To Zentangle
What is Zentangle? Yoga for the Brain?
Zentangle has become a lot of things to a lot of different
people. For me, at its most basic,
Zentangle is something to do while I watch tv. Apparently, according to sources
throughout the internet, it’s also a form of mediation. I wouldn’t disagree.
Let me
start by saying that I can NOT draw.
Seriously. I’m the world’s worst artist and I admit to that openly. I’ve always doodled, as I assume most people
do when sitting on the phone or whatnot.
Spirals and tornados and trees and suns that look more like something a five
year old would produce than the more mature designs of an adult. Let me take
that back, that’s an insult to five year olds…
I did my high school co-op with a junior
kindergarten class a long, long time ago
and as a special treat, the teacher set up project with a plate making
company. All of the children had the
opportunity to draw a picture on a plate sized piece of paper that would be transferred
to an actually plate. Pretty cool huh? And
as a helper, I had the chance to make one too.
So did the other girl I did co-op with.
When the plates came in, my fellow helper and I tore into the box,
commenting on each plate. She got a hold
of mine and said “This one didn’t put their name on it. No wonder! My dog could
draw better than this”. Yeah. My drawing
was worse than a typical 5-year old’s.
But, don’t cry for me Argentina,
I had other talents and accepted my lack at artistic ability with self-deprecating
laughter.
Then I discovered Zentangle. As a highly anxious person, I’m always
looking for new ways to relax and de-stress.
So I gave it a try, and you know what? It’s as easy as it sounds. There are no mistakes. You can screw up as much as you like and
still, it’s art. Below is a picture of my first Zentangle. It took me two nights of tv “watching” (it’s
not like a lot of actual watching gets done) to complete this one.
The results:
A fun picture to look at, less smoking, less munching during a show, and
something to be somewhat proud of. The
next day I took a trip to the dollar store, bought a larger pad, a crapload of
black pens, some pencils and a good eraser.
For under 20$ I now have a hobby that is supposed to relax me, ignite my
creativity, provide me with personal insights and increase my own
self-worth. Not a bad deal.
