A while back, one of my girlfriends was battling for her life in the hospital when other friends decided to put together a benefit event to raise money to help with her support. While it's nice to be able to make monetary donations, which so many of us did, I also wanted to try something different to show my support. This event was being planned during a phase when I was drawing little Zentangle® tiles nearly every day, and I was happy with the progress I was making in being able to successfully render some of the trickier patterns. I decided I would create a large piece of artwork based on these patterns, frame it, and donate it to the auction. And this is what I did! Boom. It turned out that this was the most complex piece I have ever attempted thus-far, and since it was gone from my sight so quickly, I wanted to have some products printed with the images I shot of it when it was finished. Now that I'm enjoying my print on demand work so much, I decided to create a few items that are printed with these and other "Zentangle® Inspired Art" designs I've created and have them available for others to purchase, too.
I drink out of a mug printed with part of this design almost every day. Last night I ordered a tote bag printed with the patterns, so I can enjoy carrying it this spring. There are also postage stamps and phone cases with this and other doodle art pieces I've created, too, just for fun. This page allows me to share them with you and I also want to make sure anyone reading this who is interested in learning more can access all the information they need to access resources for learning this fun way of drawing. I'll continue to explain more on this front below the images. Before you read on, check them out!
Balancing Originality and The Methodology of Others
It can be tricky to venture forward in a creative direction that blends diverse goals and designs when at least one of them involves a trademarked name. So I will tell you a bit about the artwork style in my banner and the images seen in my product links. If you're intrigued, perhaps you'll check them out and give it a try for yourself!
In spite of having been a lifelong "doodler" who added patterns to shoes and pants and all manner of paper products... for as long as I can remember, my efforts on that front changed considerably when I discovered the Zentangle® Method of Pattern Drawing. In spite of the fact that, when I was excited enough to show others - my family especially - and kept hearing, "You've always done this!" this style of drawing IS different from what I'd ever tried before. It combined my need for spontaneous, creative freedom with a methodology that made the organic flow much more forward-moving. Although I'd been passively aware that it existed for several years, a couple of summers ago I bought a book and started learning what I could from it. Fascinating. These folks, Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts combined her illustrative work with his meditative practices and came up with a structured way to combine pre-designed patterns (called "tangles") into freestyle lines (outlined in pencil and called "strings") to create truly unique works of art. As best I can explain it, they established some structure and form to what creative people have always done, and created something phenomenal out of it. They built the linear process that anyone can learn, they sell products, they even offer annual workshops to train people to become certified instructors. Should someone desire to become certified to teach others. Rick and Maria have anchored so many of the "zen doodle" activities of so many of us into something that has a framework. And for that I am appreciative. Here is Zentangle Dot Com for those of you who are looking. You'll find a lot of beautiful things there.
The hundreds of patterns both they and practitioners of the art form, both certified and not, have developed are incredible and great fun to work with. I go through phases in which I want to "tangle" every day. And at other times, I let those habits slide in lieu of choosing to journal for a half hour in the morning or spend that time on my yoga mat. One day perhaps I'll make time for all three! I know it's very doable. I just haven't carved out a morning routine that incorporates all three.
At any rate, using a trademarked name on Zazzle, who produces the items I'm showing you, is not permitted. "Zendoodle," then, seems to have become the accepted term for use. I also use "ZIA" as well, since it's short for "Zentangle® Inspired Art", which is what this is. Whatever you call it, just writing about this has triggered some huge impulses in me to create even more of this artwork. Maybe that will spur me on to launch this site so I can resume working that practice into my creative rhythms. And in the meantime, perhaps I've encouraged someone else to give Zentangle® a try!
Bonus Links
- Legalities I've Attempted to Comply With in This Blog Post.
- Here's a blog post I wrote about my mini-addiction when I was creating in this manner several times a week.
- And my main website's Creative Life page includes a cropped image showing details of some of the Zentangle® tiles I created in my early days of exploration in this arena.