June: Be relaxed - this time with Zentangles

Zentangle is a meditative drawing practice for everyone. Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas came up with the word Zentange to describe the practice of drawing repeating patterns in random organic lines and shapes. It started when Maria Thomas idly doodled on a manuscript she was working on. She mentioned it to Rick Roberts, a former Buddhist monk, saying she felt “freedom, well-being and complete focus” while she was drawing. He knew this to be very similar to meditation, so they went on to create a system so others could have the same experience.

Basic Zentangle, step by step:

Step 1: start with a 3.5" cardstock square known as a "tile".
Using a pencil, lightly draw a dot in each corner.

Step 2: Still in pencil, create a rounded frame connecting the 4 dots.

Step 3: Still using a pencil, divide up the frame with a loose line.
In Zentangle-speak, these dividing lines are called "strings".

Step 4: Fill the divided areas with repeating patterns.

Like a good board game, the rules are simple, but the variations are endless. There are literally thousands and thousands of patterns you can use to fill your designs.

My favourite online source for these is tanglepatterns.com. There'll you'll find more patterns than you can imagine, created by all ages and levels of zentanglers. The patterns are searchable by name and sorted alphabetically with each pattern linked to a step-by-step for that pattern, as well as some of the history. The site also includes information on the history of zentangles and all sorts of "how to" info to make your zentangling play more fun.

For example, one of the patterns I like making is called "Jalousie". Here's is how it's listed at tanglepatterns.com: 

When you click on it there's quite a lot of further information, including the history of the person who invented it, and what inspired her:

And, of course, there's the step by step:

So, yes - you *can* go out and buy the books, but until you know that zentangle is your thing, spend some time at tanglepatterns.com because there is enough there to keep you busy for quite a long time.

But if you want books, here are the ones I had with me in class:

Zentangle Untangled by Kass Hall. A good beginning book. Step by step with easy patterns, some  colour theory, and good exploration of materials apart from the basic pen and paper. 

zen doodle: tons of tangles by Tonia Jenny and Amy Jones. A good next step. More complex patterns to tackle and great ideas for mixing and matching your patterns on very diverse projects.

Zen Mandalas by Suzanne McNeill. CZT. A nice overlap between mandalas and zentangle.
A nice, thin, practical book with tons of inspiration - patterns, mandala building, colours and symbols. The patterns are logically sorted (circles, parallel lines, leaves, spirals). If you only want one book and you're past the basic stuff, this would be my choice.

And if you *really* want to jump into the deep end of the creative pool when it comes to drawing lines and being "in the zone", I think you'd find Star, Branch, Spiral, Fan by Yellena James very inspiring. Once you've cracked the drawing thing, her book will show you how to turn those basic lines into absolutely amazing pieces of art that you might want to frame.

Next post: A peek into my journal and the pages I created in June. Plus some ways to stay creative over the summer until we meet again in September.