The great value of working small

I subscribe to Robert Genn's Twice-Weekly Letter to artists. In a recent one, titled "Little Bets" there were a few sentences that immediately made me think of Zentangle, its small scale and its encouraging attitude toward "non-artists".

What particularly struck me was this:  "...when students are encouraged to do volumes of small items they become accepting-- even proud--of their failures and are more readily able to move on to ideas that work better for them. Simply put, and perhaps surprisingly, less commitment widens opportunity... even beginners are seen to produce gems. As the lady said, "It's better to have a small diamond than a large piece of glass."

I have felt this very frequently myself while creating a zentangle. I love the small size of the Zentangle tile. I love that it doesn't take me weeks to finish something. I love being able to mess up, create a dud, appreciate the lessons, and put it aside (or even trash it).

It's better to have a small diamond than a large piece of glass. There's another terrific metaphor that applies to Zentangle! I often tell my students that they are creating mini-masterpieces.

If you're interested, you can read Robert Genn's entire post here.

And just because I always prefer books with pictures, here's a recent tile:

Tangles: Caviar, Crescent Moon, Gneiss, Tipple, Ixorus (sort of).
I also used some gray ink and white ink over black. And pencil shading of course.

CAVIAR ANYONE?
Notice a couple of sections in the upper left filled with tiny circles. I like using that as a filler, but I don't know of a name for it. A while ago I read something where it was referred to as "caviar" which I think is a brilliant name. Unless someone knows of a name for it, I suggest we call it Caviar.

Metaphors Galore! And the winner is...

Wowee! Many thanks to everyone who participated in my contest and gave me more to share with my zentangle students. You have my permission to scoot to the bottom and find out the winner. Just scoot back up and read all the other wonderful contributions! In some cases I have done some minor editing; I do hope you don't mind.

There were over 60 submissions from 28 people. Approximately two thirds were deemed really to be metaphors. Those that weren't nonetheless conveyed some really wonderful thoughts. 

Jill wrote that "The inability to draw a perfectly straight line is not a barrier to amazing art" - Zentangle is certainly proof of that. "Every Zentangle is perfectly imperfect." said 'Ajvanart', and it's probably just as true to say "imperfectly perfect.' :-)  Carol in Wales suggests that "Zentangle is focused freedom." Martha finds that "Zentangle illuminates the path of life - shining light onto, and exposing the surprises that emerge from the shadows." 

Sandra expressed what I think we all felt upon learning some of those tangles: "Zentangle is the complex made simple." Another contributor said that "Zentangles illuminate individuality." We see that every time we have a class put their finished tiles together on the table. Byrd advises, "Get lost in the tangle - a blissful moment of creator and creation being one."

Kit in Australia wrote that "Tangling is truly 'living in the present moment'.  Your world is reduced to a 3.5" square, to a section of that 3.5" square, to a tangle in a section of the 3.5" square, to a line in the tangle in the section of that 3.5" square. There's really no way to worry about the future or grieve the past when you achieve that level of concentration and focus." (It makes me want to sing: There's a line in the tangle in the section of the string in the tile on the table!)

A number of themes came up regularly:

Music and dance

Zentangle is singing silently. 

Zentangle is a visual song. 

Zentangle is a symphony on paper.
Zentangle is the instrument that lets you play the music in your soul.

Zentangle is fire and music.

Zentangle is dancing while sitting down. 

Zentangle is a ballet with ink.

Zentangle is ballet with a pen.

The brain and thinking

Zentangle is a massage for your mind.

Zentangle is a massage for your brain.

Zentangle is water cascading over my right brain.

Zentangle is a light in the dark, cluttered corners of my brain.
Zentangle is a step off the hamster wheel of the left brain.

Zentangle is a tune up for your think tank.

Food and nourishment

Zentangle is the dessert of the food that feeds my soul!

Zentangle is a smorgasbord on paper.

Zentangle is wine in an art form.

Zentangle is manna for the mind in the boring desert of the media-dictated world.  

Zentangle is the apple of the art world, because a zentangle a day keeps the doctor away!

Travel and movement
Zentangle is tai chi on paper.
Zentangle is an escape from reality.

Zentangle is my escape into silence.
Zentangle - a journey of intimate detail to exquisite beauty.
Zentangle is a space shuttle en route to the moon of creativity.

And others that defied categorization:

Zentangle is a captured moment.

Zentangle is my morning delight!
Zentangle is an addiction without drugs.
 Zentangle is the explosion of my inner artist onto paper!
Zentangle is a game you can't lose.

On March 20 I had a dozen favorites. 
I narrowed it down to seven. 
I decided I'd have to award some Runner-Up prizes too. Woohoo! So-o-o-o...

The Runners-Up are:

5. A zentangle is a commentary on change.  -from Kit Murdoch

4. A zentangle is the fingerprint of the Artist's soul.  -from Joni Feddersen

3. Zentangle is a bridge to my inner self.  -from Stephanie Kukla ("Phine")

2. Zentangle is a road with no wrong turns.  -from Shelly Beauch

1. Tangling is a ticket for an artistic journey.  -from Susan Stewart ("arts-4-all")

(Each of you, please send me your mailing address and your first three choices of artwork. I really hope I can send you at least your second choice, but we'll see.) 


Whenever this contest popped into my head over the past month, one submission frequently came to mind. I like the relationship it makes between the process of creating art and meditation. It may have something to do with my long connection to mandalas. I like the combination of auditory and visual. I like its simplicity. As it happens, the person who submitted it also submitted another favorite:

Zentangle is an art retreat on a paper tile.
  

May I have the envelope please?

*Dr-r-rummm  R-r-rol-l-l-l*

And

the

winner

is...

ZENTANGLE IS 'OM' WITH INK. 

Sarah Garrity!  

Which mandala do you want?  

Send me your address and it's on its way!

Thanks again everybody! 

The Big One Zero Zero

100!

I now have 100 blog followers, and one of them isn't even myself!

Unbelieveable. I thought about starting a blog for quite some time before I took the plunge. I had read in an art marketing newsletter that to be taken seriously as a blogger one should post at least two or three time a week. I thought, "I don't have that much to say!" - or at least, not that much that's interesting to say.

With the all-day Zentangle workshop coming up in the middle of last October, it seemed a good time to kick off a new venture. That was my first real post.

A big thank you to everyone who's become a Follower. I'm so happy that you find enough of interest here that you want to know when there's something new. I am really enjoying myself, and I seem to have plenty to share after all!

CONTEST UPDATE

Remember to send your ideas to the metaphor contest! There are thirty-some metaphors so far and there's still plenty of time. Here's a thought about metaphors from Rick and Maria on the Zentangle website: "We believe that life is an art form and that  

Zentangle is an elegant metaphor for deliberate artistry in life."

Metaphors. And a Contest!

The Zentangle art form, it has been discovered, engenders metaphors. In fact, it may be more than a metaphor as Carole Ohl so aptly expresses in her blog post from last summer.

A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to something in order to suggest a resemblance, but to which it doesn't literally apply. An example would be “You are the sunlight of my day.” You are not actually sunlight, but you brighten my day. Well, you don't physically "brighten" my day... you get the idea. A metaphor is also something that is used as a symbol to represent something else; the national flag or the capital city are often metaphors for the country or its government, as in "Yesterday, Ottawa announced plans to shorten winter next year."

I was talking with some friends recently and this definition of 'metaphor' came up:

"... a process of comparing and identifying one thing with another. Then, as we see what 
things have in common, we see the general meaning they have. Now, the ability to see the
relationship between one thing and another is almost a definition of intelligence. Thinking
in metaphors... is a tool of intelligence. Perhaps it is the most important tool."

(Louis Simpson in "An Introduction to Poetry" p.6)

I knew we zentangling folks were smart cookies!

"Anything is possible, one stroke at a time."™  

... has been adopted by Zentangle founders Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas as the official metaphor, seen in lots of Zentangle materials. When the zentangle tile is complete, we can give people a bit of good advice for life and encourage them to

"Look at it from a different angle."  

"View it from another perspective."

Even the tile itself is a metaphor. When everyone in a class has completed a tile it's great fun to bring them all together on the table so the students can see everyone else's artwork. Even with the same string, same tangles, and same instructions it's always amazing how

"Every Zentangle tile is unique and original, just like the person who created it."

During a recent weekly zentangle challenge Maria created a spectacular tile with hearts going off the edge of the tile and the negative spaces filled with wonderful, ribbony Hollibaugh. Some people noticed the hearts right away; others needed to have them pointed out. I think there's another metaphor there:

"It isn't always obvious what holds it all together."

 I like to share these metaphors with my students during a class. I'd like to have more metaphors to share. I'd like hear other metaphors that arise from Zentangle. So... 

* * *  I'M  HAVING  A  CONTEST!  * * *

Here are the details:

1. Tell me one or more zentangle-related metaphors that you've discovered. Leave a comment after this post or, if you prefer, e-mail me. Metaphors mentioned above are ineligible :-)
2. You have until 5:31 on March 20, Saskatoon time - the vernal equinox at my spot on the globe - to send metaphors. Okay, I'll be lenient. Let's say midnight your time March 20.
3. I'll share my favorite responses in a future blog post, and I'll choose a favorite and award a prize. There's no rubric or criteria here, just my personal 'Oh, wow!' decision.
4. I'll do my best to have a winner by the end of March, but sometimes life interferes with life. Be patient.

A grammar lesson:
Don't use 'like' or 'as'. That would make it a simile. "Zentangle is like a breath of fresh air" is not eligible. "Zentangle is a breath of fresh air" is.

The prize, you ask?

The prize is one of my original zentangle-inspired artworks: your choice of any one of the apple corer mandalas I've posted here on the blog. You can see three of them here and several more here. I'll contact the winner and get your mailing address. It won't be framed; I don't want to risk mailing glass. One thing to note: "Rose Window" is no longer available. It's been sold.

And just to sweeten the pot, here are two more:

SUN STARS - 12 cms. (5") square; pen-and-ink; colored pencil

©2011 Margaret Bremner (Betweed, Flux, Gneiss, Printemps, Striping, Tipple, wavy lines)

SECTIONS - 12 cms. (5") square; pen-and-ink; colored pencil

©2011 Margaret Bremner (Cubine, Finery, Flux, Meer, checked Aura)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.