A Little Bit About that Zentangle Thing

I will post a health update soon.

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A little while ago I posted some pictures and introduced a new word to many of you -- Zentangle (which is a registered trademark and is supposed to have that little R in a circle thing, but I don't know how to do that on here so let's pretend this is a really long version of that).

A few of you have said you looked into it a bit or thought about trying it but haven't really found your way.  So I thought it might help if I shared my Zentangle (still trademarked and you'll have to assume that from now on) journey with you.

I first saw the Zentangle art form over a year ago on my cyber-friend's blog (Sherri -- not to be confused with a cyberman, for all you Whovians).  She fights MS and talked about how tangling helped her.  Even though I don't have MS, a lot of the symptoms I have are similar to things she struggles with.  I was intrigued but didn't think I could do it.  I doodled in junior high and high school and used to copy the illustrations in my Peanuts book and took a basic art class in seventh grade.  That was about the extent of my drawing experience.  I just kind of filed it away in the back of my mind as an if-I-ever-feel-well-again-I-will-try-this thing.

I don't know why I suddenly decided the time was right a week before Thanksgiving this last year, but I did.  I thought about it for a day or two.  Looked it up a bit.  And then went out and bought what I thought were the absolute basics I'd need.  A sketchbook and pens.  A six dollar sketchbook from Walmart and a fine and medium Sharpie (also from Walmart).  Within a few days I'd added a pencil (just a regular one from the drawer) and some Q-tips to my supplies.  A few days later I bought a gum eraser and a paper stump (for blending, which is what I'd been using the Q-tips for).

These are the basics.  That's what the Sharpie packaging looks like in case you want to buy some.

This is my sketchbook, which has my name on the cover because two of my daughters have the same kind.


For the first little while I just drew in my sketchbook.  I searched out some of the basic patterns and copied them in my book, for practice and reference.  I drew some simple tangles.  I was really enjoying it, even though it caused me to fight my perfectionist tendencies. 

Then, as he was looking at my latest tangle, my husband said he wanted to color it.  Which, of course, I wouldn't let him because it was my art.  Hello?  But it inspired an idea.  I decided to make a coloring book for him for Christmas (which I did and made several for my kids and a few friends, too; I have these in a pdf file and you are welcome to it if you want it, just shoot me your email address).  That's when I bought some linen paper (because I love the texture of it) and got out the clipboard and started drawing on 8 1/2 x 11 paper.

I don't think this is the traditional journey to Zentangle, but who knows.  Zentangle is an art form that started around 2005ish when a former Buddhist monk was watching his artist wife add detailing to a piece she was working on.  She described what she felt as she did it and he told her it was just like meditation.  They worked together to create a simple system so others could enjoy a similar experience.  Their tag line is, "Anything is possible one stroke at a time."  They also say there are no mistakes, just opportunities to discover new patterns and go in unexpected directions.

They teach their method to others who then become Certified Zentangle Teachers (CZTs).  There are CZTs all over the world, although there isn't one close by me.

Zentangle is done in black and white, with shading (although there are variations on this and lots of people add color).  It is done with pigment pens (so many to choose from, but the Sharpies worked just fine for me for a long time and were the least expensive option).  It is taught on tiles (3.5 inch squares of paper sold by the company).  The tiles now come in white, black, and Renaissance (which are tan).  They also have black and white circles.  These are all about the size of a drink coaster.  They also have black and white ATC-sized cards.

Anyone who has done paper crafts knows you can buy all the stuff from the main company and get great stuff but pay a lot or buy similar stuff at your local craft store and pay a lot less.  It's fun to have some genuine Zentangle supplies, but not necessary.

(Yes, I know my "little bit" about Zentangle is turning into a "lotta bit."  But I want to keep it in one post.  Deal with it.)

You start with a string, which is basically just a line of any shape.  Then you use the Zentangle patterns to fill in the spaces this line created.  The line is your skeleton.  The patterns are the muscles and skin.  The shading is the beautiful clothing.  Or something like that.

Most of the patterns have step-outs available.  This is a step by step illustration of how to do what they did.  There are so many patterns that look complex but are so simple (like Paradox).  The best resource for tangle patterns is TanglePatterns.com.  I have spent a lot of time there doing things like this:

A page of patterns from my sketchbook.  Make sure you include the name of the pattern in case you need to look it up again.  Also, if I figure anything out as I draw it, I make note of it next to the pattern.  Because I am old and won't remember.

But sometimes I do this:

This has some tangle patterns I saw and wanted to try, one I tried to draw but it sucked so I gave up and crossed it out, and those dark swirl things.  That's a loose recreation of the pattern on the carpet outside of my therapist's office.  Cool patterns are everywhere!

There are also a lot of YouTube videos that teach Zentangle.  One of my favorite YouTube teachers is Ellen Wolters.

I'm still finding my way, deciding what works for me and what doesn't.  I think my art will continue to expand.  It's been very enjoyable for me.

And before you tell me you can't do it, let me tell you this.  My husband has started tangling.  My can't-draw-a-straight-line-or-a-circle-either-for-that-matter husband.  And he loves it.  His tangles turn out very different from mine, but they are still cool and it's very satisfying and soothing for him.  And he doesn't have the same perfectionist issues I do, so he tends to experiment more.  His are very creative.

If you think you'd like to try but want someone next to you to walk you through it (and are in my general area), let me know and we'll find some time to get together so I can show you the basics that I've learned.  I am absolutely NOT a CZT.  I am just a self-taught novice who is willing to share what she's learned.

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I have added a tab, Tangled Art, under my blog header.  For now, this is where I will put pictures of the pieces I create.  Hopefully, I will find a better option for this eventually.

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I am participating this week in two Zentangle based challenges.

First, the I Am the Diva Weekly Challenge #152 -- Aquafleur:

This is the first time I've drawn a tangle in anything other than black.  It was fun.  Plus, I love Widgets and wanted to try making a Widget the center of a tangle.

I know Aquafleur is all about the look of a water flower, but to me it always looks like a ribbon around something.  I wanted to try something other than a flower.

 

And second, Adele Bruno's "It's a String Thing" #25 - using Fassett:

I started building this from the center out.  Soon it was this fun twisty pillar shape.  And whenever I see Fassett done randomly, I see these star shaped flowers.  I wanted to bring a few out with color.

I thought about trying Fassett in the grid style.  But as I looked at the given string, I decided it didn't really lend itself easily to a grid pattern.  Then I wondered what kind of shapes I'd get if I overlaid a grid on top of the string.  This is what I got.  I love the pinwheel shape that emerged.  I kept everything minimal (just a few sections with Fassett and a bit of shading and embellishment) because I liked the blend of the string and grid so much and wanted that to show.

If I didn't know these last two tiles shared the same string, I don't know if I'd have guessed it.

These two challenges were the first time I've worked on the 3.5" squares.  It was fun.

Coloring is Hard for Me

Quick side note:  The last couple of weeks have been very difficult for me mental health-wise.  I'll write about it soon.  For now, I welcome any good thoughts or prayers offered in my behalf.

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Coloring is easy, right?  Coloring book, crayons, relaxation.  That's how it's supposed to be, right?  And sometimes it is for me, too.  But other times it just really isn't.  Especially when I'm working on a project I'm going to give to someone.

There may be all kinds of reasons it's tough for me, but the primary reason is because I'm color blind.  Yup.  I'm one of the very rare women who have that luxury.  It's estimated that close to 10% of men are color blind but only 0.5% of women.  That's half of one percent.  Lucky me.

So all my life, color has been tricky for me.  I learned all the rules about color.  I know which ones work together and which ones don't.  I know about complementary colors and triadic color schemes.  But I still often have to ask my daughters what color something is (my son is color blind, too) and whether or not I can use this color with that one.  And since I am color blind, I really have to follow the rules of color or things get nasty.  Some people can break them with beautiful results, but not me.

So I was kind of thrilled to find out that true Zentangle is done in black and white -- not color!  Many people add color, but my tangling efforts could be complete and acceptable if I never colored anything.

Then I made a piece for a friend and he asked me to color it.  Ugh!

I was sure I would ruin it.  I had no idea how to do it.  And my coloring supplies were minimal.

So I stressed out about it.  A lot.  So much for the "zen" in Zentangle.

I thought I'd try watercolor.  I bought a nice set and watched several YouTube videos.  I knew I could do it.  Except it wasn't the same when I did it as when they did it on the videos.

So here are the steps to my first colored piece:


my practice page

I had done the piece on watercolor paper.  I had planned to color it until I got it done.  Then I liked it a lot in black and white (check out my last post to see the black and white version) and didn't want to mess it up.  Until my friend requested color.

Watercolor paper has a lot of texture.  It's also very heavy.  I liked the weight and texture of the paper but wasn't sure how it would affect the coloring.  I drew a few simple shapes with a touch of tangling on a separate piece of watercolor paper.  I also drew two smaller versions of the original piece (without the skull because that took forever) to test out color combinations and do a couple of trial runs.

I did some watercoloring on my practice page and decided I was ready to give it a try.  This is how my first test run on my mini-version tuned out:

mini-version, watercolor, first trial run



You may notice the page curled a bit.  That didn't bother me.  I was sure I could fix that if I needed to.  But I wasn't happy with the result.  Not even happy enough to finish it with some shading (I might still go back and add that later).

Then I gave up for about a week.  I didn't know what I was doing.  I was super stressed (that bad mental health struggle I mentioned).  I needed to step back for a bit and leave it alone.

Yesterday, I decided to attack it again.  Not having it finished was causing me extra stress.  I needed to finish it so I could get that monkey off my back.  I decided to use colored pencils.

I bought a set of watercolor pencils a few days before, thinking maybe I would still watercolor but in a different way (I never did end up adding water).  And I had a large collection of Crayola colored pencils from years of art projects with my kids.  I tested them out a bit on my practice page and decided just to go for it on my second mini-version (after watching a three part tutorial on YouTube about using colored pencils).

This is how the second trial run went:

mini-version, colored pencils, second trial run

There were things I liked about it and things I didn't.  But frankly, I was so tired of this hanging over my head, I kind of said "screw it" and dove into the real project.

I used mostly the Crayola pencils, but I did use one or two watercolor pencils.  I did some smudging here and there.  A bit of shading. 

And this is how it turned out:

almost there

It was acceptable.  I wasn't thrilled with it, but it was done and I was so ready to be through with it that I just didn't care that it wasn't perfect.  For a few hours.  Then it started to bug me again and I knew it needed a little bit more.

So I colored in the Widgets (the things that look like little alien robots) with some strong bright colors and darkened the red and blue on either side of the skull.  I also colored a few of the yellow dots orange.

No more tweaking.  I promise.  This is the final product:

the final product

Do I love it?  Not really.  Although it has grown on me.  When I put it away for a few hours and then come back to it, I like it more.  But I am calling it done!

A few tidbits.  You may have noticed that in each piece, the peace symbol is green.  That's not because I really loved the way it looked.  It's more because it's my own little joke that brings me a weird joy -- GreenPeace (tee hee).  Also, I did the space to the right of the skull red and to the left blue because that's the way they are colored on the Grateful Dead album art.  And since it's very much a hippie-inspired piece, I wanted to incorporate some tie dye if I could.  Hence, the rainbow border.

I'm trying to get over the fact that it didn't turn out the way I imagined it in my head and just try to love it for what it is.

I won't give up on coloring.  I want to get some different supplies to try, primarily some Tombow brush markers like I had years ago when I was a demonstrator for a stamp/scrapbook company.

But whether I love it or not, I am proud of myself for tackling something that's hard for me and not giving up.  Yay, me!

That Dreaded Box

Have you ever been stuck in the box?  Can't seem to come up with any new ideas?  Can't see things a new way, from a different perspective?  Stuck in a rut?

I hope I'm getting close with those statements, because I'm not a hundred percent sure I know what it means to be in the box.  I've heard of it.  I may have even been accused of being in it once or twice.  But with any suggestion that I am stuck in the box I begin to picture myself pantomiming (probably not a real word).  The walls.  The ceiling.  The scared look because I can't escape.  Very Marcel Marceau, let me tell you.

When my kids were little, I remember their kindergarten teacher (yes, they all had the same fabulous one) telling me that they were very out-of-the-box thinkers.  She said this with glee.  She beamed with pride.  She praised me.  Please let me be honest when I say that I didn't really know what she meant.  I knew they were creative and smart, but I didn't really get the whole in/out of the box idea.

Until recently.  It happened in a psycho-education group.  I know, big surprise.  Another thing I learned about myself through therapy.  A couple of years ago I was attending a weekly class with a group of women learning various things that you don't learn when you are raised in a screwed up environment.  I had shared with the group leader an interaction that I'd had with someone.  As I explained my approach, another woman in the group lit up.  She said that she'd never thought of it that way.  She and I became friends.  She says she loves it when I share my writing and interactions with her because I see things differently. 

So it was that moment, a couple of years ago as she explained to me what I'd done to help make things clear for her, that this idea became clear for me.

I've listened to other people.  I've observed other people.  And I've found that I do tend to see the world a little differently than most.  A little quirky.  A little twisted.  But also, full of options.

I don't know why.  The things I see are so obvious that I always assumed that others would see it too if they just looked.

I guess it's like my color blindness.  You can see colors the same way as everyone else.  I can't.  No matter how hard I try, I cannot see the red spray paint on the green grass.

But that's okay, because I can see the box.  I can play with it.  Stand on it.  Tip it over.  Run around it.  Ignore it.  And sometimes, just for fun, I climb inside it. 

And pretend it's a spaceship!