My Word of the Year

This is how I spent New Years Eve

Happy New Year Everyone!!!!

...and so it begins...

I am such a creature of habit.

I'm a Cancer and I'm pretty much true to my sign. I'm a homebody and content in my little shell of a world. My home, my work, my habitual hangouts...Routine. It keeps me sane, but it can become a rut. The rut has deepened over the last several years and at the age of 56, the hormonal meltdown leaves me anxious. A lot. Drawing helps. A lot.
This will be the year I emerge. I will fear less and curb my anxiety with a balance of drawing and new activity. The key word being Balance. I can retreat into my comfort zone and draw and noodle around on the internet for hours, sometimes entire days off, forsaking all else. I need to get up off my butt.
But first I draw. I noticed a trend within the Zentangle community to start the year off with a tangled word meant to set the tone for the year ahead, from Alphabet Salad to the Facebook group Zentangle: Tangled and Journaled, Too!

For the purposes of this task, I got out of my comfort zone by starting with Featherfall. I love this pattern but use it rarely because it becomes unwieldy. The idea of drawing it made me anxious, especially trying to draw it behind the word...but once I get past that first stroke it's better;-)
I also used some new patterns without practicing them first and finished it off shading with a set grey tone brush pens I received for Christmas.
For the rest of the month, I will personally challenge myself to use at least one new pattern in every piece I create or finish.
If you've managed to read through this I applaud you and thank you;-)
I mentioned in a previous post that I'm going try to include more random bits about myself and what inspires me. It's always a treat for me to catch a glimpse into the lives of other tangling peeps out there and promise that I'll do my best to not get too wordy;-)
Finally, here are some of the Travelling Tangles I managed to complete before the year ended. Decembers group theme was to choose either gems or 2017 as a string. Each of my 6 partners sent multiple pieces so I got a bit behind during the very busy month...but it's all good;-)

My finish to Betsey Youngs gem theme start

Here's the line work before shading

Betsey's start

My finish to Raye Burnett's starter

Raye's starter gem

My finish to another one of Betsey's starters

I love this black zendala Betsey sent

Thank you so much or visiting my blog. Your thoughtful and generous comments delight and inspire me!