Patterns. Ink on paper. A sampler of 49 doodle patterns that I like. The majority are my own. I enjoy seeing them all in one place like this. They're fun to draw and look at! ^_^

Patterns Spearl and Kurlllz are the last two patterns in this blog series AND the last two patterns I’ll be posting on the Rainbow Elephant in 2011. I kind’a felt like closing t…

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Oh, I enjoyed creating this page so much! I absolutely love botanical patterns, but I also have great affection for grid-based, repeating, symmetrical patterns. Brrst, by Kelly Barone CZT, is one o…

I just recently went through some old tangling stuff and found sketches of patterns I found in some library books several years ago - way be...

"The whole is more than the sum of its parts." Aristotle Last month my husband and I went on a cruise to Norway. We've been on several cruises in the past, so I knew that the ship would be a mecca of patterns, and I wasn't disappointed. Patterns on walls, floors, furniture, lights. In other words, everywhere you looked there were patterns, even on the water in the North Sea. Walking through the ship taking pictures of walls and floors and furniture....I can only imagine what the other passengers must have thought! It took a few weeks, but finally I got around to deconstructing some of those patterns to come up with the step-outs for new tangle patterns. But before I get to that, I wanted to share a few of the patterns I saw that I did not try to pick apart. This first one is a light hanging from the ceiling of one of the lounges. Does anyone else see Mooka in there? Here are two more - the one on the left was on a wall, and the one on the right was a floor which reminds me of Dex. This one is an etched glass door with a wall of different colored lights behind it. Zendala? The next one was a fabric covered wall (with metal strips dividing it into a grid, just like a tangle pattern). These two were taken in a store in the town of Bergen. When I took the following photo I wasn't really focusing on the water, but once I put it on my computer I was immediately drawn to the pattern that the water made in the wake of the boat going by. And I couldn't resist taking a picture of the roof on this building next to where our ship docked in Eidfjord. Last, but not least, is this photo of a tiled border going around the pool deck on the ship. This is the first one that I have deconstructed (at least a part of it). I have named the pattern "Cruze" in honor of where it came from. You start with "blocks" of 5 lines forming a diagonal. At first I tried very hard to get the lines to form a square block, but realized it really doesn't matter if they are squares or rectangles, or whether each one is the same size as the next one. Once you get the flow of the curved lines connecting those blocks, it really isn't hard. You go down one side (step 4) then turn and go back up the other side (step 5). On the last step you cap off the two ends. I enjoyed playing around with this pattern, but got really excited about it when I created the following variation. If you place the blocks of lines in a skewed manner like shown below, you get a really interesting variation that has a lot of movement. The top section is unshaded and the bottom one is shaded. On the following Zentangle I used the original pattern, but added a little bit of black fill, and really think it makes the pattern pop. I turned the picture 45 degrees to post it here because as I was looking at it I tilted my head and liked what I saw. It looks to me like a hanging basket of flowers. Then I used the Cruze variation to design the following piece. I just LOVE the way this one turned out. This is definitely one of my favorite Zentangles ever. Stay tuned for more new patterns coming soon. Maybe one will be called Norway.

This week's "It's a String Thing" (click here to view the details) includes Judy Murphy's pattern AA's. It is the epitome of a simple tangle that yields elegant results. It is especially intriguing to me because my name begins with the letter A. In fact, before I married my initials were A.A. Over the years I've written my name in a variety of ways - all thanks to the versatility of the lovely letter A. This same letter can be drawn up as round and soft, curly and feminine, straight lined and angular, as one continuous line or divided into two or three lines. That is quite a portfolio for the first letter of the alphabet. Judy Murphy's idea of turning A's into a tangle pattern was very clever. (Click here for the direct link to her directions.) I played with it a bit recently and I post my notes here in hopes that it inspires you to try it. - Have fun playing with this tangle!

You gotta love alliteration! This week's "It's a String Thing" challenge uses four official Zentangle® patterns that begin with the letter 'T' : Tagh, ,Tipple, Tortuca, and Tripoli . They are all listed on Tangle Patterns with illustrations and suggestions, but Tipple and Tortuca do not have step outs posted. These tangles are pretty self-explanatory, but just in case you need a bit more information before you try them on your own, here are my notes about them... In this tile, I used Tipple in the negative spaces of the tangle pattern Fengle. The word tortuca means, among other things, turtle. It does resemble a turtle shell when completed. By the way, these pages are from my pattern notebook. The page is actually a free download from Tangle Patterns. On the home page in the top pink bar, there is a tab named "Organize Your Patterns". Linda Farmer has many suggestions there for pattern notebooks and plenty of free downloads. Check it out sometime! And now, since you have even more information about these pretty patterns, try your hand at this week's challenge. Click here for more information and have fun tangling! You are welcome to leave a comment in the space below. If you would like to hear from me, please use the email box to the right. Thank you!

This large Zentangle Inspired Art started with auraknot as a string, from there I went freestyle out and down the page. Have a super weekend everyone, hope you get a chance to enjoy some tangle time.  Size: 74cm x 59cm (29" x 23") A couple of close ups

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STARTS JUNE 1!!! Your brain is a muscle; when you exercise it, it gets stronger. 30 Days of Creativity is a social initiative to encourage people to create things - anything - every day for the 30 days in June. Check out the website here. I heard about this a while ago, and was recently reminded about it by my eldest daughter. As far as art goes, I do something creative pretty much every day. I'm thinking it might be interesting to try some other creative endeavors... but what exactly? I used to enjoy concocting things in the kitchen, but three or four years ago my inner cook went on vacation and hasn't returned. A few days ago I planted some bedding plants. Put me and gardening together and that's about as creative as it gets. Maybe I'll just stick to the studio. There are certainly plenty of projects waiting there. (I'm beginning to feel rather un-creative when it comes to being creative!) I'm not promising anything. We'll see what happens. In any case, it's always a good idea to keep creativity in mind. DO YOU WANT TO JOIN IN? Here's how to share your creations: 1. On Twitter: Follow #30daysofcreativity on Twitter. Send an @ reply to @createstuff to let them know you want to participate. Say simply, "I pledge to create something every day for 30 days in a row." 2. By e-mail: Share your creations with everyone via the website. E-mail to [email protected]

I’ve had a lovely tangle-y, arty, creative morning. Some good stuff. Some experiments that worked, some that didn’t quite. Either way, I have two more pages in my sketchbook filled with…

(Now I have the song "Takin' care of BIIIZZness..." going through my head.) If you're really into Zentangle you'll have started a collection of tangles. There's no way I can remember all the patterns I've seen and liked and want to use sometime. I lost track months ago. There are so many! I have a few things that keep me (relatively) organized so today I thought I'd tell you what I do, and at the end, what some others do. IN THE BEGINNING, when I had encountered Zentangle but hadn't taken a class from someone trained in it, I started keeping patterns in a small notebook (6" square, spiral bound, bright pink foam cover!). I labeled the top corners to try to categorize them. I still refer to it occasionally but it's no longer adequate, and also contains errors, so it doesn't really count. An aside: Mambo is a lovely pattern I discovered a couple of years ago. It slightly resembles the new tangle Fengle from Zentangle - although not as versatile - and the tangle Jash (inspired by Justine Ashbee's work). Mambo is from Helen Breil on a website called shadesofclay.com and it's a pattern to stamp into damp clay. You'll see me using Mambo in one of next Monday's tiles. Here's what I do now: FIRST, MY OFFICIAL 'ILLUSTRATED INSTRUCTIONAL' This is the sheets of tangles and step-by-steps provided by Rick and Maria at the CZT training I attended. Back in May 2010 there were 102 official tangles. Now I think it's up to 116. SECOND, A LIST OF TANGLES After I became a CZT I started keeping a list of tangles I particularly liked. If I read the name, I visualized the pattern. I soon realized that sometimes I wanted a Dark, or Light, or Medium tangle, so I divided my list into those categories. Then I noticed that some were not dark or light, but Bold, like Hollibaugh and Jonqal. I noticed that some tangles were an all-over Gray, like Emingle and Amaze. Many work for Lines, Edges and Borders like Ennies and Xyp. Many begin with a Square Grid, some are based on Triangles, some have a very organic Flora look. I now have 13 categories, having just added Good for Children. It runs to three pages! Of course, some patterns fit into more than one category and may be listed a few times. Maybe I should have said "lists" of tangles. I have the three pages by my desk for reference. I also have it at the back of my visual reference binder (see 'Third, Pictures' next). I also have a lovely little travel case of Zentangle supplies and printed this list in a much smaller font size, one sheet, two sides, to keep in that kit. Finally (yes, there's more!) I keep a list on my computer that's strictly alphabetical, but it's in columns and includes all my categories. I'm a bit OCD and very good at organizing things! THIRD, PICTURES I had collected around a hundred tangles and was starting to lose track. I could no longer call to mind what something looked like just by reading the name. I realized that - OF COURSE! duh - I needed a visual reference. I decided that a binder with ATC-sized plastic sheets would work. I put one tangle on each ATC card. Sometimes I use Zentangle's ATC cards (that lovely Tiepolo paper) but it's also a great way to use little leftover pieces of drawing paper. I thought I would just keep all the B's together and all the K's together, etc. but they're so easy to move around they are actually alphabetical. I add a little red star in the right corner if it's an official Zentangle tangle, and a blue star on my own tangles. Occasionally I put variations or notes on the backs of the cards. The yellow sticky-note keeps track of how many tangles I have - just out of curiosity. It's currently 318. FOURTH, INSTRUCTIONS FOR YOUR WONDERFUL TANGLES I also keep a binder with print-outs from the Internet when others post instructions for their tangles. I don't keep everything I encounter; there's just too much and not everything appeals to me. I keep tangles I especially like and tangles that may be of interest to students. I take this binder to advanced classes so people can look through and perhaps find a pattern they'd like to try on their mandala or illuminated letter. The print-outs are in plastic protective sleeves, back to back, and I keep all the same letters together. (NB - I really appreciate it, when you post a tangle, if your name and the tangle's name are included on the image! And don't use colored background; it uses a lot of ink!) SOME OTHER IDEAS People have devised various methods for keeping tangle patterns organized and accessible. As new ideas come to light I'll add to the list here. While writing this post, my hand went haywire, I dropped the mouse, and the post got published briefly, incomplete. A few people saw it during those few minutes. One of them was Terrie Purkey who wrote me: "I've tried several ways to manage the wealth of tangles I have accumulated and most recently have settled on this. I've made a 4x6" card with each tangle, it's name and who created it (using the template from TanglePatterns.com). Then I've hole punched it and keep them on a series of keyrings ... I needed more categories than just alphabetical, but rather than searching light and dark I tend to search grid or organic so those are my main categories but also I've separated out borders and floral. The rings are portable and easy to flip through when looking for something new to try. I also keep a master list on the computer that's strictly alphabetical but with light/dark & organic/grid categories (love Excel!). CZT Diane Ryan has made a little sample of each tangle on a metal-ringed tag and strings them on an reference bracelet. Check out the first video on the Zentangle blog here. You'll also see some new tangles demonstrated. (Ooooo!) Another CZT, Sue Jacobs, uses colored post-it notes in a sketchbook. She shared this idea in the summer of 2012 in her blog post Organizing my tangle patterns. I don't like graph paper for zentangle, but it does make for neat squares! CZT Linda Farmer of tanglepatterns.com fame uses two sizes of Moleskine notebooks with graph paper. You can read about how how she organizes things here. Another CZT, Suzanne Wilka, who does the Tinkered Art blog, uses 2" square paper on metal rings. You can read her recently updated blog post about organizing tangles here. She also mentioned that "...while I liked the idea of categories for tangles I found that the more I tried to label them the more it felt like I was creating artificial limits to using them." Susan Breen Silvy, another CZT, uses 8.5"x11" paper oriented horizontally. On the left are six blocks for the design progression of the tangle and a 3.5" block at the bottom to show the finished tangle. On eht right are six larger blocks to record tangelations. When folded in half the page fits into a small sheet protector and then into a small three-ring binder. The steps for doing the tangle are on the front, variations of that tangle are on the back. The small size makes it easy to take the binder along. CZT Geneviève Crabe has a Tangle Organizer book available for purchase. There are four different lay-outs and you can choose your favourite according to your needs. You can see them here. MaryAnn Scheblein-Dawson, one of the very first CZTs, wrote in April 2012: "A Rolodex is also a good way of organizing your Tangles, although it does not help with the "portability" issue, since it's still in a box. But they are pre-punched. They come in 2 sizes so you could use whichever fits your needs best. And you can purchase clear protective covers for each card so they don't get "icky". You can take them out of the Rolodex and put them back in easily. Perhaps the larger format is better for the step outs." A CZT from the 8th seminar, Sandy Hunter, has tried out many organizational methods and finally came up with something that works for her using plastic coin collector pages. Read about it here.

Hi Sandy, I am new to Zentangle and am working my way through the tangles in the book, "Joy of Zentangle". I am looking at your tangle called Flora. In the book it is illustrated within a small square and in the last square the petals are cut off by the edges of the square. I can't find any example of this tangle used in any of the illustrations in the book and I am confused as to what to do with it. Is it put together in a ribbon or is it used as one design to fill a space without repeating? Can you give me some help with this or point me in the direction of some Zentangles using this pattern? Many thanks for your help and for sharing your beautiful work. Joan * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Hi Joan, I hope this answers your questions about the tangle in The Joy Of Zentangle book. First, that book was assembled by the publisher by taking random chunks out of other books. If you notice, the "tip" on Flora's page doesn't seem relevant? Here is the original page, from my book Totally Tangled, with the steps and examples for Flora. Flora can be used as part of Bauer. Makes more sense, right? Cheers, Sandy * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Got it! Thanks so much for getting back to me, Sandra. I noticed the discrepancies with other tangles as well. Gonna order your Totally Tangled book. ‎ :) Joan * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * NOTE: If you are curious about the "Exercise" on the Joy of Zentangle page above... here is the page where the tip originally came from... ... it is from another of my books - Yoga for Your Brain. The original page is showing how to use the trees, fence posts, etc that you see around you, as tangle inspiration. Context makes a difference. Joy of Zentangle is a great introduction to tangling and talks about the philosophy and stuff - which my books don't really cover. My focus has always been more on the creative confidence aspects of tangling. Lately it has been a bit ...odd... to have to explain to people (and reviewers) that Totally Tangled and Yoga For Your Brain came out BEFORE Joy of Zentangle - not the other way around. So if you are new to tangling, I encourage you to take a look at some of the "older" books too. And please DO let me know if you have questions or would like me to explain other topics - I have had some requests to do some more little videos explaining certain tangles. Anything else?

Tangles: Cyrano, and variations, the basic version on the right. Why Cyrano? Good question. Allow me to explain. This tangle begins with a grid of X's interspersed with a grid of O's. X's and O's, X's and O's. The more I said X's 'n' O's to myself the more it started to sound like 'excess nose, excess nose, excess nose' and that made me think of Cyrano de Bergerac! Aaand... I'm using a brand new step-out template recently given to the CZTs by Rick and Maria. Lots of space for step-outs, examples, and even extra notes. Thanks a bunch of flowers to you, R&M! BTW: It's getting harder and harder to keep track of tangles and names. If this pattern has been presented elsewhere, or if the name has been used earlier, please let me know!

While tangles are inspired by different things, sometimes they can take on a certain demeanor depending on how it’s drawn and what it’s paired with. These tangles can take on a spooky l…