Zentangles continued

When creating a Zentangle, you first put a small dot, in pencil, 1/4 inch in at each corner. Then you lightly draw your frame.  Then, again using the pencil you free-hand draw shapes, curves, virtually any shape inside. Then you fill in the various shapes, in ink, with the patterns you've learned. Some patterns, like poke root and  Flux (the leaf shape) lend themselves to bulging out of their lines.  And there is no erasing because there are no mistakes. If you draw a line or place a dot somewhere you didn't intend, you find a way to work it into the overall design.

When I got into doing a Zentangle, I found I was focused on what I was doing. It draws you in. And, surprisingly, relaxes you. I was able to work on these for half an hour or more and felt more rested and relaxed after I'd concentrated for so long. And, unlike when I'm writing with a pen or pencil, I didn't put my hand to sleep. Don't know the how or why of it, but it really is like meditation.  Also, unlike staring at a computer for several hours, my eyes didn't get locked into a close focus where I'd have trouble focusing on where I was walking after I'd finished a Zentangle.

Here are some more of the 14 tiles I did while gone

Zentangle 0006 2013-03-06

This was just a simple division of the square into nine spaces.

Zentangle 0007 2013-03-07

I made loopy designs to fill in on this tile.

Zentangle 0008 2013-03-07

The pattern in the center of the star is called Mist and it doesn't appear in the big book.  However, the kit from Zentangle had a little booklet with it that had the pattern. 

Zentangle 0009 2013-03-08

By this time I was jumping around the book looking for more interesting patterns. I also was outlining the shapes in ink.

Zentangle 0010 2013-03-08

I was intrigued with how this started looking like a mask as I filled in some of the spaces.  This is not as busy as some of the other tiles but it is one of my favorites.