Creativity Block

I have been having a ball with my Zentangle art.  I have been going strong since the beginning of this year doing a piece here a piece there.  I have acquired a few books from various CZT's and have even take a class from a neat CZT artist Deborah (www.facebook.com/Zentangle.and.Reiki.etc.withPeaceofSpirit) that went out of her way to make sure myself and another lovely lady were able to take one of her classes.  I have branched out of the typical Zentangle "tile" and done larger pieces and have incorporated my Zentangle in my art journals as well.   It's all been so much fun, but I have hit a slump and have had a creativity block!!  All of a sudden, everything I come up with in my small creative mind seems to lack a little luster on the page!

I follow so many blogs of other artists from all walks of life and they ALL give me wonderful inspiration, but sometimes I look at "their" work and then look at "mine," and I get the big old frumpy frown!  Their work seems so full of life and mine looks like I'm struggling! LOL!  So, I press ever on!

With Zentangle, you start with a "string" on a tile, which could really be any shape and then tangle inside the string.  Linda Farmer has a wonderful website at www.tanglepatterns.com where you can find sample strings along with a mountain of "official" patterns for your Zentangle art.  I comb it DAILY!!  I also comb Pinterest for patterns to peak my creative juices and mind.  It just seems like sometimes even with ALL the wonderful help out there, I come to a stale mate and nothing looks good on the page!

So since I seem to be bound in the creative chain, my Zentangle for today expresses my crazy mind wrapped up in chains!!  Hopefully I will get a breakthrough soon and get a good Zentangle flow a going!!!  After all......Zentangle is supposed to be STRESS FREE!!! LOL!!

Finding Time

It has been awhile since I have made a post.  It's not for wanting, it just seem to be about finding the time.  My other problem is scanning pictures has to be done at my office because I don't have the capability at home.  So that entails doing on my lunch break, which always seems to be filled up with running errands!!  Whew!  I just can't seem to get a break!!  Luckily today I happen to have the time.

A blogger that I admire so much actually found my blog and made a very sweet comment to me, which spurred me on and put a fire under my seat!  I started this journey, so now I have to get on with it!  Blogging takes time, but I endeavored to make that time, so this is my attempt at getting back on board.  Thanks Shelly Beauch for taking the time to comment on my blog!

I have been working hard and fast at my Zentangle art and Shelly is someone I draw inspiration from.  She is a wonderful artist and her art is effortless to the eye!!  Since I am new to Zentangle, she, and other bloggers, give inspiration and ideas when we think about where we want to take our own art!  I don't know that I necessarily strive to be like them, but I certainly draw from their strengths to take my own art to the next level.  It's a process however, but I am in it for the long haul!  I love it and I am hooked.

I recently did this piece for my niece for her birthday.  I framed it so that she could hang it on her wall to have a little piece of me to look at from time to time.  Every piece is a learning curve for me.  So hopefully I will get better and better as I go.

I like doing the "traditional" tile pieces that Rick and Maria call Zentangle, however I have also branched out to do bigger pieces, just to see how well I do with it!  It's been fun and I love doing both!  I hope to upload other pieces I have done here in the next week or so.  We shall see how that goes!  Until I find the moment in time to do those, this will have to do!

Be blessed!

The Further I Go, The Behinder I Get!

Well, it's been quite some time since I started this blog!  I have been so busy with my summer!  Seems like the further I go the behinder I get...ha ha!  Time throughout the summer has marched on!  It seems like the older I get the summers just breeze on by!  My girls started back school yesterday, much to my delight and chagrin!  With school starting back, views of long nights of homework press in!!  I did my time, way back when, and now it seems I am to go it again!!  It's fun helping my girls learn, but there are those nights where I could just throw in the towel!!  It pays off in the end when they make honor roll and accumulate awards, but the getting there sometimes is hectic!!

My devotional on my Facebook page this morning was to not let the enemy steel your joy!!  Grace, peace, strength, joy and love are all gifts we receive as believers to carry us through those times that seem impossible!  They were gifts designed for an eternal vision!!  As we go through the trying times we are equipped with promises for a hope and a future so that we can shut the door on the enemy!!

Shouts of blessings go out to ALL the mom's out there who are starting a new school year and who take the time to invest in the future of their children!!  Give praises back to the Lord as you go through those long homework nights this school year and give thanks back to Him for the blessing of your beautiful child and no matter how long it takes to get that homework done, the enemy can't steel your joy of being a mom or steel the joy of your precious child!!

Have a great new school year!

A New Journey

I've always wanted to have a blog, but thought what do I have to say that would interest anyone?  But then, I got to thinking about it and thought, no, this will be a space for ME!  This space will express ME and the things I feel God has placed in me, that maybe you can't see!

As I have gotten older and married with children, all the things that I wish I had done or had the courage to do when I was younger, but was too worried about what others thought about me, are now coming to the surface.  I've decided to do, learn and take part in the things I always wished I had.  With that, comes out the creative side of me!

This space will be dedicated to the expression of the beautiful gifts God has placed in me and maybe displaying the gifts of others that speak, encourage and inspire me to travel on new roads and share my experiences along the way!

I'm an artsy, musical, spiritual, gardening, foody!  So this will be my space to show forth my new found gifts in those areas as I learn and travel down all these new creative roads.

The diversity of the gifts God has placed in people are as vast as the stars.  They are ALL special and unique, but ALL come from the same Spirit!  Hence, there is more to me than you will ever see!  Thank you God for your many gifts!

One of my loves is art.  I've always loved to draw.  I started a Nature Journal, which I will be sharing with you at some point and time, but one of my newest art loves is Zentangle ®.  I have been having a ball with this!  I came across it by accident and thought, hey, I've give it a whirl!  Since then, it's been addictive!  Thought I would share one of my pieces with you.  Pretty cool, huh?  One of my buttons to the right is for the "Diva's Weekly Challenge."  She's a CZT (Certified Zentangle Teacher) and posts weekly challenges on her blog.  Her blog is so much fun!  Hope to post some of my results from her challenges!  I'm new to this, so most of the stuff I have been doing is from my cluttered mind!  If you are interested, you can go to Zentangle.com and find out all you want to know!

Fun new way to express myself!  Even my kiddos like it....that's saying something!!  Give it a try if you like!