My Morning Meditation

Today's morning tile

For me, Zentangle is as much, if not more, of a meditation practice than an artistic one.  Most mornings, summer or school year, I begin my day's routine by sitting in a corner of the couch, drinking tea or coffee, and doing a Zentangle tile.  Then, some days, I photograph it and post it to my Yankee Tangler feed on Facebook.  Which means, that the majority of tiles I post on FB and then here on my blog, were done in a morning's sitting, between 15-60 minutes, depending on my practice.  Sure, sometimes I do a larger canvas or frame or pencil pouch or even a rock but never for morning practice.  Those are my later Zentangle-Inspired Art projects.  My morning tile is all about the meditation.

I used to meditate in the more traditional way in the morning--lying down, counting my breath, and returning to my breath when I wandered into thinking or worrying.  But I found I was so ready to "do" something in the mornings, that I didn't sit well (I know, I know, judgement.)  So, now I meditate in the evenings (where the challenge is not falling asleep!) and I tangle in the mornings.  It's enough of an activity that I am not restless but enough meditation that it helps clear and calm my mind.

I embrace the no-mistakes philosophy.  Sure, I like to make tiles that please me visually and I'm happy to share those; but I mainly make tiles for the making of them, and share those, too--even when they show smudges or wobbly lines or just don't seem to coalesce.  It's all part of my practice and I want other tanglers to know that it's always a work in progress.  Practice makes progress.

Trust me, I'm an art historian and spent decades in academia and the museum world discussing composition, style, connoisseurship, etc etc etc.  I know what follows traditional artistic "rules," especially about internal and consistent light sources, perspective, vanishing point, realism, three-dimensionality, etc.  I've looked at tens of thousands of works of art from all over the world, in a variety of different media, and know what constitutes beauty, a "masterpiece," in many cultures.  In fact, I believe it is what hampered my own creativity (except crochet, which is "women's work" and never appeared in my art history classes!)  And now, I have my Zentangle practice.  Sure, the academic art historian in me wouldn't call my little morning tiles "art," though I would recognize the long-time human occupation with patterns.  But I also recognize that the tiles are pleasing to me both in and of themselves and because of their meditative value.  And if you define art as an artistic expression--which is a pretty broad definition (yep, I took theory and philosophy of art, too)--then my tiles do qualify.  But, honestly, I don't care anymore.

If you look around the web, especially Pinterest, at Zentangle tiles, as many new tanglers do, you'll see so many beautiful, almost perfect ones and it's hard not to "compare and despair."  But there is something you need to know:  sure, some of these are made using the steps of official Zentangle, but many, if not more, are perfected pieces of art not made in a single sitting--first, sketched out in pencil (sometimes even with a grid and eraser) and then traced in pen, often by practitioners trained in the graphic arts who work professionally; they are not amateur tanglers.  This doesn't lessen the beauty of their tiles, but I would hesitate comparing them to a regular tile.   I would call these Zentangle-Inspired artworks (ZIAs) and think it's important to differentiate between them and meditative  Zentangle tiles, like my morning practice ones.  Now, I find great inspiration in those amazing ZIAs made by talented Zentanglists, but I no longer expect mine to look like them; our purposes are different and, knowing that, I am not discouraged.

All of which is to say, choose your practice.  Are you tangling as meditation?  To express your creativity?  To improve your drawing technique?  To make beautiful works of art?  To sell or publish or teach?  Once you know what you want--and on different days, it might be different--have your practice reflect your goal.  I do practice my drawing technique and seek to make something pleasing to look at, but meditation is first for me.  And teaching is second, hence this post and the frequent sharing of my tiles.

Whatever your practice, happy tangling!

The Evolution of a Tangle

I'm not sure exactly when I first saw the tangle Floatfest, but I remember a beautiful tile on the Zentangle app Mosaic by my co-CZT#22, Anja Schaffeld (the link leads to photos of two tiles on her blog) that featured the tangle--and almost as importantly, it's name, Floatfest, a tangle by Carole Ohl, CZT.  I wanted to give it a try.

And so, here, I'm documenting how I go about learning a new tangle.  For me, this one was particularly challenging, a high-focus tangle.  I found a link to a step-out by Adele Bruno, CZT, on Pinterest; I used that as my starting point.

I first tried it in my regular sketchbook, working fast and trying to get down the pattern.  Bruno's notes were helpful, especially the one that said it didn't matter where the arches started or ended.  And so I practiced.

And practiced.

And practiced, not completely happy with my understanding of the tangle quite yet.

And so I put it on a tile (photographed here with a rainbow from a prism.)

My second tile went through it's own progression; first, with white arches.

But I had liked the play of black and white in my first tile and so colored some arches in, which has the bonus of hiding some "mistakes" in the hollibaugh-like overlap.

But I didn't like that much either and so I colored them all in.  I think I prefer the first one, uncolored. Oh, well.  No mistakes.

Which led me to the next two tiles, with the words "Try" and "Practice," and different heights and widths of arches.

 I combined it with fengle and crescent moon, making a mandala of arches (with prismatic rainbow.)

I tried it with another new tangle I learned this weekend, Rubenesque, and some perfs, an idea from Anja.

Which brings us to this morning and a Zendala (Zentangle Mandala) that I made with geo-flower, Rubenesque, and floatfest.  I'm getting the hang of floatfest now, after several attempts; I'm comfortable enough playing with it but know that I'm still not consistent with it (or with geo-flower and Rubenesque, for both of which I've worked through a similar process as floatfest.)  

And that's okay.  For me, it's about process--all of those tiles above and the relaxation and calm I experienced doing them (okay, not in the first few attempts, which was concentrated learning)--not product.

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Tangling with History

I taught my first public adult Zentangle class on Thursday night to five enthusiastic students at the historic house.  It was a fundraiser for the education programs at the house and the first in a series of adult and youth classes.  Everyone was so enthusiastic and asked for the next class!  

Until then, here is the one I taught . . . .

Zentangle 101 Adult Class

I had a few displays around the room, including an Opus with many basic tangles and a few of my favorite tiles.  All of the students received my basic beginners kit, with Micron 01, pencil, tortillon, official Zentangle leaflet, my Yankee Tangler mini-brochure, the "Anything is possible" bag, and a bookmark.  

I introduced Zentangle, with its mindfulness-creativity paradigm, as a way for adults to (re)connect with their creativity.  I gave some of the origin story, of Maria filling in an illuminated letter and being in such a flow that she didn't hear Rick enter.  We talked about how patterns have been around time out of mind and how Zentangle sets up a structured method for using them.  We did a singing bowl meditation focused on the breath, with the mantra, "May we be peaceful, may we be happy, may we embrace our creativity."

      

First string--rectangle base with Z-string above.  We did crescent moon, hollibaugh, knightsbridge, and printemps.  

We looked at the class mosaic and they had questions about some other tangles, so I did an impromptu second tile (instead of the Bales monotangle I was considering.)  It was a loop-string with pokeroot, flux, and zensplosion folds.  Those don't blend well together, but the tangles were fun to learn (and the ones they requested.)  I also demonstrated punzel.

At the end, we talked about the next class (more tangles and a project), supplies and where to find them, and other recommended resources.  The list I handed out is below.  

I've heard from most of the students--they are practicing and having a great time.  Goals accomplished!

Happy Tangling!!

Recommended Resources

Tools

• Pens:  Sakura micron pens  01 and 08, Identi-pen (for treated fabrics, wood, or ceramics), Sharpies for rocks, shells,  etc
• Tiles:  Official Zentangle 3.5 x 3.5” tiles or Studio Series’s Artist Tiles
• Sketchbook:  any unlined book (I like heavier watercolor or sketch paper)
• Frames:  black or white 4 x 4” frames at Target
• Mod Podge and Mod Podge for fabrics to prep canvas, wood, and other surfaces

Books

• Marie Browning and Suzanne McNeill's The Joy of Zentangle
• Beckah Krahula's One Zentangle a Day
• Sandy Steen Bartholomew's Yoga for Your Brain and her two card decks
• Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas’s The Book of Zentangle and The Zentangle Primer

Websites and Apps

• www.tanglepatterns.com  A compendium of many tangle patterns
• www.zentangle.com The official site, with products and updates, including free newsletter
• Zentangle Mosaic app—free “waterfall” of people’s artworks; paid subscription allows more access
• ABCs of Zentangle YouTube videos by Dilip Patel

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My First Zentangle Class

Last night, I taught my first Zentangle class to five supportive and encouraging friends.  The table was set with their mini-kits (with bag, tiles, Micron, pencil, tortillon, and bookmark), my new Yankee Tangler brochure, and some examples of my Zentangle art.  I also had an easel with Post-It flip chart set up.   And on the front door, a sign announced "Zentangle Spoken and Signed Here."


Yes, signed.  In American Sign Language (ASL.)   I had learned and practiced various relevant signs (words I don't use in usual conversation, including outline, border, string, shading, pattern, dots, line, circle, gratitude, mindfulness, etc.) in order to interpret for my Deaf friend.  There are two signs for Zentangle, which I learned from the CZT Facebook group:  a "T"-sign with the dominant hand making a "Z" in the air and also a non-dominant L-hand with a "Z" signed inside it with the dominant hand.   Unfortunately, my friend had to cancel at the last minute due to illness.  I hope to have a class for her soon.

The class was structured as an introductory session, with two tiles and ten tangles.  I used the following outline.

Zentangle 101

1.  Meditation with singing bowl

2.  Brief history of the Zen of Rick Roberts and the Tangle of Maria Thomas

3.  Introduction to Zentangle method and philosophy 

4..  First tile:  traditional "Z" string with hollibaugh, shattuck, florz, and munchin, plus drawing behind, shading, and connecting two tangles

5.  Extra:  my children teach ING and pokeroot (they were so excited about the class and wanted to be involved!)

6.  Second tile:  triangle shape on a rectangle string with xander, flux, printemps, crescent moon, with auras, sparkle, going over borders, and tangle variations

7.  Discussion of what can be next (black tiles, Renaissance tiles, Zendalas, ZIAs, etc.), resources (my favorite books for beginners include Marie Browning and Suzanne McNeill's The Joy of Zentangle, Beckah Krahula's One Zentangle a Day, and Sandy Steen Bartholomew's Yoga for Your Brain; more serious students would like the two official Zentangle books), and supplies (both official ones and cheaper substitutes.)

Here are some of the finished tiles (tile #2 is on the top row, #1 on bottom):

As you can see, they all had different interpretations of the same tangles--some made tiny patterns, some pressed harder than others; everyone shaded and colored differently.  One even added extra tangles, including piano keys--I think she did all 10 on the same tile (lower left corner)!

It was a fun night--and I'm very excited for my next class.