Do you Tangle?

 

I have a new mini-obsession. They are called Zentangles. My friend Nicole posted something about them in the past month or so on our private Facebook group and on her Pinterest board and I was intrigued. I have seen this kind of pen and ink art before but didn’t know that it had a name or was a “thing”. It always looked too complicated for me to wrap my head around so I admired it from afar.

But then I started doing some internet time-wasting the other day and came across them again and decided to see what it was all about. Oh hey, I have  ultra-fine black Sharpie around here someplace! Cardstock? Yep I have that too. Well, how about that! I have all the supplies needed for a new obsession.

There are a plethora of blogs, websites and Flickr groups to keep you inspired and to show you new patterns to try. I’m not very good yet but I’m just playing with patterns and ideas right now. I look at it a lot like yoga. It isn’t about being good or better than someone else. It is about stretching your creative muscles and just getting better for yourself.

Each Tangle is only about 3” square so it doesn’t take long, is inexpensive and portable.

I can see where this would also help me to improve my free motion quilting skills. It also just helps to calm my monkey mind and to relax. It is a cool combination between doodling and coloring. Adults should color in coloring books more often. It is very relaxing and mind freeing.

 

 

This is also a good thing to combine with sewing. I obviously love to sew. But I find that sewing is so often about following an order and a specific way of doing things. I enjoy the precision and continuing to try to get my finished project as professional looking as possible. But sometimes you need to break away from that and free your mind. I suppose I could decide on a whim to sew a sleeve coming out of the seat of my pants but I don’t think that would accomplish what my brain needs. It doesn’t need absurdity for the sake of absurdity. It needs to be free to roam the outer edges and to find beauty and patterns in the chaos. To sort itself out and make sense of nonsense. Not to make nonsense from sense. I clearly need some Zen in my life.

This is a work in progress. It is pretty much a copy of one I found in my internet travels. This one is all about filling in the voids, the negative space. I’ll probably be working on this one for a while. I may even need  new pen.

Another thing I find attractive about a lot of the Zentangle drawings I’m coming across is their resemblance to Tim Burton’s world. Weird shapes, repetitive patterns, black and white.

 

I’d better run and go gather my supplies and get ready for work. I have my first Jeans Class that I’m teaching at work today. I’m nervous and excited about it. It is one thing to do something yourself and a whole other thing to teach it to someone else. I may have to Tangle between classes!