Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Healing Patterns


When creating I strive to go into a meditative like state, where nothing can disturb me and the work just flows from my brush. When that happens I can finish 3 or 4 paintings a day but it doesn't happen very often. What is more likely to happen is the exact opposite and I struggle with every brush stroke, over thinking and over stressing about my art work, taking days or weeks to get close to finishing a painting and then leaving it unsigned in the corner of my studio somewhere until I finally decide if it is actually done.

That didn't happen when I was learning Zentangle this summer. It was so easy to do the 2 or 3 stroke patterns. If I didn't do it exactly like the instructions all I had to do was cover the mistake over with a thicker line or a different pattern. It was repeated often by some of the CZT (Certified Zentangle Teachers) that there are no mistakes only happy accidents. I found that doing this type of drawing not only relaxed me but energized me as well. I felt motivated to try more things that I didn't think I would be very good at. I learned to clear my mind of everything that was bothering me while I focused on the drawing.

Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts are the founders of Zentangle and have a web site www.zentangle.com where they show their latest zentangle patterns, sell their Zentangle learning kits as well as advertise their up coming seminars. They mentioned in the last newsletter that a local college had sent a PhD to learn Zentangle and become a CZT. This college is setting up a clinical trial that will be focusing on the health benefits of the Zentangle drawing method. I have also read that it has been used by some doctors as a therapy for Autism patients.

Interesting!

There is a weekly Zentangle challenge posted by "I am the Diva - CZT" on her blog and this week she wanted us to do a tangle with the pattern called punzel. I attempted it in the long braid down the left of my drawing. I also added fifolia, the flowers, floating away. I will think of the fifolia's as all my stresses and worries.







6 comments:

  1. The Punzel is great but I love the Fifolia. Wonderful take on this week's challenge.

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  2. Your version of this challenge is beautiful, and the fifolia is terrific.

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  3. Lori, I love that one of the benefits of tangling is that mistakes can be changed to something even better...I find it a very relaxing art form. Your tangle looks fab!

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  4. Very nice - I like the airiness and freedom of the fifolia - they're a great contrast to the punzel. I like the unusual shape of your tile too - long and narrow is cool.

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  5. Hi Lori, beautiful work! I love Punzel too. Thanks for sending me the link to your blog. And lovely to 'meet' you too. :-) Kit @ Dreamscribe in Tasmania, Australia

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