Tangling with Zentangle

The school year ended yesterday! Yay!

As a dedicated doodler, I feel like it’s my job to try out all forms of mindless drawing when the opportunity presents itself. After work, the opportunity presented itself so I went to my local art store and went on a little art supply shopping spree. I picked up a book called, One Zentangle A Day: A 6-Week Course in Creative Drawing for Relaxation, Inspiration, and Fun by Beckah Krahula. Click HERE for more information on it. I’ve started the course today and completed the first three days because that’s how I roll when I get free time to myself. This is what I have created so far…

These were the first three patterns that I tried from her book.

Next, three patterns were tangled up with some of the first few patterns in the next drawing.

Day 2, zentangle

And finally, Day 3’s zentangle doodle…

Day 3, Zentangle

I am struggling with the whole idea of keeping the doodling structured into specific compartments of a square so I tend to ignore some of the author’s suggestions to keep the zentangle drawing in a square. I like the new styles and combinations of patterns offered by the book. I find it funny that there are specific names for these patterns, many of which sound like names given to furniture at IKEA. Great branding, though!

Also, I love the idea of shading my ink drawings with a pencil. It adds something extra to my drawings. While I enjoyed learning about this drawing style all day, I am ready to go back to freestyle doodling on napkins. If my Photography class this summer doesn’t take up all my time, I might try a few more of these tangle thingies.

Signing off for now…

Mediocrity Monster

Meet George. He is the lesser known brother for Edvard Munch’s The Scream due to some hair gel issues and lack of motivation to be recognized. That is why this napkin from my local diner was the perfect venue for him rather than a canvas featured at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 

A note on the whole notion of mediocrity. I was listening to several parents this week speak of their children’s futures. One felt their 7th grader needed to be placed in an honors program because she got A’s too easily and seemed to be “drifting” into the realm of the arts. Another parent spoke of her child graduating with a degree in the arts. There was some talk of whether the graduating student should pursue teaching or “not settle for a mediocre life and go after her dream of being famous instead” within her chosen arts degree. The opinions about pursuing the arts, or teaching, for that matter was deemed to be the dreaded mediocrity! It’s a word that is treated like a social disease and a slippery slope into a life of dissatisfaction. The discussion brought me back to my teenage years in high school. A beloved English teacher of mine who appeared to like my writing style declared that one of my older sisters and one of my older brothers were destined for great things in life. It was true. Both siblings have done very well for themselves. My sister was (and is) very accomplished, intelligent, and had striking looks. My brother was an intelligent risk-taker with a lot of charisma, charm, and good looks. It was easy to see why my teacher would make that statement. Naturally, I asked, “What about me?” He declared, “Well, there’s something to be said about mediocrity.” I felt like I had been stamped with the Scarlet Letter M. I was devastated and, suddenly, resented my more accomplished siblings. Later on, he declared that I would probably become a teacher. He declared this after he told the class to never be a teacher. He made it seem as though he had just called me an ugly gutter rat instead. Clearly, he was having his own issues as a teacher and perhaps, I reminded him of himself at that age. I have been a teacher for nearly ten years so he was right about that too. I tend to keep to myself. Apparently, that was the blueprint for mediocrity in America since extroversion was valued over introversion. If you are an introvert reading this, pick up the book, Quiet: The Power of the Introvert in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain. It’ll lift your spirits up in that regard. Here’s the ever popular Ted Talks lecture on the overlooked quiet ones as well if you give it a click.

Back to the present. After hearing the two parents make a plan to prevent their children from a life of mediocrity, I realized that the standard of mediocrity was based on societal expectations of success and not personal success. Glamorous, rich, and beautiful lifestyles are supposed to be better than our anonymous, pay check to pay check, and sometimes messy lives. And yet, one of the most popular books to date is a book called Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach. Each meditation in the book teaches individuals to find the extraordinary in the simple tasks of each day. I think it helps individuals to find their own path in life and approach each day with profound awareness rather than rely on the traditional roads to success deemed by society. I remember a line from my mom’s favorite poet, Robert Frost,

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”

Did I take the road less traveled? My career is a bit traditional. Drawing on napkins at diners lacks the ambition needed to receive any accolades. And yet, as I allow myself to draw, the creative reservoirs within me manifests itself onto my napkin. I discover something extraordinary about humanity in our ability to create. My ordinary interests belies extraordinary revelations found within the ordinary passing of each day. I have decided that I don’t think it matters which path in the woods we have taken. It matters what we observe along the way that makes all the difference.

 

 

Signs of Spring

In like a lion, out like a lamb.

It’s March 1st and the sun is shining! The morning doves outside my apartment are enjoying themselves…at least until tomorrow’s snowstorm. sigh. Here is my doodle tribute to the Spring birds. May better weather urge them to come forth.

A friend of mine recently asked me to draw her a picture of a bird flying for a tattoo but my birds don’t seem to be ready to fly yet. The closest I came to getting my bird to fly ended up looking like a carrot with wings. However, I will not be deterred. May have to take some photos of birds flying and get inspired.

Speaking of inspiration, I’m going to give you a few books from my list to help move you along toward a more doodle-filled life. I love The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. She encourages 3 pages of uninterrupted journal writing first thing in the morning which she calls, Morning Pages. Also, she encourages people to take themselves out (without company) on Artist’s Date. This might be anything of leisure ranging from taking a walk through a museum, a park, or a library to spending $5 on playful items at a Dollar Store. The point is to vary up your routine in life enough so you can get inspired and have fun doing it. Over the summer, I took myself out to the Prospect Park Zoo and fell in love with the owls. Here’s my version of a screech owl…

Other books that might be of some interest to those exploring the relationship between how creativity and art help individuals after strokes or brain trauma might be interested in My Stroke of Insight by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor. She got her start in brain surgery research due to desire to understand her brother’s schizophrenia. However, her research ended up helping her to understand what was happening to her brain during her own stroke. She used art to help repair the damage that was done. Here’s a great TED Talk by her…

Finally, there’s the book, Shadows Bright As Glass by Amy Ellis Nut. It’s a book that focuses on one man who has experienced brain trauma and multiple surgeries only to undergo a complete personality change. His compulsion to create works of art seemed to help him self actualize himself and repair his sense of identity. Anyway, I dug it and considered pursuing a degree in Art Therapy at one point. At the moment, I stick to my doodles. Here’s the last of my bird doodles for today.

Enjoy the beautiful day!