another tangle

Since I discovered Zentangle online a few months ago, I've been sucked into playing around with it - it's pretty addictive.  For those of you with a modicum of interest, it's a kind of structured doodling with the idea that the formation of repetitive line-making is relaxing and will put you into a "zen" like, calm state.  I do find that time sort of melts away as I draw.  There are hundreds of named patterns with how-to breakdowns of the patterns (visit www.tanglepatterns.com for a fairly comprehensive look).

Traditional Zentangles use a 3.5" square and a "string" which is a randomly drawn pencil line within the square.  You then fill each of the sections created in your string with a different pattern - that's how I did the top square above.  However, it is art and creative types always tweak the 'rules' so you can start the patterning however you like and really make a piece whatever size suits you.  ZIA (zentangle inspired art) is becoming quite prevalent and is basically anything artsy that's outside the "official" size/shape, often doodle-filled recognizable shapes like an apple or house.  Typically black pen on white paper, but color is being added more and more.

Here are a few I've made over the last few months:

By the way admin folks, I like the updated blog format - it's easier to upload the photos (and now functions like my other personal blogs:))