Zentangles for Sanity!!!

So dear readers, I return from Germany pretty much craft-less!  I worked (and worked).  I got ill and slept (and slept).  And then I worked and worked some more.  Meanwhile my craftiness was trying to get out and I started drawing in this little blank page notebook I keep in my purse.  Then I got some markers while we were in Heidelberg one afternoon and started to put color to my drawings.  I'm not the worlds greatest drawer for sure but it kept me occupied for hours which was great since the only English language TV stations were BBC and CNN.  No matter if it is on this side of the pond or the other, the news is the same and the same stories play over and over and over and over.  So having some markers (because I didn't pack my own) was nice.  I discovered a little something I've heard called Zentangles which is a doodling technique.  On a piece of paper, put four dots for a rectangle (or square).  You'll join the dots to form the outside of your rectangle.  The best thing about Zentangles is that nothing is supposed to be perfect.  This is a technique to make you relax!  It's like raking the sand in one of those Zen gardens which to me seems pointless so that annoys me so I don't do it!  But Zentangles calms the brain.

Once you have your rectangle, you'll make some squiggly lines and cross over them.  The point is that you want to have different segments of your rectangle to randomly doodle in.  In the first picture, is my first zentagle...it actually took me a couple of days (not nonstop but doing a little where I can) but the calming effects were amazing!  It's very freeing because there is no right way or wrong way.  The first one I did in pencil but then I experimented with different colored markers and shapes.  Zentangles really don't have to be rectangular or square.  It's just a doodle.  So try a zentangle today!  I will add pics later but my camera has died.