The Quiet Side

Exploring the unseen benefits of creative focus.

Shade :  comparative darkness or obscurity owing to interception of the rays of light

After all that time relaxing into my lines, learning to be deliberate in my strokes and focusing on the here and now – you want me to shade my tile?

Inevitably in classes the fear of the darkness and shade comes out after all that hard work of learning to let go and embrace the lines of a tangle. Practicing breathing and lightening our grip on pens with renewed focus on how we are feeling is a lot of work. And then all the anxiety and fear we work through letting go with the pen is back again.

One of the beautiful elements of Zentangle as a non-representational art form is that really there is no wrong way to shade. I could take the same exact tile and shade it six different ways and they all will highlight something new and different in the stroke of the pen.  Shading can mask something you don’t like and bring forward with light something you love.

If you are in a dark mood your shading may be dark and deep, and if you are full of joy in this moment that you have pencil in hand, your tile will reflect that. It can serve as a sort of mood journal, and can add a lot of depth and insight to your creative journey.

Try This

It is excellent practice to try the same tangles and same tile repeatedly, giving you many opportunities to try a different way to shade that tile. So start your shading practice by tangling two tiles with similar strings and the same tangles. Then set these two tiles side by side and try shading them in different ways.

Alternately, take a photo and print it out several times to try something new on each copy. You’ll be delighted by the results of the challenge.

deliberate – still – appreciate – quiet – focus – trust – deconstruct – beautiful – reflect – relax – discover – create – comfort – shade – breathe – inspire – be bold – embellish – savor – slow – calm – admire

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The Quiet Side

Exploring the unseen benefits of creative focus.

Comfort  :  to give strength and hope to

How much of your day is making someone else comfortable? How much time do you spend not being comfortable? Perhaps your shoes are a tad tight, or you can’t quite relax in an upright chair at a meeting.  Or you find yourself in an uncomfortable situation and can’t find a way out of it.

Plenty of things we do in our day may find us in uncomfortable positions, straining to avoid getting up, or reaching to high when we should get a step stool. When drawing, the last thing you need when trying to relax is finding yourself reaching your hand awkwardly or sitting in a position that causes you pain.

Sitting at the table, or on the couch, or an upright chair, or even standing at the counter, a standard 3.5” tile is a great size for taking time out of your day to be creative without feeling overwhelmed.  Whether you are using the cotton tiles from a class you took or you have made your own tiles cut out of your favorite paper – there is so much about the size designed to help you find a comfortable position.

3.5” fits on just about any surface. It is small and portable, you can use it on a table, place it on a book, or perhaps even hold one in your hand to draw on.  You can tangle upright or cozy on the couch with a cat in your lap. Sometimes I like tangling in journals, but I always find it awkward to move the open book around in my space, unlike a small tile which spins freely whatever direction I need it to.

The square shape is easy to rotate – and so are the triangular tiles – you don’t need to contort your body to draw a line in the corner – simply rotate your tile. You don’t need to push your pen across the paper where it will jump and sputter – simply rotate your tile so you can pull your pen toward you. Pulling the pen will be an easier stroke, and when you get ready for the next stroke a simple rotation keeps your hand in a comfortable position.

Make the tile change direction to fit you, your comfort is top priority. When you can be comfortable, it is the first step to using a pen and paper to relax.

Try This

Cut a piece of paper to 3.5″x3.5″ or grab a tile if you are already a tangler.  Fill the tile with straight line strokes, playing with what direction is most comfortable for you to make your mark.  I like pulling the pen toward me, you may like going left to right or right to left.  Fill your tile with parallel lines using the same comfortable motion.

Now rotate your tile and keep your stroke in the same motion, but cross your lines to make a grid.  Just relax into the rhythm of practicing the same comforting motion,   rotate your tile again, this time on your grid diagonal and keep filling the tile with lines of the same motion.  Relax knowing that this is just practice. Practice with the pen, your position and letting yourself feel calm and comfortable with the motion of your pen on paper.

deliberate – still – appreciate – quiet – focus – trust – deconstruct – beautiful – reflect – relax – discover – create – comfort – shade – breathe – inspire – be bold – embellish – savor – slow – calm – admire

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The Quiet Side

Exploring the unseen benefits of creative focus.

Create:  :  to bring into existence

One of my favorite Bijouisms*, Create. It seems so daunting and so complicated – but all you need to do is put pen to paper and draw something.

Someone said you need to do something ten thousand times to be good at it. Most of us have been taking pen or pencil in hand since before we were in school. Our strokes were curves, lines, dots and orbs before we knew how to write our names – so taking a pen to paper to tangle, is really something we have been doing our whole lives.

Zentangle puts a mindful process around an art form that has existed for a long long time. We all have the ten thousand strokes practice, so lets use that for our benefit and create.

Bijou* is a little mascot of Zentangle and has lots of little inspirational phrases about Zentangle. Read more about Bijou here.

Try This

Even if you have never tried Zentangle, take a pen to paper, relax into a moment and create a little work of art just for you. You know how to do it, lines, dots, curves and orbs are just waiting in your pen. Fill a paper with a bunch of them.

deliberate – still – appreciate – quiet – focus – trust – deconstruct – beautiful – reflect – relax – discover – create – comfort – shade – breathe – inspire – be bold – embellish – savor – slow – calm – admire

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The Quiet Side

Exploring the unseen benefits of creative focus.

Discover :  to obtain sight or knowledge of for the first time

Summer is coming! Time for all those wonderful little plants that are peeking out of the earth, to reach for and discover the sunshine as the days get longer and the sun gets warmer.

Summer is the perfect time to shake off the doldrums of a routine and discover something new, or look at something familiar in a new light.  Schedules are changing, days will soon be lazy and time feels plentiful with a vacation day or early schedule here and there.

Often I will find myself day after day using the same tangles – they are so comfortable and familiar and so easy to relax into, just like sleeping in on cold mornings.  But just like walking the same route day in and day out – sometimes you want to mix it up a bit. Now is the time to give it a try and discover new ways to do the old things.

An exercise I love to do when feeling like I am in a tangling rut – is to combine two tangles together.  Not just use tangles next to each other, but really think – how can I use these two tangles somehow be combined.  It often brings some surprise and delight as I look at it in new light.

Try This

Give this exercise a try in your tangling and see what you can come up with. Using these two introductory tangles:

Crescent Moon (step outs from TanglePod episode Breathing Life)

Tipple (tipple is the little orbs on the tiles on this page)

See what Crescent Moon and Tipple look like when you combine them. Don’t stop with one combination, try it again. Then try it again!

When we were exploring papers – I used this exercise with several tangles on a bunch of different paper types – and each combination was unique.  You’ll have to wait until October for that TanglePod episode, but I’ll post my variations of Crescent Moon and Tipple on the 26th.

deliberate – still – appreciate – quiet – focus – trust – deconstruct – beautiful – reflect – relax – discover – create – comfort – shade – breathe – inspire – be bold – embellish – savor – slow – calm – admire

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The Quiet Side

Exploring the unseen benefits of creative focus.

Relax : to make less tense or rigid

Relaxing is so hard for me to do.  All my ducks have to be in a row before I can truly relax.  Sure, I can procrastinate and not get anything accomplished, but it is not the same as being in a state where your mind is free and your body at rest.

What if I could kick back and enjoy this patch of sunshine. What if I could really enjoy this cup of tea and not rush through it on to the next thing. What if I could be the people who appear to be able to just relax and enjoy without a care in the world. That would be something, but that is not me.

What I do find though, is that to RELAX takes practice.  It takes care and diligence and repeating the behavior, just like exercising, just like eating well, just like doing the laundry – you have to do it and do it often to make it work.

So it is a constant place in my life that I am working on. I will pour a cup of tea, take some deep breaths and enjoy the steam and the flavor.  I will try a new tangle, and practice that stroke and not grip my pen so tight to hurt my hand and make my lines shake. I will relax and let the laundry build up and enjoy some days in the sunshine with my family and know that being here in the moment is the easiest way to let go of the tension in my shoulders.

When I tangle it is the same, being present, focused on the stroke is what can get me to the relaxed state.  I can’t get there if I am worried about what the tile will look like at the end, I can’t get there if I am focused on making the tangle perfect. I need to just focus and enjoy each stroke, each line, each curve to be able to relax into that tile.

It is a practice, and one that I am happy to be reminded to repeat.

Think about this…

What needs to happen for you to be in a content and relaxed state?  What time of day is it? What chores aren’t lingering that you are thinking about doing.  What can you do, and who can help you find a little relaxation in your week?

deliberate – still – appreciate – quiet – focus – trust – deconstruct – beautiful – reflect – relax – discover – create – comfort – shade – breathe – inspire – be bold – embellish – savor – slow – calm – admire

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The Quiet Side

Exploring the unseen benefits of creative focus.

Reflect :  to think quietly and calmly

With all the busyness in our lives, it can be scary to stop and reflect on what we are doing and how our days are spent. But it is so important to a refreshed mind.  I don’t really do well with just meditation. I have tried – but found that I am much better when I have a repeatable, repetitive activity to help give my hands something to do while my mind takes stock.

Whether you sit quietly with a cup of tea in the afternoon, take a walk in your neighborhood or spend time on creativity, allowing yourself the time to reflect each day can help you keep ahead of feeling overwhelmed.

I use a regular practice with Zentangle as a way to reflect.  I also may find the same benefit from other repetitive tasks like ironing, taking a walk or swimming.  Anything where I have something “to do” and need to focus on the task at hand can be a reflection tool for me.

I have written about this in previous posts, and I am a big believer that with the right frame of mind the most mundane task can become an awesome place of focus, relaxation and reflection instead of a chore.

Try This

Think about carving out some time to give yourself permission to reflect.  If you can set aside the time for a focused creative past time like Zentangle, that is wonderful. If your day won’t allow it – look for that opportunity in something you are doing anyway – where you can let your mind relax a bit as your hands or feet do their thing.

deliberate – still – appreciate – quiet – focus – trust – deconstruct – beautiful – reflect – relax – discover – create – comfort – shade – breathe – inspire – be bold – embellish – savor – slow – calm – admire

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The Quiet Side

Exploring the unseen benefits of creative focus.

Beautiful and Beyond:  in addition

The nonrepresentational nature of Zentangle makes each tile, or page in your journal delightful each time you look at it anew, each time you look at it from a different angle. Holding your tile near or far, you see something different.

Putting my tile away and looking at it again a few days, weeks or months later I always find something new to appreciate about the design, strokes and shading.   But beyond how the tile looks – l love to make a note on the back of the tile, or along the side of my journal page – what was going on that day, where was I working on the tile, what sorts of decisions were weighing down my brain.

Often what is most beautiful about some of my tiles are what is beyond the visual. The moments I was able to give over to relaxation in a busy time. Or a solution to a problem that came to me while I focused on each stroke of a tile, helping me to clear my head in order to find the answer. Writing notes to myself, sort of a journal of tangling on the backs of the tiles helps me remember what I enjoy most about Zentangle. The simple process allows me to clear my head, relax the running thoughts in my brain and refresh myself to see what is Beautiful and Beyond.

Did you know?

Bijou is a little mascot of Zentangle and has lots of little inspirational phrases about Zentangle, like Beautiful and Beyond. Read more about Bijou here.

deliberate – still – appreciate – quiet – focus – trust – deconstruct – beautiful – reflect – relax – discover – create – comfort – shade – breathe – inspire – be bold – embellish – savor – slow – calm – admire

Sign up for my blog to allow yourself to get inspiration and some fun tangling exercises right to your inbox.

The Quiet Side

Exploring the unseen benefits of creative focus.

Deconstruct  :  to take apart or examine in order to reveal the basis or composition of often with the intention of exposing biases, flaws, or inconsistencies

In last week’s Quiet Side post, I talked about deconstruction and the patterns all around you. Here are some more that I have found along the way.  I’m going to start with my most exciting find!

One of my favorite go to tangles is ‘NZeppel – shown here on a black tile with white gel pen. I love doing it in squares or random. It doesn’t seem like a “pattern” necessarily but then I found the photo below on an old Overlanding Journal magazine, it is cracked ice that the photographer is standing on. Isn’t that awesome?

Next – this basket and piece of wood remind me a lot of Marasu, which is also a favorite.  I was playing around with a dremel to carve out the wood between the rings, and might have to try a different shading technique to see if I can do something similar on the tangle.

This clutch totally reminded me of Diva Dance, and is the perfect size to hold a tangling kit. You just never know what treasure you will find in a thrift store!

If you look closely – on this chair fabric the ovals are anchored by dots – this would be a great variation of a grid pattern that starts with dots similar to how Cadent or Huggins are built.

When I look at the patterns around me – there are so many to inspire me to pick up my pen!!

Happy Tangling,

Kellie

deliberate – still – appreciate – quiet – focus – trust – deconstruct – beautiful – reflect – relax – discover – create – comfort – shade – breathe – inspire – be bold – embellish – savor – slow – calm – admire

Sign up for my blog to allow yourself to get inspiration and some fun tangling exercises right to your inbox.

The Quiet Side

Exploring the unseen benefits of creative focus.

Deconstruct  :  to take apart or examine in order to reveal the basis or composition of often with the intention of exposing biases, flaws, or inconsistencies

After I started practicing Zentangle, I noticed patterns everywhere. Carpets, upholstery, clothing and nature.  Patterns are everywhere, and it is always so fascinating and so much fun when I see a new one that intrigues me.  One of my website pages is devoted to found patterns and other forms I use for tangling.

When I see a pattern, I love to think about if there is an existing tangle that recreates the pattern I have found, and if not, how can I use existing tangles to find it.  An example of this is a carpet, with a floral center that is very close to huggins.

Hotel Carpet

huggins and flux found in a carpet pattern

What are the elemental strokes in each pattern? What makes it relaxing to draw, where are the lines, dots and curves of its shape?

Staring at the woven pattern of my scarf, or the repeating pattern on a blanket, I wonder about the artist who came up with the repeating design and what their inspiration was. Do they draw it the same way I would? Probably not – as I have learned meeting many other artists we all do things a little differently, we all see different elements in patterns, even if we eventually draw something similar.

Try This

Over the course of the next week, I challenge you to notice the patterns around you, and see if the shapes are familiar enough to break down into elemental strokes.  I’ll post some more next week, and if you find any you would like to share, send them my way! 

deliberate – still – appreciate – quiet – focus – trust – deconstruct – beautiful – reflect – relax – discover – create – comfort – shade – breathe – inspire – be bold – embellish – savor – slow – calm – admire

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