Saturday, February 22, 2014

Getting My Tangle On

Several months ago, a discussion of Zentangling began in one of my groups (Blissfully Art Journaling). My friend (and group mom) Teri suggested that those who were interested follow along with the tangles in this book, because many of us already owned it:


I found a nice chunky notebook to work in.


I got into this because I'm a doodler, and just wanted to add some variety to my doodling. You know, something a little more interesting than my usual crosshatching. What I didn't expect, was how relaxed Zentangling made me feel.

Every day Most days Many days I'd practice the tangles, generally first thing in the morning .There are usually three presented each day, with extremely easy stroke by stroke directions. The culminating activity is to use the new tangles in a design, along with any others previously learned.

My first designs are very simple, since I didn't have a whole lot of tangles to work with...yet. I think the designs grew in interest and complexity, and I have found that a few minutes of Zentangling is a much better and more calming way to begin each day than my usual coffee and email. (Oh, those come later, I'm still me).

Here are a few, in chronological order. I'm about 2/3 through the book, by the way.











The chapter I'm working on now deals with adding color. In the first design, I used colored pencils, in the second, watercolors.







10 comments:

Socrates said...

Oh, I got this book too. I love it. Filling up many hours, I must admit.

De said...

Lovely Eileen.....I have this book too but just wasn't up to doing it during our hot summer. Cooling off a bit now so might get into it soon!
De

Lori said...

Wow! These are awesome! I think I might have to get this book! lol....

Pam Austin said...

I have always been fascinated with zentangling and yours are getting quite detailed and wonderful. I think I too may have to put that book on my "must have" list!

Dorothy said...

WOW!!!

Melody Strahan said...

Wow...you have gotten very adept at these. I got through all the patterns in the book and got hooked I think. There is a blog with a tangle pattern index here at

http://tanglepatterns.com/

They have an enormous collection. When you are ready, check them out! They are fun to play with, and I guess they have helped me to attain my goal of becoming a better doodler. It was a good exercise and I'm glad we did it over at BAJ.

Kate Burroughs said...

I went through that entire book, doing all of the exercises. I thought it was a really great introduction to zentangle. Adding color too really ramps it up to advanced. I just took my first zentangle class with 3 CZT teachers yesterday, after doing it on my own for 4 years, mostly from books and online videos. There is a great phone app now out by Sandy Bartholemew called Tangle Library, that has the stepouts for 40 patterns. So you can have the stepouts with you at any time. I got a small travel case for zentangle tiles at the workshop yesterday that I plan to carry with me, so I can do a zentangle whenever I have some waiting time somewhere. Thanks for sharing your work, it is beautiful and definitely got more complex as you went through the book.
Aloha, Kate

Leah said...

awesome - i like the top one the most, with it's 3 little sections, you could make that into a throw pillow with fabric! or a wall quilt! or a greeting card!

All For Him said...

my new facebook friend Elen led me over to your blog to see the retreat photos. Then I came across your zentangle post. I just recently saw a post on FB about this and it looks so interesting. Do you suggest getting the kit they sell or just the book or both?

Eyeleeeen said...

I don't know if "All For Him" will see my reply, but there was no other way to answer. I don't really think the kit is necessary unless you are a zentangle "purist." In my opinion, a few Micron pens, a pencil, a blending stump and a sketchbook with nice smooth paper is all you need to get started.