Dapple Designs

Wow what a fun weekend I had.  The guys went off fishing out of town and left this girl here on her own.  In short I ate out, caught up with a couple of old friends and family, had a friend over to stamp the day away, took a class, read a book, and downed a pint of haagen dazs strawberry ice cream.  Ok, so maybe it's not your ideal weekend, but I enjoyed every minute of it.

The class was a total last minute crazy thing that I'm so glad I did.  I went down to the ARTbar in Santa Ana to take a class with Suzanne McNeill on Zentangle.  She just published a book called Zentangle Basics that I can't find online anywhere, but it's a wonderful jumping off place for this fun kind of drawing. She's an amazing instructor and so warm and friendly.  The ARTbar is just about the coolest little place for creative fun.  I fell in love with it and I'm sure I'll visit again.  Oh, and I met some lovely talented orange county ladies there who invited me to join them for dinner.  Just a wonderful way to finish out my recharging weekend.

The artwork up at the top are the zentangles I made.  The top one is a traditional zentangle that is 3 1/2" square.  It's the first one I made.  Then we made the ATC on the bottom right.  I finished it at home and then made another 3 1/2" square one last night to show the guys how I made it.  I've already cut a bunch of blanks to continue on my zentangle journey.  The whole idea is that they are a quick portable art medium requiring just a fine tipped pen and paper.  You get into a zen place in the process of creating the tangle.  I'm excited to have something small and fun to carry with me to create in my down time.  It goes with my word of the year, too.  I'm still breathing.

I think the guys had as much fun as I did this weekend.  They came home chatty and happy with lots of photos and stories.  No fish, it was a catch and release trip.  They've taken up fly fishing now to add to their fishing options when it's not deep sea fishing season.  The big surprise of the trip is that Kyle had his first driving lesson.  Seriously, when did my little boy get big enough to learn how to drive.  I guess by this summer he'll be old enough to take official driver training.  Makes me just a little bit sad and proud all at the same time.  Thanks for stopping by.