Zentangles

I’ve seen a lot of them around, lately. And it seems I’ve been unofficially “zentangling” all this time…usually while on the phone. It used to be called “doodling”, and who would have thought that doodles would be raised to an art form?

You can go to the Zentangle website and pay 50 bones for a kit full of “tiles” (paper), and “instruments” (Micron pens, a pencil or two), and an instructional DVD. Oh, and they’ll throw in a icosahedron ( a 20-sided die), and something called a ” Zentangle Legend™”, which has 20 numbered & named patterns. This is basically a prompt, in case you forget how to doodle. You roll the die and whatever number comes up is the pattern you’ll use on the “legend”. OR…..you can google all about it an try it own your own…for free…which is what I plan on doing when I get the time.

It seems simple enough…I have the paper, the pencils, the Micron pens, etc., so why buy the kit? I don’t need the die or the legend….I figure I can call up one of my friends, stay on the phone for 20 minutes, and come up with a pretty good generic “tangle”.

As far as I can tell, there’s nothing “zen” about spending that amount of money for instruction in something we all do every day…while we’re on the phone, or in a boring meeting, or waiting in the airport. See…the key thing to me is: You doodle while you’re NOT thinking of doodling. That’s what makes it “zen”. It’s unconscious, unplanned, and…OMG…original! When you start thinking about it, and have to use pre-made prompts..is it really as zen as it should be? The whole Zentangle process…with its ready-made strings and designs is kind of a paradox, IMO. But sheer genius as far as marketing goes.

Yep. Zentangles are the type of thing that not only make you go “hmmmm”, but also make you wonder: “Why didn’t *I* think of that?