Rabbit Holes, Organization, and Victorian Puzzle Purses

06 Monday Apr 2026

Posted by in 100 Day Project, 365 Days of Block Printing, Art

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

I am on day 95 on my journey to make a block print of some kind every day this year. I am also on day 43 of the 100 day project Instagram challenge. Some surprising insights are the amount of mess I have been making without taking time to tidy up and the frequency of tangents I go off on. Both of these discoveries are creating a growing urgency in me to get my works in progress organized. But first I have to get everything ready for my solo show that is being installed on April 28th. I have figured out what pieces I want to include and a few that I still want to finish. Then I have to get everything into the Artist Archive program that I have started using to get my inventory organized. It helps me keep track of what is where at any given time and is fantastic for getting ready for a solo show. I will be able to print out labels and all the paperwork I need so easily. Once everything is entered. I am waiting for a few pieces that are getting scanned and framed. I’m getting there.

I have created new sets of blocks for my small torus mandala prints and some new square blocks, too. I am going to use some of the mandalas in the UW Hospital show at the end of month and the squares are some of the rabbit holes I have been exploring. I keep putting the squares aside to finish everything for the show, but they have some heavy gravity for me right now! The reasons for the square blocks are a traveling block printing kit I am assembling for a trip planned at the beginning of May and for Victorian Puzzle Purses. Back in March I posted about the travel kit and occasionally I think of a new block to supplement the kit and I love this larger, combined block and now I want to make them in lots of sizes.

I was starting to lose or damage things so I did a good tidy of my work space and only moved one small pile to another table. And then there were the Victorian Puzzle Purses! I don’t remember where I first saw them but I have watched so many videos on YouTube and Instagram and I am thrilled with the blocks I have carved so far. I do keep making them so I don’t forget the folds, but no more designing for them until the show is up!

I have been playing around with stitching and block printing increasingly this year. Here are some early paper stitching projects. I’m going to take an exciting Sashiko class in Door County later this summer and I am struggling to hold off on these until after the show is ready. It is actually really exciting to see a body of work come together. I’m writing positive songs, poems and meditations in the background of most of them because I need to balance the energy of the protests and rage about what is happening with peace and beauty where I can.

Peace

Collage Packs Now Available and New Solo Exhibit

23 Monday Mar 2026

Posted by in Art, Art on Exhibit

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

The Art Hub in Cambridge, WI has a new product available. I have collected 40-50 papers into sets that can be used for art journaling and collage. They include a mix of gelli printed papers of all kinds, book pages, antique papers from magazines, sheet music and ledgers, security envelopes, book pages used as paint pallets, commercial and hand painted tissue papers, block printed papers and more. They are only available in person at the gallery at this point.

I have also been invited to have a solo exhibit at the UW Hospital Carbone Cancer Center in Madison, WI. It will be up from April 29 – July 27 this year. The exhibit spaces are open for guests to view. The J3/1 area of this space (on the first floor) does have limited hours from M-F 7:30am-5pm. The portion of the exhibit on the 2nd floor (J3/2) is located in a public accessible area and is therefore open 24/7, though the best time to visit is during visiting hours 8am -9pm. There will not be a reception for this exhibit. Having my art in medical spaces is one of my highest goals and comes from the many hours I have spent waiting and looking at art that did not engage me when I was in very difficult situations. I hope that my art will engage patients and their families and provide them with moments of peace. I am getting some new pieces framed for this exhibit.

Daily Art Practice

04 Wednesday Mar 2026

Posted by in 100 Day Project, 365 Days of Block Printing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

My daily block printing art practice is going very well with 2 months of printing and posting them on Instagram. I am continuing to print single pages of tessellating torus mandala blocks on old book/magazine pages. I’m playing with black and brown on the aged papers with lovely results. I came across this pink gelli printed book page and printed my spectacles block in pink and black and I played around with varying sizes of square blocks in a variety of colors on a scrap of paper from a large mandala.

I have a trip coming up in May and I have been putting together a travel printing/art kit to take with me. I recently went to a one day mediation retreat and took my kit to give it a trial run. The “Love” print got a Zentangle treatment and turned out nicely. The little sketchbook is new and I am very happy with the paper. The ink didn’t bleed through and it took shading well. I decided I needed blocks that I could layer and play with a lot of different combinations so I created a bunch of one inch squares that are super fun to play with! And I played!

Have you noticed that I have a tendency to play and experiment? Another series of experiments I am working on is combining watercolor with my block prints in a really mindful way. This is bringing me lot of joy and I hope it cheers you up as well.

Grids keep appearing in my art journals. The square blocks I carved in December work so well on them and creating a master sheet that looks like a hot mess then comes together in something beautiful is a metaphor I really need these days. This is a new junk journal I made recently using a wide variety of papers in a cereal box cover.

100 Day Project and Upcoming Zentangle Class

24 Tuesday Feb 2026

Posted by in 100 Day Project, art class

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Today is day 2 of the 100 day project. I have started off printing on very old papers. I love the November 1878 issue of Demorest’s Monthly Magazine. I’m also printing on pages from an old dictionary and a geography book from 1901.

“The 100 Day Project is a free, global art project built around one simple idea: show up to your creative practice every day for 100 days. Anyone can participate! Subscribe to receive updates and daily creative prompts.”

Since I am doing a 365 day project this year I am absorbing the 100 day project into it. There is a sense of community that helps maintain enthusiasm for a longer project. I still have lots of ideas for my 365 day project and am going strong. I will do a blog post about February in the beginning of March. For today I just wanted to share my first 2 days of the 100 day project.

I am teaching a Zentangle class at the Art Hub in Cambridge, WI on Friday, March 20th. Register here. We will use the pattern called “C Knots” as the focal point for our piece. Here is an example

Block Printing Every Day

05 Thursday Feb 2026

Posted by in 365 Days of Block Printing, Art

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

So this is my goal for 2026. It is an ambitious one but I’m going to be gentle with myself about it. It is aspirational but I got a great start in January!

I’m having lots of fun exploring the blocks I carved in December and older blocks as well. I have even carved a few new ones, some of them inspired by the Zentangle Fragments of Your Imagination January challenge. I love to use Zentangle patterns as inspiration for my blocks. This one is my favorite.

I used a block printed mandala using some of these Zentangle fragment blocks as the pattern for a screen printing class I took at Polka Press and here’s some napkins and tshirts that are the result!

I printed a cover for the paper bag art journal I used to capture my Carve December work.

Here are individual photos of some of my favorites.

Making art is a form of self care for me. I think it is also a form of resistance against evils such as fascism. I’m surrounding Minneapolis with Love & Love & Love. Let’s make something beautiful today.

Year in Review 2025

12 Monday Jan 2026

Posted by in Art, art class, Art on Exhibit

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

What a year I had! April held two significant milestones. My art was published in a magazine for the first time! My pattern designs were published in the 6th Surface Pattern Design Guide published by UPPERCASE Magazine.

I also had a solo exhibition in April at the Art Hub in Cambridge. The reception was on Friday, April 4. I sold 4 pieces at the opening.

SOLD!

I taught a number of Zentangle and Art Journaling classes at the Art Hub and for my Unitarian Universalist congregation fundraiser.

For the first time, ever, I was a presenter at an online art festival, Block Printing Fest in October! It was very challenging and even more fun and rewarding.

I finished many small works of art and 2 very large ones. Spring Metta Mediation has been exhibited at UW Hospital and Diversity and Inclusion will be exhibited there in summer of 2026. I had art in a few galleries and exhibited other pieces at the hospital and various venues throughout the year.

In May I gave art fairs a last shot and confirmed that this is not for me. I was in the Madison Art Guild tent at the Middleton Art Walk.

I got a variety of notecards and other printed materials at 2 locations, the Art Hub in Cambridge, WI and the Madison Art Market at 5944 Odana Road in Madison, WI. Coming soon, Madison Art Market will have print on demand products with my art available on their website. I added a lot of new art to my print on demand page on Fine Art America. My art on puzzles was a particular favorite this year.

I also participated in a number of Instagram challenges and became obsessed with paper bag art journals to capture my results. I participated in Figment of Your Imagination in January and created a mandala using Zentangle fragments over the course of the month. The 100 day challenge has been a favorite of mine for years. It really allows me to explore something in depth. This year I had some health challenges and didn’t participate as regularly as I have in the past but I tried to make some art every day. It allowed me to complete the Spring Metta Meditation piece. I also participated in the Index Card a Day challenge in June and July and it led to the piece Diversity and Inclusion. It is a mandala that I cut up into index card shaped pieces and worked on them individually. October brings Print Inktober and I created my first paper bag book to capture all the fun Zentangle and block printed things I created that month. I closed off the year with my favorite challenge, Carve December. I carved more than 60 blocks and created another paper bag journal to document that journey.

Carve December Creativity

03 Saturday Jan 2026

Posted by in Art, carve december

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I carved more than 60 blocks in December. The picture above is missing most of the words I carved. They are posted below. Carve December is an Instagram challenge that helps me in the darkest time of the year. It has been the best medicine for my seasonal affective disorder ever! I’m really excited for this first version of a new, big torus mandala that I designed over the course of the month (below).

I wasn’t happy with one of the new blocks and used an old favorite that I’m still working to redesign. Here’s a gallery of the blocks I carved and the photos I posted on Instagram.

I made another paper bag art journal to capture all the fun blocks I carved and to keep a record of them all together. Now that I have completed 5 years of this challenge I want to be a little more organized about the hundreds of blocks I have! I will post a video of the flip through on Instagram.

Wishing you peace, good health and happiness in the new year!

Carve December Part 1

14 Sunday Dec 2025

Posted by in Art, carve december

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I love Carve December! It is an Instagram challenge started and hosted by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer of Balzer Designs. She provides prompts for each day of the month and people carve stamps (blocks) inspired by those prompts, or whatever. I have generally been one of the “whatever” carvers but this year I am following the prompts and having a lot of fun with it. I am curious if you can guess what the prompts might be based on what I carved. I would love it if you would leave a comment with your ideas.

I have made another paper bag art journal to capture all of the printed goodness.

Happy holidays!

Classes for Winter 2026

25 Tuesday Nov 2025

Posted by in art class, Zentangle Method Class

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I will be teaching classes at the Art Hub in Cambridge, Wisconsin again this coming winter. Come in out of the cold and have some fun. The new schedule will be available soon. Keep an eye out here and on Instagram for updates.

I’m going to be teaching a grid art journaling class on Saturday, February 7th from 1-4, a Zentangle class on Friday, March 20 from 6-8 and how to make paper bag art journals on Saturday, April 25 from 1-4. My last post has an overview of my paper bag journal that I made for all my October activities. I have already made one to get ready for Carve December! I’m really loving this kind of journal.

Last Saturday I had a great Zentangle class at the Art Hub. We explored the tangle pattern crescent moon and played with flower options to create our own unique variations. Here is the mosaic from the class.