I have been playing with colour - again!

This is a variation of Zentangle pattern "Squid" along with one of my new patterns "Fysh"  ... they remind me of those sand dollars and star fish you get washed up on the beaches.  

And also my first "Mooka".  This is a darling pattern from Rick and Maria at Zentangle and if you haven't already had a go with it, I recommend it.   I have used both black and brown Pigma Micron's here.  Still have some shading to go.


WORKSHOPS .... I have just returned from Melbourne where I have been teaching at Michelle's Sewing Basket (both beginner Zentangle and Zentangle for Quilters).   These classes were a great success and I am now booked to return to Melbourne to do my two day drawing workshop (Illuminated Letters with Zentangle)  on the 9th & 10th September 2011 ... you can contact Michelle or Jim at Michelle's Sewing Basket as they are my hosts again.

My Newsletter will be out next week and there will be some exciting news about what I am up to ...... so if you haveven't already, sign up for it on my web site http://janemonkstudio.com

Happy Tangling everyone ... Jane x

Happy Easter Holiday

 I have been Tangling (and quilting for my customers - so have been pretty busy) ... here is a sneak peek at something I am working on at the moment for a friend.  You can see here I have used my patterns Tadpegs, Swirly Blossom, Fern and Baby Fern as well as Zentangle patterns Fescu, Jetties, Finery, Printemps as well as Zinger, and I am sure by the time I finish, I will have used a whole heap more.

I am also working on a large project which I will be able to reveal soooon I hope.  I am not very good at keeping exciting stuff to myself.



On Saturday morning I did a short Adult Education Workshop for Beginners Zentangle and it was a great class - everyone enjoyed themselves and we had a fantastic venue with great light.

This is my baby - Jet - he loves to help me tangle and just has to see what I am up to. I'm sure he would hold the pen if he could!

I would like to wish everyone a great Easter holiday break and hope you have time to Tangle.   I will be back on line when I return from Melbourne where I am doing a number of classes as Michelle's Sewing Basket - I am also the guest speaker for the Australian Quilting Guild of Victoria - very excited about that!

Happy Tangling for now ... see you all soon ... Hugs Jane x

Classes at Michelle's Sewing Basket in Victoria

My next round of classes are at Michelle's Sewing Basket in Melbourne - VIC.

Friday 29 April to Sunday 1 May 2011 
 

Classes on Friday are full, Saturday (Zentangle for Quilters) is almost full I believe and we are now running another class on Sunday.

Contact details for bookings are:

 03 9870 0011 for bookings.  http://www.michellessewingbasket.com.au/webcontent1.htm

We would love to see you there.

Cheers
Jane 

Zentangle Tiles at my Sydney Workshop & A Visitor

Last month I was in Sydney teaching Zentangle ... you know how it is ... you are busy teaching so don't take as many photos as you should.

There was some seriously good Tangling happening.  Here are some of the tiles from the girls in Campbelltown NSW.

This class was organised by SandiO ... a fabulous textile artist who specialises in felting.  I could have taken some of her creations home ... you can visit SandiO on her blog.  Thank you Sandi for a successful class.

This is Lisa ... all the way from Houston TX (well she really flew in from Sydney to take a full day one-on-one workshop with me). We had a great day tangling.  I hope you enjoyed Tasmanian hospitality Lisa, you did some great tangles.

Okay that is it for now ... I have a busy week ahead quilting customer quilts, a haircut and running a teenager around as well as working on a large Zentangle project ... more on that later down the track.

Happy tangling for now ... Jane x

Bookplates and some colour

 There are lots of things you can do with Zentangle drawings ... this one is destined to be a Book Plate for the front of my books I think ... it has some of my favourite Zentangle patterns ... I especially love Marasu (my variation of it because I add those tendrils so it looks like a sea creature).  Oh and 'Nzeppel ... you can get some really great curves out of that pattern, and of course there is "Zinger" down in the right hand corner ... I use this one a fair bit too.

And here is Marasu again ... about 4 weeks ago I was lucky enough to get a whole set of Derwent pencils in a beautiful wooden case and had been playing with them.

In this drawing I have used Derwent pencils to colour the background squares, used Staedtler Triplus fineliners to draw Zentangles in them with matching colours, used a beautiful Matisse Ink to paint the background of the Marasu pattern (those three Zentangles) and then a Pigma Micron to draw in the Zentangles.   Lots of mediums here ... then one of my friends directed me to this web site where Australian artist Loretta  Grayson does the most amazing art work ... I'm not even sure she knows about Zentangle ... but wow - worth checking it out....http://rettg.blogspot.com/ ... sigh ... mine pales in comparison really.   I need some more vibrancy in the colours, so I think I will get the Derwent Inktense pencils out and give them a workout soon.  I really like the idea of her methods, using pastels and marking the texture in with a stylus...definately food for thought there.

Okay hope you all have  a great tangling weekend ... I'm going to be out of blogland for a few days while I prepare for my three workshops in Sydney ... I can't believe they are next week ... time has snuck up on me once again.    Happy Tangling ... Jane x

A Tantalising Tease

What wonderful things happen when Origami and Zentangle meet ...  hopefully I will have some pics for you in the next few days ...

I am getting ready to go to New South Wales for my three x two day workshops.

The first is with Sandi in Cambelltown ... Thursday 24 and Friday 25 March - This is a 2 Day drawing intensive workshop ... learn lots of Zentangle patterns, a bit of colour, how to utilise Zentangle patterns in your art and journalling ... fun fun fun.  Sandi may have one or two spaces left ... go to the Zentangle Calendar link above for contact details if you are interested.

Next I will be in Penrith, New South Wales on Saturday 26 and Sundy 27 March 2011
This is a Two Day Zentangle for Quilters workshop ... you will learn how to draw Zentangle patterns and reproduce those drawings in stitch on fabric .... a great workshop for your free motion quilting skills, and you get to create some great art as well.    If you are interested in this class, contact me and I can put you in touch with Michelle who is hosting.


Lucky last on my New South Wales quick trip is off to Orange where I will be doing another 2 day Zentangle drawing intensive.    There might even be a heap of school children that I get to show how to Tangle for an hour or so during this week - Children love to Tangle and are so wonderful at it, so I am hoping this will happen.

Then I am back home getting ready for the Adult Education Zentangle class on the 17th of April,  then off to Melbourne for two days classes at the end of April with Michele's Sewing Basket and also where I will be the guest speaker at the Australian Quilting Guild - looking forward to that.

You can see all my classes up on the top of my blog at Zentangle Workshop Calendar.

I am also planning some Zentangle Retreats in the Highlands of Tasmania towards the end of the year ... so more on that soon also!

until then happy Tangling....Jane

A 2 Day Weekend Zentangle Workshop

 A new group of tanglers is born!

On the weekend I was in Hobart (Tasmania) teaching my 2 Day Zentangle Workshop ... what a great weekend.

This is a Zentangle Pre-Strung Ensemble ..the string lines are already done and each person has taken one tile and independently tangled it ... the results when they are brought back together are stunning.

Remember that some of the people who have completed these have NEVER tangled before ... some even said they "COULDN'T DRAW" -  I know, incredulous!

 These are the tangles from the first day ... oh so cool.

 All engrossed in their own Art ... Tangling away.

The youngest member of the group was Rachel ... she has been really creative and has done some lovely tangles .. I love how she has added colour to her piece ... she gave me permission to put it up on my blog ... well done Rachel, I would love to see more of your work.


Thank you to everyone who participated and to Moira who graciously provided her home as a workshop venue ... it was lovely.  

If you would like to book a workshop with me you can contact me at Jane Monk Studio link.

Happy Tangling for now ... Jane x

Shading - try it, you'll like it!

There has been a bit of chat lately about using a tortillon for shading.   Personally, I like to use a blending stump which is a denser roll of paper.

You can really use anything - a tissue, a piece of paper folded or rolled like the tortillon, a piece of chamoise or fabric.

To see which method you like, get a piece of your favourite drawing paper...lay down some graphite and experiment with the different methods to see what you like.   You may like different methods for different effects.  Try different grades of pencil as well.

I sharpen my blending stump on a piece of fine grade sandpaper.  Although I do have one stump that I keep dirty (with graphite) so I can just add a smidge of shading without putting the pencil on the paper.  I also use the edge or side rather than the pointed end.

Heather P (on a Zentangle group) found this link with Google - how to make your own tortillon http://share3.esd105.wednet.edu/sotelops/tortillion.htm  - try it with different weights of paper for even more different effects.  By the way (for those of you who want to pick me up on spelling - smiling at Kit here!) you can spell it tortillion or tortillon, either way it is a stick of paper.

In my two day workshops, I go into depth with shading techniques - so if you are interested in attending a workshop, or organising a group of your own, let me know.  (minimum of 5 people in Tasmania - and other States can be organised.  I am currently in NSW in March and VIC in April/May) 
And remember I am a Certified Zentangle Teacher ... one of three in Australia and currently the only one in Tasmania.  You can see more on my web site here.....janemonkstudio.com

Happy Tangling for now ... Jane x

Happy Australia Day & Tangles

 The auctions from Toni (of Make it Perfect) have finished.  My three raffles raised a total of $865.  Thank you to everyone for their generosity in the face of the terrible flooding that has affected Australians, especially those in Queensland.
All bidding monies is paid directly to the Premiers Queensland Flood Aid Appeal fund ... none of the money is sent to those putting up the auctions.

The bidding on my Zentangle inspired Alphabet Letter was quite intense.  When it was finished I offered the second highest bidder the option of her paying her bid price and my doing a second letter for her.  She accepted, thank you Chris ...  here is your beautiful "C" .... the shading is still to be done and highlights added.   The photo is not the best ... but taken tonight at 2am with not much light ... It looks way better in person as you will see soon.

I spent a quiet day today and tonight drawing this (Tuesdays are always quiet days for me as I need to be home).  Zentangling is always the perfect distraction for me as I can focus on something positive.

 On Saturday I held a Zentangle for Quilters class over at Cranberry Crafts in Ulverstone - a small class of five, it was a lot of fun.  One of the students really only wanted to see how I do the quilting side of it, didn't really want to draw.  By the time we got to the sewing, she really didn't want to stop drawing ... it was great, all students did a wonderful job of their first and second Zentangles ... check them out... beautiful!

 The second set.   It still amazes me that a class can have exactly the same instruction and come up with something so unique and individual as themselves.

Here they are all together.

 I just had to share this with you ... poor Merlin has grown ( the boys are now over two years old) he doesn't really fit in here to sleep anymore ... but he won't give it up.

So cute!


Happy Australia Day to everyone ....  it is a day to Celebrate being Australian and what that means to each individual.   Hmmm fishing sounds good!

Happy Tangling everyone .... Jane x

Tangling in Tasmania Today

 Now look at all those T's - lol!

I am sitting here at 2.10am - once again because I cannot sleep.  I am glad this doesn't happen every night.

So I thought I would share some of the tangles that I have created over the past few days.

 These two are not shaded ... can you see my pattern Kitties in there ... they make me smile every time I see them sticking their little heads up.

 Creating patterns ... you may recognise the Swirly Blossom pattern that I use in my Decorated Alphabets ... very simple to do and very effective as a repetitive pattern.

Here is a close up.

My next Zentangle for Quilters class is at Cranberry Crafts in Ulverstone on Saturday the 22nd January ... I can't wait but this Saturday I am teaching my Fabric Postcard techniques class ... I did a little tangling for this too ....

Here it is ... Postcards are fun to make and the fabric ones are very tactile ... I love the feel of the stitching on the fabric ... can you tell I am a quilter!

Okay so I'm off the computer soon, draw a couple of tangles perhaps that might be relaxing enough for me to go back to sleep.... Happy Zentangling ZZzzzzzz
Jane x

Welcome to the New Year

I hope you have all had a great break over Christmas and the New Year ... I had the pleasure of spending  a week up at the highland lakes region of Tasmania ... it snowed the day after Boxing Day and we awoke to a white covering all over the camp site .. it was beautiful.   A few days later we had very hot weather, we caught quite a few Brown Trout and enjoyed some lovely meals.  I also relaxed and enjoyed the quietness of this beautiful region of Tasmania.   I Tangled a bit, well actually, a lot!

See this beautiful decorated letter Q ... I have used coloured ink and Derwent Inktense pencils to add colour.  I have nearly finished this whole alphabet ... and have enjoyed it immensely.

 On Saturday just gone I taught a One Day Zentangle Workshop in Hobart (Tasmania).   Just a small group of three, but it was a lot of fun and they created quite a few Zentangles.

Everyone had the same instruction and it is amazing how different their tangles turned out ....

 Then we shaded them - wow what a difference.
It is amazing to see everyone has a different style and approach.

 A second tile almost completed

This is one of the decorated alphabets that we created.  Mica who is a high school art teacher, drew this fantastic M and used the basic tangles that I had taught them in the morning.   When I teach the decorated alphabets we talk about flowing design through the background of the work,  you can see here that Mica has used this in his creation - beautiful.

I thought we had lost him for awhile ... he was in the Zen!

So, welcome to 2011 and another year of fantastic tangling ... I have a number of workshops coming up and more to come.

Happy Tangling for now ... Jane x

Zentangle for Quilters Workshop

If you want to learn how to do this .... I am having a workshop at Esmes on the 4 December (YES that is only one week away)  .... you will need to contact Lillian at Esmes(click on the link to get to her store) to make a booking (and I am not sure how many - if any - spaces are left ... give her a call.

I will also be doing this workshop "Zentangle for Quilters" at Cranberry Crafts in January 2011  and Michelle's Sewing Basket in April 2011.


If you are not a sewer, contact me to make a booking for a straight Zentangle class ... you only need five people and I can come to you in Tasmania.   Remember there are only THREE Certified Zentangle Teachers (CZT's) in the whole of Australia, and I am the only CZT in Tasmania ... book a class today, you won't regret it!

Jet wants to come too, he loves Zentangle ... can you tell?   Now how can I make a kitty Zentangle pattern ... hmmm perhaps the nose

Okay happy Tangling for now ... and have a good weekend....Jane x