Monday 31 March 2014

Her Wild Locks

Zentangle Part Three

Her Wild Locks

This one turned out far wilder than initially expected.  I’m totally pleased with it.  Her hair… wild.  Her Wild Locks took about 4 evenings to do.  I started out with the face, neck and shoulders in pencil, over and over, until I got it to look approximately how I wanted it, then I did the tendrils in pencil as well.  I traced over the pencil with a felt tipped pen and erased the lines underneath. 

            Filling in the tendrils was where the fun came in. 


            I’m pretty sure I’ll be framing this one at some point and will possibly be doing different variations on it as well.


Thursday 27 March 2014

To Zentangle Part Two

To Zentangle Part Two

     Yes there are a few watermarks on this, the dog jumped on it with wet paws.  And some of the detail was lost in the door during the scanning.  Otherwise, this one was a blast to do.  It took two nights to complete, while watching all of the Smurf movies.  Gotta love that Neil Patrick Harris.  I found the end result pretty trippy. 


Tuesday 25 March 2014

To Zentangle Part One

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.