The Zen Master came to Gwen's place Saturday morning.
And the 14 eager pupils came, too.
It was the first class.
And they were first class all the way!
The Zen Master shared a lot of the background and benefits of 'tangling' with us.
And she shared a lot of practical ways to use Zentangle patterns in our daily lives.
She shared so much exciting stuff, that we were about to explode with creative energy when we actually started working on our first tiles.
And then.
It got VERY QUIET.
Everyone was so focused...
...I think we stopped breathing for awhile.
As things progressed, our sheets for note-taking got more and more interesting.
And the Master had to turn on some soft background music to soothe the silence.
Everyone was concentrating.
I wondered if Able Baker Dana wore these Zentangled eyeglasses on purpose?
As our first Zentagle tiles began to come together, we started breathing again.
And then the excitement really ramped up, as the Zen Master started demonstrating some of the more intricate-looking patterns.
She even got on her knees so everyone could see the examples at the same time.
'
When class time was over, Zen Master had us lay all our tiles in one place.
She wanted us to see that though we had all been given the same instructions and patterns, our tangles were each unique.
Tiles were divided differently, patterns were placed in differing locations on the tile, and some had more shading and "enhancing" than others.
(My apology for the poor photo.)
We spent some time appreciating all the amazing differences until, one by one, the students picked their tiles up and packed up to leave.
And then we discovered something which, for lack of a better expression, just really kind of freaked me out.
Miss Mary Mack had been in the class, sitting at some distance from me at another table
But when ours were the only two tiles left on the table, look what we discovered:
Zen Master said she'd never seen anything like it.
I'm still trying to process this.
Now, in the day which has passed since we had class, I have heard from several of the students.
They say they have become obessessed with Zentangle on some level and seem to be seeing tangle patterns everywhere.
And, somehow, a new tangle pattern involving paint brushes was sketched on my church bulletin this morning.
Tangle patterns have taken over my mind.
I'm having a hard time thinking about anything else.
I hope it doesn't show.