Still Puttering

I've nearly wrapped up my documenting of my last projects and filed away fabric and scraps from them. After finishing the last one and getting the exhibit up at the bank, my only thought was that it's summer and I want to take a break. An antique reproduction quilt whose quilting had failed along many grid lines has made it to the studio for repair - that's the sort of thing I envisioned myself working on if I worked in the studio at all. I'm enjoying perhaps too much the lazy afternoons on the deck with my thick novel and walks along the lake. To my surprise, though, just being in the studio tending to paperwork and straightening up makes me aware that I may not want a vacation after all. Something's calling to be worked on, I'm not quite sure what, but the subconscious part of me apparently is ready to get back to work.

Also calling has been the Zentangles. I certainly have not been doing a Zentangle a day as I once was, in fact, have not done one since April, even though the sketchbook I've given over to the drawn-in properly-sized squares and my pen lay out in plain view. Today I finally succumbed, and was reminded how much I enjoy the movement of pen on paper. Filling in the spaces with rhythmic strokes soothed and relaxed. It's too bad that, rather than fit this act that gives me a feeling of well-being into my daily routine, it gets shunted aside. I so easily convince myself I cannot afford the time most days.

Now that I do not have books giving me prompts, I've experimented with some rather rigid divisions of space, varying the tangles while the divisions remain the same. Back in April I tried using the "tile" as a frame, one with a circular "window" in the center looking out on a little scene (see here). It gave me the framework I need to get going and ample opportunity for variations on a theme. I really liked working in sepia and will be doing more of that in my button booklet. The cat came from a catalog, reminding me that my central scene could spill over the edge of the circle. That's what I tried today with some success. Will be trying it again.