retiring at the end of the year?"
Jane :        " Really? Do you think that is a good idea?" I mean, you know what happens
                   when somebody retires don't you?"
Me:            "No... What happens?"

By the tone of her voice I could tell that this was not going to be an answer I was prepared for.

Jane:        " Oh dear, maybe I shouldn't have mentioned anything, but usually someone retires and then, "Boom", one or the other gets sick and dies. Or they end up getting divorced because the guy sits around all day in his underwear watching TV because he has no outside interests.  Are you sure you can handle him at home all day?"

Holy crap! I've never really thought about it, and now the seed of doubt had been  firmly planted by this one little whacked out comment. I had to reevaluate my situation. Needless to say this conversation put me in a very agitated state of mind. I have to admit I did worry about this until this past weekend.

That sweet guy I married fixed the key holder that was loose for the last 2 years. I asked him why he did that, and he replied "when I'm retired, I'll have all the time I need to fix the little things."

You know, suddenly I'm not worried any longer. Goodness knows we have lots of little things that need fixing ( enough to keep him busy for years). Besides, he has outside interests as well; no strutting around in underwear for him!

And me.... I have my artwork and Zentangle to keep me occupied. Speaking of which, at a recent gallery show I sold this large 3'x5' ZIA (zentangle inspired artwork) on canvas to the City of Spruce Grove for the City's art collection.

  Life is gonna be great and retirement looks even better!

                                                                          "Brainstorm"
                                                                           3' x 5' Canvas
                                                                           Pen & Ink/ Acrylic Blue Glass Beads

What is this "Zentangle"® you speak of Oh Wise One?

What exactly is Zentangle®?

Well, in a nutshell ( and this is my own nutshell I speak of) Zentangle is a method to a better understanding of who we are as people.  Technically it is a method of drawing repetitive patterns by using "one stroke at a time" in order  to achieve a restful state of mind, and open up the creative creature residing in our subconscious. (thanks Rick and Maria for a great phrase "One Stoke at a Time".

When I answer this question to people who ask, they typically assume it is all about drawing doodle patterns. ( Sorry, I mentioned the "D" word here.) Nothing could be farther from the truth.  When I first started to teach myself Zentangle from websites I was as guilty as the next person in thinking it was about the drawing.
Now I know better. I guess that is why I am so excited to share this with others.

 Great artwork is just one benefit that comes out of teaching ( or learning) about how to be more in tune with others and ourselves. What better way to do this then by a meditative, mindful, way of soul searching? We focus on the positive things, and things we can do to make others feel better. That, I believe, is what draws a certain kind of person to the practice of Zentangle. The need to do good, and be kind.

SOME DAYS ARE JUST A PAIN.

It’s a good thing I've found Zentangle®.  He/She is my new BFF and has saved me hundreds,

 if not thousands of dollars in psychiatric fees.

Yesterday I went shopping for a few office supplies at the discount store. I happened to need a  stapler. (I wanted to keep my Zentangle notes all neat and tidy).  I was in an organizing mood and was in a hurry to get things done. . Unfortunately, that was not in the cards for me.

Now, I’m no weakling. I’m pretty sure I could fight my way out of a paper bag if I was provoked, but getting that dollar store stapler out of its wrapping was an exercise in frustration.  That thing was sealed up tighter than Fort Knox. Who wraps an item that’s worth a dollar in plastic that costs three times the cost of the contents? Just doesn't make sense. After two broken fingernails and a gash on my knuckle, I finally wised up and went for the kitchen scissors.  This “plastic” must have been an off shoot of some space material the government was testing for space use. It was indestructible. 

I was working up quite a sweat, and my annoyance level was entering the red danger zone. If this was a Barbie doll my grand-daughter would have gnawed through and opened it in ten seconds flat. (She has a talent for opening these kinds of things at holidays involving gifts)

Finally I managed to break it open, and filled it with staples as fast as I could. I’d already wasted too much valuable tangle time on this stupid chore. Walking over to my desk I accidentally dropped it and it exploded like shrapnel from a ten ton bomb.  A sigh as big as Texas came up from that deep well of despair inside me. It’s times like these that I overtly thank the “Zentangle Gods” that be. 

Sitting down doing a tile saved my sanity, not to mention some random act of violence from  occurring. Next time someone says to me “What are ya doing that for?”, I’m getting them a stapler from the dollar store and a few tiles to work on.  

‘nuff  said.

Here endith the rant for today.