Welcome to BLOG Zentangle. To learn about Zentangle, visit our website, read our free newsletters, take a class with a local Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT), and best of all . . . create your own!
Even though hurricane Sandy's center was distant, we still felt its effects.
Maria was up in the middle of the night tangling. She used a black Sakura® IDentiPen™ and what she thought was a black Micron 01. (It was after all a dark and stormy night!)
Above all that turmoil was a full moon.
Molly just arrived and brought a Zentangle tile she did last night. Here she uses hollibaugh, fife, and our latest tangle, bunzo.*
Click images for larger views. * "Bunzo" was Maria's nickname for her/our son Noah. He didn't like it when he was young, but recently asked if we were going to share its origins. :-)
We recently received this beautiful email from "L":
Dear Maria and Rick,
Thank you forever for your inspiration, tangling has proved to be my
salvation!
When I was quite ill this summer my husband and I did a joint project for
our Christmas gifts. My husband turned the wooden
decorative plates from Brazilian Cherry wood with an indentation in which he
glued 12 different circles on card stock decorated with my tangling and then
poured on a resin that hardened like glass.
We are so pleased with the
result. Hope that you enjoy the photos!
They are beautiful! We so appreciate you sharing them with everyone.
It's one of the first things I see every morning. It attracts my eye when we are out and about. It's primitive, yet elegant. It was one of our first tangles and has stood the test of time, never going out of style.
It's florz, one of the tangles we teach on our DVD in our Zentangle Kit.
Sometimes it's good to get back in touch with basic tangles, And once you've got in touch; it's also fun to explore variations of that tangle.
Let's revisit florz and explore some variations. Take this as an opportunity to challenge yourself in your daily (right? :-) Zentangle practice.
In your first effort, focus in on that original tangle, making those dark shapes into a really elegant, beautiful, dramatic image.
Now, let's explore a few variation ideas.
What other variations can you imagine?
So, when someone asks how you are, say, "I'm just 'flord' today!". . . and show them why!
We've played quite a bit with tangling with Sakura's white Gelly Roll™ pen on black tiles and on black ink.
Last night, Maria was exploring tangling on shaded areas. Her Gelly Roll pen and graphite pencil weren't interacting to her satisfaction. So she tried a Fabrico® grey pen that we use on fabric to draw strings and shade.
This book tells our story of how we came up with Zentangle and what's behind its development and direction. We tell our story in words, illustrations, and Zentangle art. As we write in our introduction:
A guidebook to Paris isn’t Paris; but when you visit Paris, you’ll enjoy it more with a good guidebook. This is a guidebook to Zentangle. It can help you awaken your ability, nourish your awareness, and find your way to a joy that has been there with you all along.
Here's a look at the back of the dust jacket:
. . . and the inside front flap:
The Book of Zentangle is a good Zentangle information and design resource and we designed it and bound it in such a way (complete with lusciously tangled end papers) that it will gently stay open on its own to any page. It is fully indexed and includes a wide-ranging bibliography if you want
to explore some of the books that inspired us in this adventure.
I (Rick) wrote most of the words. The Zentangle tiles are ones that we've created through the years. This book is also lavishly illustrated by Maria. Some illustrations show sources for many of our tangle inspirations . . .
. . . other illustrations offer samples of our Zentangle tiles, each carefully held in place in fanciful ways so you won't lose them should they slip out of your book!
In "Notes," Maria describes her inspirations and thoughts behind her illustrations.
At long last we are thrilled to share this book with you.
We look forward to your comments.
Hardcover, 146 pages, 6 x 9.5 inches (150 x 240 mm), full color offset, with bibliography and index. $39.95
We've been enjoying a conversation with a new friend, Andrew, who is a school teacher. Andrew is teaching his students Zentangle
tangles and other patterns and encouraging them to tangle their
notebooks as they take notes.
His motivation is inspired by the concept of Ars Memorativa (Art of Memory). This Wikipedia entry describes the exploration that has been done on this terrain over the centuries. Whether you find value or not with the various techniques, there is an important insight relevant to the Zentangle method:
Quoting Andrew, ". . . human memory is visual, not literary."
If you can, take a moment to enjoy this TED lecture on memory; it is a good background for this conversation.
Maria and I often talk about the benefits of putting pen to paper to create structured patterns (tangles) without a predefined outcome. Some of these benefits include relaxation, confidence, creativity, and focus. I think we can now add "memory aid" to this list.
After reading about Ars Memorativa, we've learned that illuminated letters and margin
decorations on early manuscripts and books were done more as a memory
aid than just as decoration. What a wonderful poetic symmetry that our inspiration for what became the Zentangle Method originated from Maria's experience as she embellished a large illuminated letter!
I think it's also possible that when people create their own unique visuals to accompany an event they are more likely to remember that event than if someone else supplies the images. For instance, for much of our human experience we maintained our traditions orally. As each person heard the story, he or she would form his or her own mental image. Similarly, when reading an unillustrated book, or listening to a radio, we each create our own visuals. However, with the advent of illustrated books or televised images, we no longer create our own visuals; we use the ones provided.
When we first started teaching our Zentangle Method, we gave a workshop at a local bookstore in our town. Some months later, one of the students who attended stopped us on the street one day to tell us a story. She described how she went to church services for the benefit of her sons, but she was so easily distracted that she never remembered the sermon. One Sunday, after taking our workshop, she thought, "I'm not going to remember what is said during the sermon, so I might as well tangle." She had her pen, pencil and some Zentangle tiles with her and she tangled all through the sermon. She said that Sunday, for the first time ever, she remembered the sermon!
I'm wondering what would happen if she returned to different tiles that she did on different Sundays. Might she remember even now the topics discussed? I know that there are certain tiles I created years ago that when I see them I immediately remember where I was and what was going on.
Thank you, Andrew, for bringing attention to this application for the Zentangle Method.
We invite everyone to share their stories and insights on this topic. Enjoy that video!
is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns.
We believe that life is an art form and that the Zentangle method is an elegant metaphor for deliberate artistry in life.
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