Zentangle meditation and wet paper painting
Apr 18th, 2008 by iHanna
Arounna of bookhour craftprojects inspired me to paint watercolors on wet paper this week. I did a page in my journal and filled one of the art cards with flowing colors. You cover the entire page with water and then let the watercolors flow into each other. The pattern this makes is beautiful, and they create great backgrounds for writing on. But I doodled me some big flowers with a ink pen when the paper had dried. A great method I have tried before but forgot about for a while now.
I also run into a page with black and white doodles that are called zentangels recently and of course I had to try. Making a daily art card is one of the best ways to try new techniques at once I’ve discovered.
I love black and white doodles but I’ve never covered an entire surface like this before. Making one of these will help you concentrate and to go slow over your page. I had a feeling of being humble when I did this, because I trusted my fingers and let my brain rest. I breathed in, out, in, out. Zentanlges are said to be relaxing, intuitive and is describe as a ceremonial act;
Zentangle is an artistic meditation that supports relaxation, focus and inspiration and can be a wonderful daily ritual. Zentangle’s philosophy, symbolism and metaphor is elegant and profound. There is much to discover about life and one’s self by this simple act.[..]
Creating designs, manipulating symbols and putting pen to paper is part of our human heritage. In a time of keyboards and computer mice and cell phones, Zentangle allows a return to the comfort and familiarity of this timeless, basic creativity. [from zentangle]
I’d suggest that you start with a small card (mine are 10×10 cm) because if you go slow and carefully this is a time consuming art form - but well worth the time!
Flickr viewing tips
By the way… Did you know that if you are a flickr fan like me you can use flickriver.com to view your or others images? I love looking at my favorite groups like Journal Junk pool through the river. It shows each image in size big which save you from a lot of clicking. Don’t forget to click through to the images you want to comment on though! You can view some of my Daily Art Cards there too or other peoples photos that I’ve stared as my favorites (talk about inspiration)!
* Also today read Andrea’s post taking my own advice - she is also writing about meditative drawing today! She writes;
I hope I am describing the extent to which this is a revolutionary feeling for someone who has a zillion lists running in her head, is always in motion and has mild anxiety a lot of the time. Feeling completely okay is like touching nirvana.
I totally recognize this feeling and just reading that makes me long to do more meditation, both in drawing and just sitting and breathing. It is something I leaned to love many years ago.
* Just found zentangles on flickr too (is there anything that doesn’t have a group there?). View it in the river here!
Now I need to go make today’s Daily Art Card, I think it will be another zentangle!
Zentangles are addictive! Once I get started, it’s hard to stop. I make one after another after another…
I too like doing the Daily Art Cards to try new techniques (except for this month since I’m doing my Inspirational Deck.)
Have a wonderful weekend. I’m having a craft day tomorrow with my mom and my friend Ceecee!
*hugs*
Sophie
Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving such a nice comment.
I LOVE your black and doodles, something I always find myself doing on edges of paper. Working in 10×10 cm is a great suggestion, can give one a great sense of accomplishment.
Nice creative space you have here.
Cynthia
Thanks for the lovely comment on my blog! Your watercolors are awesome and I love the way you doodled over them. I’m off to check out Zentangles, you make them sound so cool!
oh gorgeous- i really must try this! i just saw the bandaid technique you did below- genius!! :)
wow Hanna, thank you for being you…this is beautiful..I love the look of watercolor, and you make it look so fun. The same thing that Jude does with cloth, very liberating…and the zentangle..I love to doodle,,,had never thought of it as meditation,,but it IS! Now I can tell my mom that I am meditating every day for at least 20 minutes!!
;)
Hope your weekend is a grand one..thank you so much for sharing your brand of creativity with the rest of us.
Laney
Very pretty watercolors, Hanna. :)
Thank you for letting me know flickriver! I have never heard of it and I am not exploring flickr as much as I wish I did, because it is a great medium, but I am glad that I discovered this way of watching pictures!
i think i’ll try that zentangles in my journal! it makes sense that it would focus and relax you.
Haha har de ett namn? :) Såna började jag klottra när jag pluggade till Frankriket och hade daglig tillgång till reservoarpenna. Den blåa bläckfärgen är fin, och linjerna blir ännu härligare att dra.
I just love the wet paper watercolour you created here! The softness of the colours and the way they bleed one into another, unconstrained by the drawn lines, is a thing of beauty. I love it :)
Oooh I love doodling. And those zentangles look addicting to draw out!
Zentangles is a great name, thanks for pointing out that link - I’ve been doing those since I was a kid, I just didn’t know there was a name for them:) I usually colour parts of mine in with the pen.
Superfin akvarell!
Like your zentangle!
Wonderful work!
[…] * * I’ve mentioned zentangles before in my post Zentangle meditation and wet paper painting. I really like the idea of making these, but I haven’t made many myself yet… Maybe a pyramid mandala is going to be born soon. […]