I was recently introduced to the term zentangles at the Friday Creative Crafting sessions. I have always been a doodler, especially while on hold on the phone and when young I used to use a pencil and compass to make designs, so guess I’ve always been a sort of zentangle artist, just never knew the term.
Zentangles is a way to create designs by using patterns over and over. A basic zentangle is a tile and repeating the tiles, like a mosaic creates a zentangle picture. Doodles are a bit more spontaneous where zentangles are repetitive.
I’ve been combining doodles and zentangles so guess they could be called zen-doodles. Lots of patience and focus are needed to create one.
Zentangles are originally done on paper/card/sketch pad with a fine tip pen or marker, but I’ve taken it a bit further and created some zen-doodling on rocks.
As with all my rock projects I start with a simple sketch. I used to have bits of paper all over the place but one of my winter projects was to put all the sketches into a note book. I’ve also added some zentangle patterns as well. It is so much easier to just flip through the book instead of searching for bits of paper.
I love birds. Have you seen Flossie Bird? or the little felt birds.
Sometimes the finished item looks nothing like the sketch, but it was used as a starting point. Frequently the pens/markers determine the size of the shape and the doodle.
The quilt style rock pattern started out as oval, but when I chose the rock to use, it was a round one, so I just adjusted the pattern by tracing around the outside of the rock onto the pattern, and then added the grid lines to the rock before adding all the detail.
More of my doodles, zentangles, zen-doodles
The majority of the rocks I zendoodled had a white background but I did try a couple of the more simple patterns with a black background. The choice is up to you and you are only limited by your own imagination.
A search of zentangle or zendoodle will give you lots of ideas and more information. I did find the idea /pattern for bird in a search and changed it up a bit to suit me. Borrow an idea and make it your own!
Be sure to have a look at my rock projects and see all the other types of rocks I’ve painted.
Tammy S Asad
Fun! I love them all! I collect rocks and like to doodle on them or crochet covers for them.
Crafty Gardener
Thanks for the reminder about crochet covers, haven’t done that for ages and ages, so must do it again. Thanks for stopping by.
Julie
These are so pretty. I have a friend who introduced me to zentangles a few years ago, she made an amazing world map. I love the idea of putting these kind of designs on rocks.
Crafty Gardener
There are so many possibilities for zentangles, I just keep finding ideas I want to try and the list is getting go long. Thanks for stopping by.
Teresa
So fun! Thank you for sharing at The Really Crafty Link Party. Pinned.
Crafty Gardener
Thanks for the pin.
Michelle
I love your Zen Doodle rocks! I’ve been eyeing Zen Doodles myself. I was always a flower doodler. Thank you for linking up to Creative Compulsions!
Michelle
http://mybijoulifeonline.com
Regula
Lovely! 🙂