Wednesday, June 12, 2013

My first exposure to Zentangle and tangling

I first came across this new art form on December 12, 2012 while surfing for Christmas presents for family. At first, I didn't have much time to investigate, but I bookmarked it. After Christmas, I returned to the topic and found Zentangle.com and tanglepatterns.com. These two sites are perhaps the most important to my development in tangling. I did quite a bit of reading and visiting tangle sites for the next few days, bookmarking everything. 

Finally, on December 26, 2912 I was ready to try tangling for the first time.  Of course, I did not have any of the 'official' zentangling equipment (micron pens, official tiles, etc) but I did have some ATC cards and needlepoint pens. My first Zentangle was done on a 2 inch square on an ATC card.  I look back at this first ATC and still like it. .  .

On December 27, 2012 I tangled my second artwork. Again, it was in a 2 inch square on an ATC card. . .

I had to skip a day, but on December 29, I created my third artwork, again in a 2 inch square. For some reason, I thought these always had to be done in a square frame.  This third ATC is still among my favorite attempts.  As a matter of fact, three months later, I recreated this on a 5-1/2 inch square heavy weight paper with the intent of framing it to display it on my wall.  While the enlargement did not exactly repeat the original, it is close and I still dearly love both of them.  This is my third ATC. . .

That did it!  I was hooked!  I was able to create a small work of art, even though I was not really an artist!  I was not only pleased by my attempt, I was thoroughly in love with it!

My Christmas gift to myself that year was to buy my first book about Zentangling: "One Zentangle a Day" by Beckah Krahula.  I still think that was a wise decision. Every night I worked on one 'chapter' before going to bed.  This allowed me to learn several tangles and how to put them together in my own way, with no pressure. 

Later, I donated several times to the "tanglepatterns.com". With each donation, I was able to download one of their e-books.  The more I tangled, the more I became enthralled with the feeling I had while tangling and with the results of my efforts!

More to come . . .   :)




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