end the day with a good zentangle...

Zentangle's are my new found passion...at night when I sit down to unwind...I have been making a zentangle or two.   It's a whole new zentangly world...full of strings and tangles...very meditative...very therapeutic and very fun...Warning: it is also very addictive in a good way...  I discovered it all last week and I got my zentangle kit about three days ago...and here are my first 3 zentangles.

I've got some ideas percolating on how I will incorporate these in my art...but I have alot more to make and discover first...you know how I love illustration...but it seems just the ticket to zip up that journal...send as a love note...or wallpaper a room.

You don't have to buy a kit to get started...but it does have everything you need all in one place in a wonderful little zentangle box.  If you decide to plunge in and go it alone...use a quality pen (they suggest pigma .o1) and a high quality paper (In the kit they send 100% cotton, heavy-weight fine artists' paper with a beautiful vellum surface finish...they call these 3-1/2 inch square papers... tiles.) I think this size is really great to start with because it doesn't feel overwhelming...and you can finish a piece in like 15 or 20 minutes...Also use a good soft shading pencil cause it really ties all the tangles together when you finish...
Did I mention you also get a A Zentangle Legend™ with 20 numbered and named Tangles? Suggested Strings, though it's easy to make your own...AND a icosahedron...that's right...you know you want one..!!!

Zentangleits (I just made that up) also have a free newsletter to sign up for and past issues are available to puruse. And the site is just plain interesting to read.

Hope you will try it out...it may look complicated...but it's really not.  You get a mini dvd when you buy the kit to follow along with...but there are some little films I found on YouTube that can get you going...like this tutorial below by Milliande (I think she has 4 free tutorials in her zendoodling series)...so give it a go...cause you know you want to. 

Why...even people that say they can't draw can do zentangles...no excuses anymore...and the way things are going...a zentangle every night is a good thing...