Tonia Jenny - Zen Doodle: Tons of Tangles

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Catherine Langsdorf

Neil Burley

Judith E. Strom

Ming-Whe Liou

Christine Alane Farmer

Liz Guthrie

Kristen Watts

Nancy V. Revelle

Ming-Whe Liou

Zen: An aim at enlightenment through meditation.

Doodle: An aimless scribble.

While this act of intuitively making the art we have come to refer to as Zen doodling definitely creates a relaxed, meditative state, we think we can safely say that it is anything but aimless. Boardroom-meeting doodling may be aimless but, Zen doodling creates a sense of awareness and intention.

When we put out a call for art for this book, we knew the art form was crazy popular, but we werent prepared for how difficult it was going to be to narrow down the amazing work that was submitted. While many of the patterns and marks seen in Zen doodle art are ancient in origin, the creative compositions youre about to feast on here are fresh, fun and delightfully inspiring.

The possibilities of Zen doodling are endless, but we did manage to organize the incredible contributions into four chapters to get your tangle wheels turning: Abstract Doodles, Shape and Objects, Animals and Beasts and Friendship and Love. We think youre going to love each one!

Whether youre a seasoned Zen doodler or someone who has yet to get her feet wet, we know youre going to find more inspiration on these pages than you ever imagined, thanks to the generous instruction provided by this collection of artists.

Its time to find your favorite pen and get lost in the doodle!

Tonia and Amy

Elizabeth Snowdon

12" 18" (30.5cm 45.7cm)

Sharpie marker on heavy-weight textured paper

Like many artists, I started Zentangling on tiles. I quickly became bored with the size, so I grabbed my biggest pad of paper and a handful of Sharpie markers and went to town. My anxieties melted away with each squeak of the felt tip, and before I knew it, I had filled the page. This doodle is entitled Paths because this size experiment was more about the journey than the destination.

Many Zen doodle designs begin with a planned shape or form in mind, such as the work youll see in the chapters to follow. Other times, the approach is more abstract with less attachment to the form the art will take on naturally.

The process often begins as a pebble hitting the surface of the water, and patterns ripple out and emerge as the pen flows and the composition grows. Suddenly we look up and realize weve been in the zone with no sense of how much time has passed. Elizabeth Snowdon puts it nicely: My anxieties melted away with each squeak of the felt tip, and before I knew it, I had filled the page.

As youll see from the art in this chapter, a repeating pattern need not be confined to an identifiable or symmetrical shape. Its as if the art is a living, breathing thing, growing with its own agenda, like a wild vine along a trellis. However, we think youll agree that whether neatly confined or left to run wild, all of the designs here are an abstraction of creative genius!

Kari Deeble

312" 312" (8.9cm 8.9cm)

Sakura Pigma Micron pen 01, Zig Millennium 05, graphite pencil on heavy-weight drawing paper

I used the patternsParadox, Cheers, Wavy Border (variation), Rain, Sprocket, a chevron design of my own and Hollibaughto create this tile.

STEP 1: Pencil in rectangles with arches, and take a few minutes to decide which parts are going over and which parts are going under.

STEP 2: Add ink to the sections that are over, then ink the under sections, making sure not to draw on top of previously completed sections. Add triangles in the border, and fill them with Paradox (alternating the line directions to get the shell pattern) to complete the frame.