Zentangles

     

         I've been sitting in a chair a lot as if there is nothing else to do.  It's not warm enough outside for me to garden and I've been having enough back and sciatica pain that I've resorted to using a walker almost all the time for the last week. Well, sometimes I can step away from it in the kitchen. Anywhoo, I've looked for easy things to do.  My last two posts showed that I've been drawing faces.  I thought they looked pretty good at the time but now I'm seeing lots of areas to improve on.  That sort of turned me off for drawing faces right now.  I seem to toss my hands up pretty easily these days. Then a few days ago I got out my Zentangle supplies.

       A purist Zentangle creator will insist all you need is a small permanent black pen and a 3 by 3 card. I'm not a purist. I have a small canvas bag full of Zentangle supplies. It includes Micron pens in assorted sizes, a couple pencils including a .5 mechanical pencil which has a small eraser, an extra soft eraser, and a tortillon which is French for "a rolled up piece of paper" and we typically call it a stump blender. A bunch of Zentangle books teaching how to create a variety of designs of course make it a heavy bag. Oh, and don't forget paper. I have a sketch book, and a "Bristol Smooth" notebook, but I prefer "Artist Tiles." The tiles are stiff and come in squares of 3 and 6 inches and I used the 6 inch squares clipped to a small clipboard for the ones I'm showing here.

       If you don't recognize the term "Zentangle" I will explain. It is simply glorified doodling. I remember doodling in high school waiting for other kids to finish their tests. But Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas decided that putting multiple doodling designs together was very relaxing and that's where the Zen comes in. The "Tangles" are the doodles themselves. So she labeled them "Zentangles" and has made a fortune writing books teaching technics and teaching classes where she certified other people to teach the "glorified doodles." I must say my hat is off to them. They came up with a brilliant product and reminder that we should all find time to relax and sit and doodle now and then. 15 minutes doing Zentangles will no doubt reduce your stress and maybe even lower your blood pressure a bit.

       So, now that you know what this is all about I will tell you that 15 minutes is not enough for me.  I spent hours and hours drawing the tiny designs in pencil then again in ink and then I erased the pencil marks. Then I took a 2B pencil and added shading. I had to wash the graphite off the part of my hand that slides over the page a few times as I worked.  I used my extra soft eraser to clean up messy and graphite smeared edges of the tile and then I used my mechanical pencil eraser to clean up small areas and called the piece done.  It's usually not really done because I typically think of another tiny detail to add a couple more times. So, I hope you like my Zentangles. 

       Oh, and a final thought: should wish to join the world of us who tangle all you need is a permanent pen and a piece of paper. You can find everything you need for free on line, but the books on Amazon are great, too. Watch out.  It's addicting!