Zen Tangles

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                                                                                Zentangles 

By: Camila Yengle 


How did it start? 


Zentangles were created by a couple named Rick and Maria who sold prints of Marias' botanical illustrations at art fairs. When selling these prints, people would often come up and talk about how they wished they could create art but they didn’t have the time or money, or they didn’t think they were capable. Rick and Maria were moved by these people's words and wanted to create something that all people could work on and learn easily. One day Maria added patterns to one of her art pieces and described the feeling of creating these patterns as “selflessness, timelessness, effortless, and a rich immersion in what she was doing. By discovering these effects that pattern making created and realizing how easy it was, Rick and Maria created the Zentangle method of drawing.





  

      

 

What are Zentangles? 



Zentangles are a type of art in the form of beautiful structured patterns. Learning how to create a zentangle can be an easy and relaxing activity. The patterns needed to create zentangles are called tangles. Tangles are created with dots, lines, curbs, orbs, curves, etc. What's special about zentangle art is that you don’t need to worry about the result because you can be creative and choose what to draw without having to plan it out. Typically, erases are not used in zentangles because there are no “mistakes” because everything can be made into an opportunity for something creative.  


The benefits of creating zentangles are… 


  • It is fun

  • It is simple to learn

  • Each stroke is easy to draw

  • There are no mistakes

  • There are no preplanned outcomes, yet

  • You always know what to do next

  • The result is unexpected and beautiful . . .



Here are some beautiful Zentangles created by the Yoga, Mindfulness, and Creativity J-Term!


















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