TANGLES BY THE SEA

November’s class at Icarus Creative Arts Studio featured tangled bookmarks. The class theme could have been “holiday-related”. However, I decided to make use of all the patterns taught the past year and create something that could possibly be used for gift giving. I suggested going back over their tiles from the year and “downsize” them into a bookmark. Lots of ideas for patterns!

I provided 2″x6″ pre-colored strips, plastic sleeves, glitter pens, and tassels to embellish the final projects. We had enough time to finish two markers, and everyone received extras in their class packets to make more at home. Everyone loved the class, and found it useful for the upcoming holiday season! Yeah – a successful class without a turkey or tree!

This class brought the year to an end. I will be back with a new schedule for January, February and March in the coming weeks.

I want to thank everyone who continues coming to my classes each and every month – some of you for over five years! It’s a great friendship circle that I think we all look forward to. I’m also thankful to Theresa and Robert, owners of Icarus Creative Arts, for allowing me the use of their studio all these years. I couldn’t have a more inspirational environment for my Zentangle followers!

I recently received notification that my tangle “Josephine” was added to the official Tangle Patterns website! This is exciting as tangle patterns.com is one of the premiere sites to find and learn new patterns. I created this pattern earlier this year in honor of my precious Aussie Shepherd, Josephine. All the hearts in pattern symbolize the love this LBD (little black dog) brings to our lives.

The pattern is the third stripe down on the following tile. While it’s too early for Valentine’s Day, I added a bit of autumn gold to match Jo’s coloring. The step-outs can be found on www.tanglepatterns.com.

Six of us had a great time with a little Halloween tangling. Using pre-tinted 5xPhive tiles and black micron pens, several tangle patterns were turned into ‘scary beings’:

Pumpkins-oblong orb with multiple auras; Flux/Zentangle-ghosts; Tagh/Zentangle-mummies; Right Eye/Penny Raile; Gelijoy/Nadine Roller, Kunstler/Margaret Bremner, and added bats, a haunted house and a twisted tree.

White chalk pencils, white Gelly Roll pens and clear glitter pens finished off the tiles. Some elected to add a hint of color using chalk pencils. Think they all turned out awesome.

Next Class: Sunday, November 16th, 1-3:00pm, Icarus Creative Arts Studio

No class in December

New classes return in January 2026!

September’s class at Icarus, featured the Zentangle pattern “Waybop” drawn on a white Zendala. The pattern provides its own “string”, leaving plenty of open spaces to fill with other patterns. Today we used Crescent Moon, Emingle and Orbs all from Zentangle. We included a fragment of Bales to fill the center floral shape, and lots of aura-ing!

Several options were given for shading the completed tiles … graphite, pastel chalk pencils, glitter pens, and white chalk pencil. Each person went off on their own and completed the shading, creating beautiful Zendalas by the end of class. Teri even opted to go off course and used blue ink for some of her tangling! Love them all.

Next up on the calendar is October 12th, Icarus, 1-3pm and then the last class of 2025, November 16th, Icarus, 1-3pm. Contact tanglesbythesea@gmail.com if you would like to attend either of these classes as they do fill quickly. Hope to see you soon!

EXTRA – if you’ve never been to the Bernardo Winery (home of Icarus Studio), they will be hosting their “48th Annual Fall Arts & Crafts Fair” on October 18-19th, from 10-5:00pm. With over 125 vendors, there’s lots to see, so grab a glass of wine and stroll the beautiful grounds. Be sure to visit Icarus Studio & Gallery and see all the beautiful items they have in the gallery. They feature local artists, mosaics, oil paintings, hand painted furniture, unique one-of-a-kind home decor items, and custom framing.

The recent class at Icarus Art Studio featured a “Tangled Koi Pond”. Using a white Apprentice tile and black Micro Perm 03 pen (for the bolder black lines), the following patterns were used to create the pond: Lilium/Dani DePalma-Mabanta, CZT; Lily Pads/Margaret Bremner, CZT; Ubud/Pam Signorelli, CZT; Popsicles (variation of)/Michelle Beauchamp, CZT; Damsel Leaf/Annette Rumpler, CZT; Flux and Fescu/Zentangle. These are all fun patterns to draw and … who knew … you can create a “fish” using four Flux shapes! There was the option of adding just simple orange to the koi fish with graphite shading, or full on color with pastel chalk pencils.

Upcoming classes are on the calendar at Icarus for September and October, and open for registration:

September 14th, 1-3pm
October 12th, 1-3pm

July 15, 2025 – the International Day of Zentangle! Twenty-one years ago this month, Zentangle made its debut. In gratitude and celebration of this, for the second year in a row, at all hours of the day and night, thousands of tanglers from around the world joined a YouTube Livestream and tangled together. The pattern for this year was “Huggins” – the tangle of the year for 2025.

This month’s focus was on the concept of “Map Tangling”, a style practiced by many tanglers. It consists of putting down some “blotches” of watercolor on the tile, then filling in the painted spaces with patterns. There’s a bit of preparation to get your tiles ready, using the watercolors (my choice for class), letting them dry and then start drawing.

Our tiles were white 3.5×3.5 original tiles, using black ink, embellished with graphite shading, white gel pens and a gold sparkle pen. We also did a couple Bijou’s for practice. It was a great afternoon for exploring something different on a hot summer day at the Bernardo Winery!

Next Class: Sunday, August 17th, Icarus Creative Arts Studio, 1:00-3:00pm – email to reserve your place!

I recently took a class that featured the Mexican embroidery art of “Otomi” in a class taught by Danielle DePalma-Mabanta, CZT. This class is just one session of a year-long, international, continuing education art program for Zentangle teachers called CZT: Artifex Eruditio 2025.

While I was drawing Dani’s class, I was reminded of the beautiful Mexican blouses and dresses we wore back in the 70’s, with all the bright colors and beautiful embroidery work. It had me reminiscing of summertime back then, hanging at the beach with friends, swimming in the ocean, just living the So. California lifestyle. Great memories!

I chose to teach this as my June class. While reading about this art style, I found that most times these panels were created on muslin cotton. I had 6×9 muslin bags on hand, so we used these as our “tiles”. I changed up the patterns from Dani’s class, and concentrated on an “ocean theme”, using Zentangle patterns that resemble sea life.

We used a fish for our focal point, then added the following patterns: Angelfish/M. VanBeek; Eau/Christina Carroll; Urchin/Loretta Botticini; Popsicles/Michelle Beauchamp; Heart Vine/Laurie Howe; Indy-Rella, Flux and Orbs by Zentangle. The patterns were drawn with Pentel Fabric pens and the color was added using Koi Brush markers.

They all turned out awesome. These would make fun little gift bags, for those looking to make something to share with a friend.

Thanks Danielle for the inspiration and education of this art form.

Next Class: Sunday, July 13th at Icarus, 1:00pm-3:00-pm. Contact tanglesbythesea@gmail.com to reserve your seat!

I didn’t have the June date confirmed during May’s class. It is now scheduled for June 8th at Icarus, from 1-3:00pm. Seating is available at this time.

Other Summer Classes:
July 13th, Icarus
August 17th, Icarus

This month’s class was all about ZenGemZ. Beautiful tiles were created by all, combining colorful gems with embellished orbs and floral patterns. Prismacolor colored pencils were used for the gems.

Next up – June 8th at Icarus from 1-3:00pm.