Going Zen

This year, I made a promise to myself try new art forms. I’ve tried lampworking and fully intend to keep it up. I have some other classes scheduled for late spring, but in reading blogs, I ran across Got Art? and her post about something called Zentangles.

Just the name intrigued me. What was a Zentangle?

I emailed her and she directed me to their web site and I bought a kit.

I’ll let you go to their web site and get their story, but for me, this is what a Zentangle is — a way for a non-doodler, a non-artist, to get their doodle on. Seriously, this is some cool stuff. You can stay within the simple parameters of one “tangle” per space, or get funky with it and mix two or even three in a space. I found that as I made my first Zentangle, I could feel my brain uncrunch and smooth out, and I could see where, yes, that might indeed go there, or oh, I don’t want to do this that they tell me to do, but explore this, which my own imagination chose on its own.

Here’s my very first Zentangle.

Mine is very simple, but a huge step for me. You know why? I overcame a fear. I tried something new. I bought something and didn’t put it on a shelf to collect dust like so many things before it (PMC, anyone?).

I absolutely plan on doing these again. They’re small, and they’re fun. I plan on doing these with my seven-year old son on a grander scale, with larger paper and colored markers – he’s very enamored of the dice you roll to see what pattern you draw.

I hope you take some time out today to doodle!

Lori Anderson designs jewelry for www.lorianderson.net. She also writes at www.prettythingsblog.com. She now loves to doodle.