Greetings Y’all 

What is Zentangle?

ZENTANGLE Is an easy to learn method of creating beautiful images from repetitive patterns. It is a fascinating new art form that is fun and relaxing. It increases focus and creativity. Zentangle provides artistic satisfaction and an increased sense of personal well being. Zentangle is enjoyed by a wide range of skills and ages and is used in many fields of interest.

I posted this blog, mostly about ZENTANGLES because I love the look of them and I love the usually BLACK AND WHITE contrast.  I should also tell you that I am not good at them as I see them as a form of doodling and frankly I am not much of a doodler.  I do struggle with what to fill the spaces with and I have several books that give me patterns to try and I do practice that pattern before I actually try filling a space with it.  I also usually use a very fine permanent black pen to do the drawing.  I love the the 0.38 G-2 pen by Pilot…it also comes in an 05 and 07 each larger.  If you are doing a large image or using lots of black then you might even want to consider the super fine Sharpie that doesn’t bleed.  All of these are available at Staples, and probably most other office supply stores as well as at Wal-mart and probably Target.  Another good hint is to draw your spaces in pencil then go back and trace them in ink.  You can also practice your drawing in pencil so that you know you have your doodle down before you begin.

The images below are my only copies of 3 letter zentangles which I did in a class , sorry the photo is so poor I had to take a picture of the photo off my computer as I could not get it to print so bummer but at least you can see I have tried it.

MANDALA.. This is the defination of Mandala from Wikipedia…

HINDU MANDALA

Maṇḍala (मण्डल) is a Sanskrit word meaning “circle.” In the Buddhist and Hindu religious traditions sacred art often takes a mandala form. The basic form of most Hindu and Buddhist mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point. Each gate is in the shape of a T.^[1][2] Mandalas often exhibit radial balance.^[3]

These mandalas, concentric diagrams, have spiritual and ritual significance in both Buddhismand Hinduism.^[4][5] The term is of Hindu origin and appears in the Rig Veda as the name of the sections of the work, but is also used in other Indian religions, particularly Buddhism. In the Tibetan branch of Vajrayana Buddhism, mandalas have been developed into sandpainting. They are also a key part of anuttarayoga tantra meditation practices.

In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of aspirants and adepts, as a spiritual teaching tool, for establishing a sacred space, and as an aid tomeditation and trance induction. According to the psychologist David Fontana, its symbolic nature can help one “to access progressively deeper levels of the unconscious, ultimately assisting the meditator to experience a mystical sense of oneness with the ultimate unity from which the cosmos in all its manifold forms arises.”^[6] The psychoanalyst Carl Jung saw the mandala as “a representation of the unconscious self,”^{[citation needed]} and believed his paintings of mandalas enabled him to identify emotional disorders and work towardswholeness in personality.^[7]

In common use, mandala has become a generic term for any plan, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically, a microcosm of the universe from the human perspective.^{[citation needed]}

HOW TO DRAW A MANDALA WITH ZENTANGLES

The Mandala Drawing Process:

Art is more than a collection of crafted things; it is more than the process of creating those things. Art is the chance to encounter dimensions of our inner being and to discover deep, rewarding patterns of meaning. To be artistic/creative is a powerful vehicle for personal and collective transformation. By the word transformation, I mean, the process by which one is able to change the quality of life from its current condition to a deeper understanding about oneself.

Watch the Youtube video above and see how to do this …by the way Youtube now has ADS…so just click on the skip ad to see the video and there is no sound with this video but it is very well shown how to begin and how to fill in this type of drawing.

REGGIE EZELL’S WEBSITE 

The images below were taken from Reggie Ezzell’s web site which has  many images on it that he posts every week from students in his classes.

In case you have no idea who Reggie Ezell is, he is a very well known calligrapher who travels around the country and teaches classes. The pieces below are both from students in his classes and I have copied also what they had to say about their pieces.

ELISSA BARR