Tag Archives: Zentangle

Apr2

Creative Juice #236

Posted on April 2, 2021 by Andrea R Huelsenbeck

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Some of these links will improve your creativity; some will improve your life.

How a quilter turned a favorite vacation photo into a quilt. And then she did the same with another photo.
Zoological miniatures.
Award-winning nature photographs.
You might have read this last week if you clicked links within the articles that made last Friday’s CJ, but if you missed it, here’s how one incident can change your entire life.
Check out the Georgia Aquarium’s webcams.
A stroll in Jersey City with Nathalie. Look for the Statue of Liberty in two of the photos.
Do you have kids? Would they like to take free art lessons from a beloved children’s illustrator? Check this out.
What you can learn about writing from the Brothers Grimm.
Teach your kids to take the high road.
Some projects from a Zentangle class that happened before the pandemic.
Who takes care of Monet’s garden now?
A woman’s path to watercolor.

Feb26

Creative Juice #231

Posted on February 26, 2021 by Andrea R Huelsenbeck

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Enjoy these twelve creative articles.

These look like photographs, but they’re actually pastel.
Gorgeous zentangles.
The stories behind two quilts.
A complete story in nine frames. I laughed. I cried. I sighed with relief at the end.
This article is a year old, but I just came across it recently. 30 years of Black Barbie dolls.
If you’re not a writer, you might not know that writing has a down side. It’s not all glitz and glamour, people.
Have you been by yourself a lot during the pandemic? Read this pre-pandemic article about the virtues of solitude.
I love this artist’s detailed drawings.
Make an Irish Chain quilt for St. Paddy’s Day. You’ve only got 2 1/2 weeks, but these directions make it easy.
If you use alcohol inks, or you’d like to someday, you might be interested in this sanitary technique.
A brief history of African-Americans in the arts.
For greater productivity, structure your day like a football coach.

Feb19

Creative Juice #230

Posted on February 19, 2021 by Andrea R Huelsenbeck

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Twelve tantalizing articles to spark your imagination this weekend.

Start tangling in your journal.
You deserve a treat. Check out these animated shorts. Especially the first one.
For the math nerds.
A quilt story.
For the novelists: your first (or second, or third) draft is done, but it’s not what you know it could be. Try these writing exercises to improve your story.
Black-owned bookstores in 33 states.
This looks like fun: a virtual poetry reading via Zoom.
Interesting pictures.
Small-scale nature embroideries embellished with beads.
The secret life of trees.
I had to look up “confabulation.” Apparently, it’s a big problem in our society.
When conditions are perfect, this waterfall is on fire.

Feb13

Valentangles 2021

Posted on February 13, 2021 by Andrea R Huelsenbeck

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Every year around this time, my artwork focuses on the theme of hearts. Here are some of my tangled creations.

This heart is filled with sea waves, a pattern designed by Jinny Lu.

This next one is filled with frost flower by Karen Huen:

The next one is filled with walk the line by Chris Titus. As I was working on this, I expected it to come out looking like a double oval spiral; but instead, it looks sort of like angel wings. Happy accident:

I love grid patterns. Sometimes they look like quilt blocks to me; other times they look like tiles. This one is called heartangles by Vandana Krishna. I especially like the web design:

This heart is filled with another grid pattern, trellis by Alice Hendon:

The next one uses printemps, auras, stripes, and dots:

I used sprigs by Michele Beauchamp to form a heart:

And this one is my favorite. I adapted cosmic flower by Nicole Dreyer and shaped it into sort of a heart. To me it looks “hippy.”

If you’d like to see my Valentangles from previous years, here they are from 2020, 2019, 2018, and 2017.

Happy Valentine’s Day tomorrow, everyone. I hope you get to spend it with the one you love.

Feb12

Creative Juice #229

Posted on February 12, 2021 by Andrea R Huelsenbeck

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These articles will challenge your intellect while satisfying your need for beauty.

The Harlem Renaissance.
Don’t you just hate it when the block you’re piecing turns out too small?
Beautiful Zentangle designs.
I love acapella singing. This group gives me goosebumps, they’re so good.
I’ve never heard of the Chinese Lantern Festival, but I was delighted to come across these beautiful photographs of it.
Informative article on sketchbook hacks.
Sweet little embroidered Psalm 23 book.
A different way to live during the pandemic.
Split-second photography.
An early history of pen-and-ink drawing.
Some disturbing photographs.
Gorgeous quilts in fall colors.

Jan22

Creative Juice #226

Posted on January 22, 2021 by Andrea R Huelsenbeck

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It’s the beginning of a new era. Hallelujah!

I love reading quilters’ thoughts as they design their quilts.
A dad who sews. Oh, won’t you be my daddy?
Some beautiful Zentangle projects.
Amazing photography of waves.
For the writers: how to combat resistance.
More for the writers: Top 100 Writers’ Websites. Some of these I’ve never heard of. Must. Check. Out.
President Biden’s Inaugural Address.
Poems by the Inaugural Poet, Amanda Gordon.
The Inaugural Benediction given by Reverend Sylvester Beaman.
A watercolorist’s journey.
I love this CZT’s Instagram page.
Lovely little sketchbook.

Jan9

19 More Best Zentangle Sites on the Web

Posted on January 9, 2021 by Andrea R Huelsenbeck

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In my recent post, ARHtistic License: 2020 in Review, I mentioned that my 6^th most visited post in 2020 was my article 10 Best Zentangle Sites on the Web, which was actually published in 2018. It needs updating, because I’m aware of many more Zentangle blogs that are also awesome.

As I worked through as many tangle blogs as I could find, I discovered something interesting: some of the blogs on the original list have not been updated in many months, or even years. And some of the blogs I wanted to put on my new list had also been abandoned.

I know that at least one CZT (certified Zentangle teacher) has had issues with her hands and is not drawing very much anymore. I suspect that blogging became a burden for some of the others.

I decided not to list any site that has been inactive for more than three months, even if I love it so much that I draw from it for Creative Juice.

In no particular order, here are the best ones I found that still seem to be updated regularly:

Alice Hendon, CZT, whose Creator’s Leaf blog was on the previous list, has a new blog called Alice Hendon, Artangleology.
Picturesque Franconia
Annette’s CreARTives
Sue’s Tangle Trips by Sue Jacobs, CZT
Fleeting Time
Time for Tangling
Inkidoodles by Melinda Barlow, CZT
Another Side of Danie
The Ultimate Pattern Collection by Erika Kehlet
Eni Oken, CZT
Tiki Tangles by Janet Masey, CZT
Tangle and Inspire
Sandhya Manne, CZT
Life of Joy
Vandana Krishna, CZT
Notable Ink by Amber Rain Davis. She makes lovely video tutorials.
Dashtangles by Natasha Dash
conZENtric
ArtsAmuse

Now it’s your turn. Do you know of another great Zentangle blog that is not listed (and is still being updated)? If so, please share in the links below.

Jan1

Creative Juice #223

Posted on January 1, 2021 by Andrea R Huelsenbeck

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Happy New Year! (May it be better than last year. Please, God. Amen.)

A doodle diary helps a man deal with the loss of his wife.
Gorgeous zentangles.
Encouragement from strangers.
Extraordinarily beautiful cats.
I love this story about a woman who put together an art class for her neighbors’ children.
A quilter grows in her craft.
Paper cranes taken to the next level.
Whoa! I didn’t even know this existed! ChromeMusicLab. You gotta show your kids. Fun for grownups, too.
Fabulous children’s book illustrators.
For the children’s writers: magazine markets for children’s stories.
A forgotten genius, the Michelangelo of the 20^th century.
For the birds.

Dec25

Creative Juice #222

Posted on December 25, 2020 by Andrea R Huelsenbeck

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Merry Christmas! May God’s Love indwell you today and always.

Beautiful (and humorous) embroideries.
Zentangle + pottery.
A quilter grows through the years.
An Andy Warhol exhibit from two years ago. I missed this article when it was first posted, but I was happy to come across it now.
The story behind Handel’s Messiah.
I love libraries. Here are how some decorated for Christmas.
The story behind “Silent Night.”
A quilter photographs her many quilts.
The prettiest Christmas cookies I’ve ever seen.
Verdigogh always looks so Christmasy to me. Here’s how several artists interpreted it.
This blog definitely gets the best reader comments. You guys are all going to have to step it up on ARHtistic License. (Let that be one of your New Year resolutions.)
This might be too late for you, so you might want to bookmark it for next year: how to sew gift bags.

Dec22

Christmas Tangles

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Andrea R Huelsenbeck

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Every December I create some Christmas-related Zentangle designs. Here’s what I came up with this month.

This was a string that was suggested in Tangle All Around, the Zentangle group I’m part of on Facebook. I executed it with the patterns florz, IX, therefore, tipple, hurry, cubine, echoism, Hollibaugh, ixorus, ynix, doo dah, fescu, moonpie, mooka, springkle, drupe, dyon, tagh, dribbetz, onamato, three & three, sez, Kathy’s dilemma, and knase:

Because the string above is circular, I decided my theme for December 2020 would be Christmas balls.

Fellow blogger Alice Hendon, who administers Tangle All Around, came out with a new book last month, Life in Tangles, which is a collection of designs created by Tangle All Around FB group. Of course I bought it, and I thought this design, reel, by Sandra Strait, would make a good Christmas ball: