"From Start...To Finish..."

My Moleskine in the Zentangle Moly_X_ 11 exchange...:)

A blank book...full pens...and an inspired Muse
awaiting their rendezvous with destiny.

My sign in pages...

My pages 1 and 2...

followed by my pages 3 and 4...:)
The medallion lifts in three layers and reads:
If...
"A dot is a line that went for a walk..."
(~Paul Klee)
then...
"A zentangle
is a garden of lines blooming in the mind's eye..."
a magical place where your Muse can
dance, glide and flourish
with delight!"
(~Me)

Following then,
are Cindy Michele's pages 5 and 6...

and Cindy's pages 7 and 8.

Next,
are Sandra's pages 9 and 10...

and Sandra's pages 11 and 12...

which, in turn
are followed by Jella's pages 13 and 14...

and Jella's pages 15 and 16.

Everything is beautifully interwoven.

Rounding out my book
are Lisa Rene's pages 17 and 18...

and Lisa's pages 19 and 20.

I have not yet determined if I will add additional pages

to my book.

Sadly, for unforeseen and unknown reasons

my book, thus far, it the only one

which

has completed the exchange and has returned home.

This is truly bittersweet.
Of grave concern is the whereabouts

and completion levels

of Sandra, Jella, and Lisa's books.

They have not made it past the second rotation.

We each hope and pray that

Cindy is well and that the books will once again fly free.

We have tried endlessly to make contact and resolve this dilemma.
Until then,
My Muse and I hold Cindy's book in safekeeping.

I cherish my book to pieces...she is a special irreplaceable treasure.
To Cindy, Sandra, Jella, and Lisa...
I am deeply grateful for the staggering beauty of your
intertwined artistic expressions
and
the countless hours of time spent by each of you
while you danced and glided and flourished with your artistic Muses
in my Moly.
You gals are the best!

“Life is inherently risky.
There is only one big risk you should avoid at all costs,
and that is the risk of doing
nothing.”
~Denis Waitley

"Moly_X_11...Sandra's Book..."

First, Sandra's sign in pages...connecting to... ...Sandra's pages 1 and 2...connecting to... Sandra's pages 3 and 4...connecting to... ...Jella's pages 5 and 6...connecting to... ...Jella's pages 7 and 8...connecting to... ...Lisa's pages 9 and 10...connecting to... ...Lisa's pages 11 and 12...connecting to... ...Lisa's pages 13 and 14...connecting to...

...My page 15...connecting to...

...My pages 16 and 17...connecting to...

...My pages 18 and 19A...

to which Cindy will connect her art in the next round.

Whew!

Click on any of the images to enlarge. ♥

“A hidden connection is stronger than an obvious one.” ~Heraclitus of Ephesus

(Greek philosopher 540-480BC)

"Round Three...Jella's Moly..."

...Jella's sign in pages...
...Jella's pages 1 and 2...
...Jella's pages 3 and 4...
...Lisa's pages 5, 6 and 7...
...my page 8
intertwined and spiralling in connection
with a few of Lisa's green swirls...
...Lisa's page 7 and my pages 8 and 9...
look closely and you can see the edges of each page...
...my pages 9, 10 and 11...
a happily nesting peacock in full zentangled glory...
...and finally my page 11 and my page 12...
where Cindy Michele
will connect with her sequence of designs.
Lastly, how about a peek at some
real life photos taken
just before Jella's book was shipped December 29th.
Jella's sign in pages (above)
followed by...
...Jella's four design pages linking to Lisa's...
...Lisa's design pages linking to mine...

...and my design pages

ready to be linked in the next round...:)

Voila!

Here is a view of the entire book thus far...

it is simply delightful.

And...

I am happy to say that

it is now officially all signed and sealed

and delivered...

(with a USPS confirmed delivery December 31, 2010)

to Cindy in Tennessee.

WooHoo!

(Click on any image to enlarge...)

"Great things are not done by impulse...

but by a series of small things

all brought together."

~Vincent Van Gogh

"Round #2...Zen Moly_X..."

This is Lisa Rene's Moleskine.

She began her lovely book in a vertical format.
Above are Lisa's pages one and two...

...which flow flawlessly into her pages three and four.

It then became my task to join my art to hers.

(Note that on the bottom edge of Lisa's page four

that the curlicue to the left...

and yellow bit to the right are part of my art

which overlaps onto her original pages.)
:)

Here you can see more clearly how I chose

to join my art to Lisa's.

Lisa's page four is on the left...

My page five follows on the right.

Notice that the format

here will now transition from vertical

to horizontal...:)

A full view of my pages five and six...
...followed by my pages seven and eight.
If you look closely you can see how each page
is defined by the way the
Japanese style Moleskine pages are folded.
Above is another view of my pages 7 and 8 with
my design overlapping onto page 9...
where Cindy Michele will then join her art...:)
Here is an actual photo of my portion of Lisa's book
attached to Lisa's page four.
(Note the zig zag folds of the Moleskine.
They are really fun to work with...
but will become more difficult to photograph
as new artwork is added as there are
30 zig zag pages in all...60 if one uses both sides
of each page...front and back.)
Whew!
Here is a final photo of Lisa's entire book
thus far.
I included a quotation in my portion of Lisa's book.
It appears within the sun design.
It reads:
"Simply be aware of the oneness of things."
~Lao Tzu
Those words became my inspiration
for the zentangle art I included in Lisa's Moly.
Her book is now in the artistic hands of
Cindy Michele in Tennessee.
I can't wait until the arrival of the next Moly...
and,
if I have the rotation sequence correct in my head,
it will be Jella's from Belgium. YAY!
My Moly should be soon arriving in Oregon
to the studio of Sandra
A.K.A.
"Madame Zentangle Extraordinaire"!
As always...
please feel free to click on any of the photos above
to enlarge for better viewing...
it's well worth it! :)
I hope you have enjoyed this little tour
I wish you could see all this art
in real life...
it is zenfully amazing!

"Add Together...Many Microns..."

...one Japanese Fold Moleskine Sketchbook...

five artistically zen inspired souls...

a boat load of commitment and imagination...

and you have the official 2010

Zentangle Moly_X sketchbook exchange!

My reveal is finally here...

both in scanned format and in digital photographs.

Actually,

my little book has flown from the nest today

and is now winging her way across

thousands of miles

into the studios and creative minds of

our group members...one by one.

I miss her already...

we had become such an extension of each other

for the past

several intensive weeks.

Can't wait til she returns back home again!
Enjoy the reveal.

It's been a long time coming! :)

My official sign in page...

Pages One and Two...connecting to...
...Pages Three and Four...(and a teency bit more)

When she returns
her 30 double sided zig-zagged pages
will be inked with life and joy
and
continuously beautiful patterns
born from the dancing pens in our Muses' hands.
Our group progress
will be officially blogged on Flickr
in the Moly_X group
once all the blog details have finalized.
I will post a link here to our Moly group
as soon as it's possible
so you can follow along if you wish.
Each of us will also be posting our personal progress
individually.
Here is a list of our group members
along with a link to
either their art galleries or blogs.
Lisa in Arizona...
Sandra in Oregon...
Cindy in Tennessee...
Jella in Belgium...
and
me, here in Arizona.
WOW!
I am just breathless with excitement.
I hope you enjoy our little artistic journey...
as much as we have enjoyed
planning it...:)

“Let your mind
start a journey through a strange new world.
Leave all thoughts of the world
you knew before.
Let your soul take you where you long
to be.
Close your eyes
let your spirit start to soar,
and
you'll live as you've never lived before.”
~Erich Fromm