Here are some questions that I frequently imagine people asking me.
What is Zentangle?
The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. “Zentangle” is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.
Some of your tiles are initialed on the front, but the initials aren’t always the same. Because …
It’s not easy having a compulsive personality and trouble making decisions. Zentangle artists initial their completed tiles on the front, and sign and date them on the back. Some of these are so clever! The best and easiest to see are Maria’s and Rick’s, on their own tiles at zentangle.com.
It took forever for me to come up with one I liked based on my own initials (RC). I have it now, but I’ve previously used variations on Q, S, and S, from Que sera, sera, as well earlier stabs at RC. As of June, 2014, I’m using a curly little cr (see Chop below). As of March, 2015, I'm using tiny block letters and all three initials: RSC/
Are all your tiles original ideas?
No. Most are, but one of the things I really enjoy doing is seeing how an artist has interpreted an idea and then creating my own variation of it. When I display tiles based on others’ originals (often found on Pinterest) I always make this clear. Any work I create in this way will include this information as well as a link to the original, insofar as this is possible.
Do you use only “official” Zentangle pens, papers, etc?
The best answer is that yes, I do, when I can. I’ve experimented with different papers, but the Sakura pens are still my favorites, and even the little Zentangle pencils are just right for me. As soon as I started using color, though, I branched out, of necessity. I’ll try to note which materials I’ve used when I describe projects I’ve done.
Do you use … an eraser?
I use an eraser rarely, and only as an additional shading tool. I don’t erase mistakes, because I love that there are no mistakes in Zentangle, and if I put a stroke in some unintended place, I build on it and work with it.
What’s a chop?
"Chop" is a colloquial name used for a kind of seal or stamp that originated in East Asia and was used to place an official symbol in place of a signature on a legal document. (Wikipedia.) Contemporary chops, as used by artists, may be carved out of a variety of materials and used as stamps, or may be hand drawn on each piece by the artist.
As you look around the Zentangle universe, you’ll see that many people draw a small symbol, or a stylized version of their name or initials, on the front of their tiles. If you want to create a chop, think outside the box a little about your initials and about what you would like to see on each piece you create.
BTW, when I was a kid, I had — and still have — an authentic chop that was made for me in Taiwan and brought back by a friend who was visiting there. I really wanted to use that, but it’s a little too big for my tiles, and it’s only got my first two initials — R and S — instead of C, which has been my last name now for longer than it wasn’t.
What’s Que sera, sera?
What will be, will be.
When I was wee, former band-singer and then world’s top movie star Doris Day sang a song called "Que Sera, Sera" in the Alfred Hitchcock film The Man Who Knew Too Much. The song was also a chart-topper, in the way that songs could top charts in the years just before rock’n’roll exploded all over everything.
Are all your tiles original ideas?
No. Most are, but one of the things I really enjoy doing is seeing how an artist has interpreted an idea and then creating my own variation of it. When I display tiles based on others’ originals (often found on Pinterest) I always make this clear. Any work I create in this way will include this information as well as a link to the original, insofar as this is possible.
Do you use only “official” Zentangle pens, papers, etc?
The best answer is that yes, I do, when I can. I’ve experimented with different papers, but the Sakura pens are still my favorites, and even the little Zentangle pencils are just right for me. As soon as I started using color, though, I branched out, of necessity. I’ll try to note which materials I’ve used when I describe projects I’ve done.
Do you use … an eraser?
I use an eraser rarely, and only as an additional shading tool. I don’t erase mistakes, because I love that there are no mistakes in Zentangle, and if I put a stroke in some unintended place, I build on it and work with it.
What’s a chop?
"Chop" is a colloquial name used for a kind of seal or stamp that originated in East Asia and was used to place an official symbol in place of a signature on a legal document. (Wikipedia.) Contemporary chops, as used by artists, may be carved out of a variety of materials and used as stamps, or may be hand drawn on each piece by the artist.
As you look around the Zentangle universe, you’ll see that many people draw a small symbol, or a stylized version of their name or initials, on the front of their tiles. If you want to create a chop, think outside the box a little about your initials and about what you would like to see on each piece you create.
BTW, when I was a kid, I had — and still have — an authentic chop that was made for me in Taiwan and brought back by a friend who was visiting there. I really wanted to use that, but it’s a little too big for my tiles, and it’s only got my first two initials — R and S — instead of C, which has been my last name now for longer than it wasn’t.
What’s Que sera, sera?
What will be, will be.
When I was wee, former band-singer and then world’s top movie star Doris Day sang a song called "Que Sera, Sera" in the Alfred Hitchcock film The Man Who Knew Too Much. The song was also a chart-topper, in the way that songs could top charts in the years just before rock’n’roll exploded all over everything.
My Grandma Ida was a big Doris Day fan and a particularly big fan of this song. She taught me to sing it — all of it — and at family gatherings, I would have to stand in the center of the room and belt it out. Everybody smiled and applauded; I didn’t realize for many many years that I am basically tone-deaf. But it made my Grandma smile.
Over the last 60 years or so, I have experienced a variety of life-changing events, as have we all; mine include a brain tumor, its removal, and my subsequent deafness on the right side (age 38); the loss of my mother (age 49) and the loss of my father less than a year later (age 50); a diagnosis of Crohn’s Disease (on my 55th birthday); a stomach tumor and its removal (age 58); and … well, you know. It’s always something.
I have six tattoos, all of them pretty small. They all have stories: why I got them, when I got them, what they mean to me. I’m only going to tell you about one today. It’s this one, on my right arm, just above the wrist:
After the diagnosis of Crohn’s, I had a whole lot of attitude adjustment to deal with. What I really wanted was to be a little girl, safe in Grandma’s arms, not worrying about anything to come because whatever it was, it would just be. So, for Grandma Ida (who would have been pleased at the thought but horrified by the tattoo) I had that comforting philosophy placed before me, where, like a mantra, it could always help me focus, and feel calm, and loved, and safe. I honor it, and Grandma, with the name of my website. It seems an especially apropos outlook for the practice of Zentangle, too.
Are any more of your tattoos Zentangle-related?
Are any more of your tattoos Zentangle-related?
Yes.
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