“Zentangle — In My Angle”
‘What do you normally do when you go to a restaurant ?’
I know your mind will now be answering this ‘keep calm and eat’
Well, Yeah I do it too. But, in addition to ‘just eat’, I do some extra stuffs also that keeps me driving apart from my work(normal life).This extra stuff includes more of a thing called ‘Observation’. Specifically in my case, it is ‘Pattern Observation’.
In recent days, I got fascinated by patterns a lot. By patterns, I mean any artistic form of pattern.
Say it to be artistic impressions on tissue paper or any artistic pattern in a dress.
Driven by this fascination, I started observing anything and everything that had patterns in it (Ex: Patterns in bed cover,dress,purse,bag etc ).
Few examples of the patterns that I speak about are just captured below.
Photograph Vs patterns visible to me
That was the time,something kick started in my mind.
There are so many patterns that I observe, then why me (an occasional sketcher) try doing something with patterns that I see.
Yes, thats when I started sketching with patterns.
Why does patterns fascinate me?
One day when I was sketching, I did ask myself, why does these patterns fascinate me a lot? Just to find answer to these questions I started researching more. Started discussing about patterns with like minded people.
The main reasons why I discover patterns fascinate me are
1. “A pattern always has a logic” — Most of the times, if a curvature follows a direction, for the consecutive iteration also the curvature follows the same direction and that adds more beauty to it.( Example 4 : Spider pattern). Any break in the logic ends in creating a mixed/compound pattern.
2. “Its all about balancing positive negative space” — When observed keenly, I realise there are few places where the positive space is highlighted more just because of the presence of negative filling. Without the negative being present, the positive filling is not highlighted more. At the end, its all about clearing the emptiness.( Example 5: Joker bangle pattern)
Shoot me! This pattern sketching has a name!? Wow!
While, this form of pattern research and sketching was driving me, I discovered there is a term you can use for this pattern sketching. Its called the “Zentangle”
Assuming the copy paste to the answers of blah blah questions like “What is Zentangle?,How to start?,Whats the use,impact?” might not make this my blog, I am sharing few of the Zentangle links here which you can go through
https://www.zentangle.com/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/arts-and-health/201403/calm-down-and-get-your-zentangle
Zentangle’s Impact on me!
Respecting the authenticity, I hereby share my own crisp inference on Zentanlge research
Many of the psychology survey on Zentangle say that
Sketching with patterns acts a stress buster. It is easy and gives us an artistic satisfaction and an increased sense of personal well being.
Yes, I do accept that, but with the little difference.
Sketching the patterns increases the creativity and only coloring the patterns acts a stress buster — A true statement in my case.
Everytime I start sketching with patterns, I think and look around a lot more patterns around me and start being more creative in representing it. Whilst coloring takes/needs no great influence of my mind. It just takes off.
As much good as it is to create a pattern, as good it is to color it and make it yet more beautiful.
Is coloring pattern an “Art Therapy” ?
Yes, it is. A lot of medical research has been going on, in past few years by Australia Broadcasting Corporation about coloring patterns and its uses. It is proven that
→ Coloring an image facilitates the replacement of negative thoughts and images with pleasant ones.
→ Like mediation, coloring allows us to switch off our brains from other thoughts and focus on the moment
→ Reduces anxiety. You have to look at the shape and size, you have to look at the edges, and you have to pick a color. It occupies the same parts of the brain that stops any anxiety-related mental imagery happening as well.
For more details into stress relief benefits of please refer
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/arts-and-health/201403/calm-down-and-get-your-zentangle
http://www.ridgewoodcentrewellness.com/ZentangleBenefits.aspx
Benchmarking Zentangle
I my angle, I normally see Zentangle at 3 levels and I believe for any individual to become a successful Zentangle Artist one should go through the following three custom defined levels
Formless → Full-form → Artistic Form
Level 1 Formless : Observing and sketching just the patterns (without any forms). This level fascinates me more because it requires no great influence of brain :) You see something and just start acting(sketching) on it defining a simple and a single logic.
Few of my pattern experiments are just being captured down here . When compared to the rest 2 levels, my experimentation at this level is bit high and hence are the proofs :)
Level 2 Formfull : Sketch an outline/form and fill it with patterns. This involves a compound proportion of logic. To be simple,we can say this as more than one pattern present inside a form.
Level 3 Artistic form:
Filling in forms with more ‘meaningful patterns’. I believe that, of all the other levels, this level seems to be a challenging one. This is because it involves choosing and filling in spaces with right shape and right sized pattern. When right shaped and sized, an image’s inference is impacted in a different level. My only experiment at this level is as attached below
In the Buddha image,
→ The swirl pattern in the forehead gives the feel of meditation.
→ The semi-circular pattern in the nose, gives the feel of Nasal openings.
→ Floral background pattern and the left-leaf pattern give the feel of peace.
→ Branch pattern in the forehead, gives a feel of concentration during meditation.
→ The dots and line pattern marking the eyes and nose, gives a feel of enlightenment.
→ And, much more..
Thus I infer that the above 3 levels can be benchmarked by a person who wants to explore in Pattern Sketching.
I may be anywhere wrong above, however I sincerely mark this inference as a result of my small research on Pattern Sketching.
That’s all about Zentangle, in my angle :)
Enjoy Zentangling. After all,
“Life is all about patterns”
Blog by,
Ramya Vardhan — An Art Lover!
