Zentangle and Quilting

One of my goals for this year is to improve my drawing.  I'm not talking about drawing animals, people, or landscapes. No, I just want to improve my creativity, that energy that allows designs to be born and built upon.  That ability to put pen to paper and easily create because the mind has figured out line, shape, composition, and direction.  Do you know what I'm talking about?

Enter Zentangle.  Have you heard of it?  It's a style of drawing repetitive patterns in simple structures, creating beautiful, original pieces of art.  By chance, I stumbled upon Tangle Stitches, For Quilters and Fabric Artists (affiliate link) by Jane Monk at my local library.

And because it deals with both drawing and quilting, I'm featuring it as my January Book of the Month. 

Now, I've always been fascinated by Zentangle designs, and looked at other Zentangle books, but they are geared more toward the paper artist due to all of the black negative space and broken lines.  Jane, on the other hand, is a quilter, and she wrote this book with stitches in mind.  A lot of her drawings can be continuous line designs, and also places to start for creating other designs.  A perfect combination--Zentangle and quilting!

Therefor, for 2015, my mantra is, "Have you spent time drawing today?"  I know that many quilters utilize sketchbooks to continually doodle designs, helping the brain to learn by repetition.  My goal is to spend at least 15 minutes drawing each day, helping my brain learn and expand.  As with all New Year's Resolutions, commitment is required.  So, armed with an empty journal, a new micron pen, and Jane's book, I have started in. 

These are not the best, but they are a start.
Jan 2--this is just one of three pages for the day.

Jan 3--did these two pages while watching a guy flick, that's why so much!

Looking at this one, I see elements I like, and others not so much.  Reasons to keep drawing.

Now, my question to you, dear readers, is there anyone who would like to make the same commitment?  If so, I'd love to start a link up, posting pictures of our progress.  Let me know if you're interested!


Happy Quilting--and Drawing!

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