Family Tangles

If you ask a class of second graders how many of them are artists, all of them raise their hand.

If you ask a class of thirteen year olds the same question, only a few hands go up.

That's what educator, horsewoman, artist and Zentangle teacher, Deanna Williford, shared with us this past Saturday.

Something happens as we get older.  We stop drawing.  We stop playing.  We start judging ourselves and telling ourselves all the things that we are not.

So on Saturday, I invited Deanna to come teach my nieces, Jack and my siblings the art of tangling.

I had never "tangled" myself and I knew everyone would enjoy being exposed to Deanna and to this fun and relaxed method for drawing structured patterns.

I found Deanna's name on the Zentangle website where there is a list of certified teachers throughout the world.  She lives only a few minutes from my home and she teaches at the Columbia Center for the Arts.

The fact that the nine kids are all different ages really works.  And because we've been gathering for years to play and make things, they are all pretty focused when it comes to creating art.

Deanna made a small kit for each one of us which included three zentangle tiles, a graphite pencil, a .01 micron pen, a kneaded rubber eraser and a tortillion...

We had never used tortillions (cylindrical drawing tools made from rolled paper).  And the methods of using the graphite with the toritllion to shade our drawings was new to all of us.

Zentangle was a great family activity because all ages could feel successful from oldest to youngest...

Technically, I'm a year older than my brother John but I didn't have a picture of me at work so...sorry brother.

Deanna brought lots of examples of gifts you can make with tangles...

The kids loved the shoes and got lots of ideas for presents for parents and friends.

I loved how Deanna kept referring to all the kids as artists.  

And I was really impressed with how quickly they all took to it.  

Even Jack gave it a try...

After just 2.5 hours, this is was our class result...

And we had worked up quite an appetite.  By this point, we'd adopted Deanna as a member of the family...

And even though Deanna needed to leave to tend to her horses...

Her influence was felt long after she'd gone.  This is a pic of the work table an hour or so after she had left...

Still drawing and playing and tangling...

And taking the method in their own directions...

Deanna believes we can all draw once we know the tricks.  Most adults draw like they are in second-grade because that's the age they stopped drawing.

After spending the day with her, the kids aren't the only ones who are inspired.  I've never had any formal art training so today I'm determined to self-study my way through this book that's been sitting on my shelf.

Thank you Deanna for a great day and giving us the gift of zentangle.  I can't wait to see what we can do on fabric through embroidery and painting.  In fact, I found this book which I've just put on reserve at my library...Zentangle Fabric Arts.

Happy Monday everyone and don't stop drawing!