This past April I was sick with the usual winter/spring collective yuckiness and feeling incredibly uninspired. During this time my friend Ruth emailed me and asked if I had ever heard of Zentangles. I had, but didn’t know a lot about them and hadn’t been drawn to find out more.
Well, that changed when I saw what Ruth had done…it wasn’t just a Zentangle with doodles…she had included a drawing of herself as a child and then digitally added a painted background.
I was intrigued. I bought some pens and a watercolour sketchbook and sat and doodled for days. It was just what I needed! I doodled in bed and I doodled while watching TV. I doodled and doodled for over a week and these were the results.
I had forgotten all about them until Ruth emailed me again a few days ago and asked about my Zentangles. When I finished them I made them into digital “brushes” with Photoshop and created backgrounds for each one although they’re equally as interesting in black and white. I inverted the colour on one of them and made it white just for fun. The watercolour paper I used was thick enough but a bit too bumpy…I think there’s actually a special paper for doing pen work like this.
They’re fun to do and don’t require a lot of materials or even concentration…perfect for long plane trips, hanging out under an umbrella by the pool or even lying pathetically in bed like I did. If you decide to try one, let me know!
Thanks for the inspiration Ruth, and thanks to everyone for stopping by!
Happy blessings to all!
