Zentangle.......Tina Baine

When something is extra super good, I love to pass it on. Recently I attended an AHA meeting at our local grange. 
When the normal business was concluded, we had instruction from Tina Baine on how to zen-doodle with a black pen on white paper. (Yes, you can add color later.)Twenty-five of us doodled away the evening. I don't think my zen got tangled, but I did create a very interesting design. Be sure you check out Tina Baine's fabulous blog. Now, here is Tina:

http://www.tinabaine.blogspot.com/
The Joy of Zentangle

Yoga for the brain

Zen Doodling

Originally published February 7, 2014 in the Santa Cruz Sentinel

Zentangle is an art form that promotes drawing as meditation. The theory behind Zentangle is that, by making simple, repetitive strokes, you become totally focused on what you’re doing. As you become absorbed in the process, you find yourself getting calmer, less stressed, less judgmental, and feel happier and more content—like yoga for the brain.

    

A classic Zentangle—by Jennifer Miller—is drawn

on a 3 ½ x 3 ½ paper tile, using a black archival pen
to draw patterns in each random section. Jen calls
drawing mistakes “a beautiful oops,” since you can
easily incorporate an unplanned line into a new design.

Maybe you already doodle on a notepad when you’re bored or daydreaming, or just want to escape. It’s relaxing and transporting. Like doodling, Zentangle (also known as Zen Doodling) is easy and requires no artistic skill. Zentangle.com says, “You cannot fail to create a Zentangle. Since it is not a picture of something, you have no worries about whether you can draw a hand or a duck. You always succeed.”

I recently took one of Nancy Domnauer’s monthly Zentangle classes at BookSmart in Morgan Hill. I’ve never practiced any form of yoga or meditation, but I definitely experienced a calming, focused state while creating my first Zentangle. A classic Zentangle is drawn on a 3 ½ x 3 ½ paper tile. Using a pencil, we drew a dot in each corner of the tile about ¼-inch from the edge and connected the dots with straight or wavy lines to create a border. We then drew a loopy “string” inside the border creating four or five random sections. Using a black archival drawing pen, we drew patterns she taught in each of the sections.

The creators of Zentangle—Rick Roberts, a former monk, and Maria Thomas, a lettering artist—developed Zentangle ten years ago as a method for anyone to achieve a peaceful, meditative state through simple drawing. Today there are more than 400 CZTs (Certified Zentangle Teachers) worldwide, thousands of Zentangle enthusiasts, and many books and websites devoted to the practice.

Nancy has also organized monthly meet-ups—the Morgan Hill Zen Doodlers Club—where her student can gather, exchange new patterns and resources, and draw together. Karen Fitch, who brought her 7-year-old son, Matthew, to the January meeting, says Zentangle is great for her son because “he can do it and be successful. We try to draw something together at least once a week, after he’s done his homework,” she says. “You’re really engaging both sides of your brain.” That evening they each worked on making valentines—filling in the letters L-O-V-E with Zen Doodle patterns.

Pam Drayton is quite enthusiastic about her latest hobby. “I’m addicted. I have to get every book there is. I’ve given this to all my nieces and nephews, and now they are Zen Doodling all over the Midwest,” she says. “I work in high-tech and it’s a very stressful job.” She says that within minutes of drawing her first Zentangle, she felt calmer. “It’s just the most relaxing thing in the whole wide world,” she says more than once. “You don’t expect it to be pretty, but this is so cool. I’m a 70s girl. I used to get detention for drawing stuff like this in class.”

Jennifer Miller draws Zentangle

designs on shrink plastic squares

and then hinges them together

with jump rings to make bracelets.

Zentangle can be done anywhere with only a black pen, white paper and a pencil. No eraser is needed because there are no mistakes. An errant mark can be easily incorporated into the design, and may even “take you in unexpected and exciting new directions,” says Nancy. Its portability also allows you to improvise wherever you are—on a business card or a napkin—anytime you feel the need to relax and focus.

The official Zentangle website (Zentangle.com) offers instructional videos demonstrating the basic technique, products, a newsletter, CZT training dates, and a blog with project ideas and links. There are quite a few books available on Zentangle and hundreds of pattern ideas and applications online. Zentangle patterns can also be used to decorate fabric, note pads, shoes, jewelry, cards, mugs, journals, scrapbooks, furniture, gourds, tiles—any surface that will accept ink.