This week’s, It’s a String Thing, #193 is chosen to support the artist Lily Moon. Lily recently posted on her blog about the deadly brain tumor plaguing her daughter, for which she was given no hope. Her granddaughter is 12 and Lily’s son is autistic and depends on her completely. She stated that she is dealing with this tragedy alone and therefore is struggling to create anything. Her grief is palpable and breaks my heart. Lily has been a mainstay in the Zentangle world for quite some time and her blog and Facebook groups are extremely popular. What happened last week was that almost every Zentangle challenge was dedicated to her and calls to use Lily’s wonderful Tangles, found here on her blog, were everywhere.  I was not at all surprised  by the thousands of artists from all over the world using her patterns in their art. The thing that gives me pause, again and again, is the clinging to tangling as a means to persevere through physical and emotional pain by hurting people everywhere. This isn’t just me, or Lily or even a dozen here or there. The more artist focus articles I write, the more it hits me that almost every person out there tangling has the same story of the Zentangle ® Method saving them in some way. I find this extraordinary! I know that it’s true for me and every Tangler I’ve talked to. With this thought in mind I would ask you non-tanglers out there to consider if this is something that could help you, or someone you know? You don’t need a lot of money to do this. You don’t need a lot of time the projects are small. You just need the will to begin. I don’t get paid for these statements. I just believe with my whole heart that this method can change us for the better and give us a great coping mechanism for pain, grief, loss, anxiety, depression and lots of other conditions. Food for thought!

Okay, sorry, back to IAST #193. Adele Bruno choose for string this week a modified version of Lily’s “chop” or her artist’s mark. It looks like this.
The tangles chosen for this week were:

• Drogon 
• Reel
• Lily’s Valentine 
• Andante

Try doing a hashtag search for these tangles! The sheer number of tiles will astound you!