Zentangle

A while ago I picked up a book on Zentangle. It's a form of organized doodling. I tried to do a couple designs but really haven't picked it up because I was too busy. I did a few in pencil and have been researching the different designs and patterns. Dabbling every now and then. I've seen that you should do it in pen and no erasers are used. Not what I was doing. I was using pencil and trying to make the pieces perfectly done.

So yesterday I decided to just jump right in and do a pen design. I made several mistakes and don't have all the tools or materials that are needed but I think I did a pretty good job.

The paper is actually a 6 inch by 6 inch square. The camera angle made it look wonky.

I had a good time making mistakes and figuring out how to correct them or cover them up. It was a lot more relaxing than I thought it would be. I'm pretty much a perfectionist when it comes to my arts and crafts. I believe that if you can do it perfectly, you should. I have been known to take out an entire afghan that was almost fully completed because I made a mistake in the 3rd row.

So, back to Zentangle. Shawn and both kids are pretty good artists, but I always say that I can't draw a straight line with a ruler. That's the beauty of this craft. You don't need straight lines. No rulers are used. You just go with the flow of the lines. What I did would be called ZIA or Zentangle Inspired Art because the designs I used aren't actually all official designs. I made some of the stuff up. I'm too new to this to really know if I did official designs or not. Either way, I like what I did and will pursue this further.

I think this is going to get a lot more popular because Rosie O'Donnell mentioned it on The View. Everyone will be doing this soon.