Zentangle

I have taken a loooong time to get myself going back into art again. Summer was so busy and I had gone almost 6 months with no drawing, no quilting, no creating. And, I could feel it. I think I need to do things like this, for my emotional well being. It is amazing how much better I feel when I do something creative.

Well, one day I saw that Blick Art (an art supply store that I love) was doing a "contest". It was really a drawing, so no talent was needed. They wanted people to turn in a piece of art each day, which was an entry to win some art supplies. I pretty much never win drawings like that, but I thought that maybe if I entered each day, it would help get my creative juices flowing. The theme was Zentangle, or Tangle art, or Zen Doodle (It has many names).  The concept is kind of like doodling. You make shapes, you fill them in with patterns and designs. There aren't really rules to it. If you google it, you will see all kinds of quality - some are absolutely incredible - animals and such that are drawn with amazing detailed patterns that give their skin a really cool texture, etc.  Mine don't do that. Some days I didn't have a lot of time to draw, but I did manage to submit 12 or 13 of them to the contest. Not bad. And, yes, it did help get my creative juices flowing again. It was fun to try out, and the idea is that you use the process to relax and to get yourself feeling creative (Thus, the name ZEN doodle).  I am glad I tried it. I didn't win anything (bummer) but I did at least jumpstart my art again.  Here are some of my favorites (I like the butterflies the best, which is funny, because I am not even a big fan of butterfly things)  Enjoy.

I apologize for the massive size of the photos.  I am trying blogger from my ipad, and I haven't figured out how to make them smaller yet.