heARTistry

Zentangle has taught me many things. First and foremost, how to effectively quiet my mind. Traditional meditation doesn’t do it as well, and sometimes yoga isn’t appropriate or practical. Zentangle is small, portable, can be done anywhere, and is extremely effective as calming my mind and thoughts. Secondly, that you can only do things one step or stroke at a time and that it’s pointless to look 5 steps to the future when you don’t know step 3 or 4. Thirdly, that anyone, including me and including you, can be an artist. I never would have imagined before Zentangle that I have an album full of hundreds of pieces of art. Finally, the combination of confidence and devil-may-care-ness to share my art with the world – both anonymous people on the internet as well as people I know, care about, and are concerned about their general opinions. I never, ever would have done this without Zentangle! It has truly enriched and enhanced every aspect of my life!

It has been my lifelong dream to be able to say, “I am an artist.” My college degree is in Graphic Design but even having achieved that diploma, because I could not draw pretty pictures, I felt I did not have the"right" to call myself an artist. When I saw the opportunity to create art using only 5 simple marks I was"called" to enroll in the class. With the guidance and encouragement of my instructor I was able to quickly master the method and found I was quite successful. That level of self confidence allowed me to enroll in several locally offered drawing and water color classes. Now in my retirement, I am comfortable saying I am an rtist when people ask me “what I do.” Thank you Rick and Maria for enabling my to obtain a lifelong goal.

Zentangle method has changed my life in numerous ways… one example is the realization that the more I practice something the better it becomes and the greater the outcome! I know this sounds so elementary but the Zentangle method really proves this to me over and over again.. Great pieces of art are an effort and a culmination of ideas that are worked on. An art teacher once reminded us students during a class to remember that even Picasso practiced his art!!

Zentangle for me is a playful way to be creative using pattern based pen strokes. It is relaxing. I love that there is the wonderful element of surprise that surfaces.

Thank you for the Zentangle method, it soothes my heart and soul.

Everyone on the zentangle team/family is a talented artist, excellent teacher and present with such a positive attitude. My comment below is only a compliment and in no way disparaging to anyone on the team. Comment: When I watch Maria’s pen flow across the paper, I am mesmerized. I could watch that all day. Maria just has a way of guiding her strokes, so beautifully and apparently effortlessly. Thank you Maria, for taking the time to make the videos. They are so soothing and inspiring.

Dear Maria and Rick, I started this comment and it disappeared. If it happened to get sent, here is the rest of it…..

Thank you so very much for the gift of the Zentangle Method. It has made my life so much richer and fuller. I not only love the practice of it, but also the teaching of it. The love and gratitude with which I share it comes back in so many ways. Zentangle drawing is one of the very few things about which my father complimented me. I often sent him cards that I had tangled and right before he died, he shared with me that he had saved them all in a folder. For my reticent and often critical father, this was truly a gift. Thank you also for the lovely tiles you shared in this blog. Every Winter Term, I always teach a class on Valentines and we always have such fun. And now I have some new ideas – putting a gilded heart in the middle of whatever pattern is such a simple idea – honestly, richness and Gratitude Abounds!!!! Thank you again.

Dear Maria and Rick,

Thank you so very much for the gift of Zentangle. My life has become so much richer and fuller through the Zentangle Method. Gratitude fills my heart and my whole being through the treasure of this gift – not only through my own practice but also through being able to share this gift in sharing and in teaching. Zentangle drawing is one of the few things that my father complimented me about and enjoyed receiving from me – I sent him many cards over the years and he cared about them so much that he kept them all in a folder – and, for my reticent and critical father, this was exceptional. Thank you also for sharing all these beautiful tiles in this Zentangle Blog. Every Winter when I teach Zentangle, one of the classes is Valentines and we all love it

Zentangle gives me connection during isolation.

Thank you Maria, for putting your heart into Zentangle. I took the CZT training in your first seminar so that I could learn to teach it. I was already teaching Origami workshops and I just wanted to add this to my roster of classes. I never dreamed it would transform my life!!! Or the lives of my students!!! And here it is 12 years later, the same 8 steps, the same supplies (sort of), the same tangles (well, on sterioids maybe!) and yet every day there’s something new and something exciting. How can that be??? It’s simple…. heart. I guess that’s just my only word today. February 14th.

The Zentangle Method means ready access to a flow state and the relaxation and ‘mental vacation’ that comes with it, and some unexpected art as a result. It also means that I can get other people to rethink their “I’m not an artist” mindset.

The Zentangle method means I actually think I am an artist. Before I started doing Zentangle I never thought I had any artistic talent. Thank you!

After taking weekly lessons for several years, my daughter suggested I start selling some of my Zentangle Inspired Art. One thing led to another, and then it was suggested I join our local art guild. When I found my table for our guild’s holiday sale that year, the large sign said RUTH OSBORN, ARTIST. There it was in print! I’m an artist!

I came upon the gift of Zentangles during the first lockdown in April 2020. It was global, it was brutal, it was strangely universal and yet super isolating and lonely. It was one of my darkest periods and I was so grateful when my alumni organized a session with a CZT which was attended by 25 of my school batch mates, class of 1980! We bonded after so many years, across so many continents, sought comfort through the immersive, meditative practice of Zentangles.

Life changed for me after that. Pre-CoVid, I had a super active life as a banker and consultant after retiring in 2016… always in the move. Hence, the huge frustration, anxiety and helplessness when we went into the global lockdown.
Will always be eternally grateful for that session and the gift of Zentangles that taught me to stop, reflect, stay in the moment, enjoy the present, create from the heart and more importantly bring joy to all my friends and family through the wonderful gifts I make for them – it stayed with me and I just love adding to the ecosystem that surrounds the simple strokes ….endless possibilities and no mistakes… that is how LIFE should be. Thank YOU!!

I came upon the gift of Zentangles during the first lockdown in April 2020. It was global, it was brutal, it was strangely universal and yet super isolating and lonely. It was one of my darkest periods and I was so grateful when my alumni organized a session with a CZT which was attended by 25 of my school batch mates, class of 1980! We bonded after so many years, across so many continents, sought comfort through the immersive, meditative practice of Zentangles.

Life changed for me after that. Pre-CoVid, I had a super active life as a banker and consultant after retiring in 2016… always in the move. Hence, the huge frustration, anxiety and helplessness when we went into the global lockdown.
Will always be eternally grateful for that session and the gift of Zentangles that taught me to stop, reflect, stay in the moment, enjoy the present, create from the heart and more importantly bring joy to all my friends and family through the wonderful gifts I make for them – it stayed with me and I just love adding to the ecosystem that surrounds the simple strokes ….endless possibilities and no mistakes… that is how LIFE should be. Thank YOU!!

I have been Zentangling for maybe five years now. I’ve lost count. But it’s become a regular part of my life. On most days I spend 10-20 minutes tangling in the morning with my Bible reading and prayers. Tangling brings me peace and contentment and I love that I am being creative. Thank you Rick and Maria!

When I put pen to paper, I feel I’ve entered the endless river of all those artists, pattern makers and embellishers whose lines and designs evoked a timeless need to touch the “divine”, that “something” that lies at the heart of all things, be they geometry, mathematics, music, harmonics, frequencies, chemistry, physics, genetics and more. My words are an inadequate description but I hope some sense of my concept of Zentangle emerges.

That beautiful heart fits so well into a tangle pattern and emits a special feeling in all of us, I believe. A universal symbol. One that can actually run the gamut of emotions. Happy heart, broken heart, hoping heart. I find myself using the word heart felt when writing to express strong feelings. I like the idea of “putting my heart into it”, when I tangle. I think it comes through to the viewer. I think that’s what I see in Maria’s heART.

Dear Maria (and Rick), I saw your beautiful drawings and my heart said Tell her!” So that is what I am doing. Back at the end of June 2017, I had a miraculous opportunity to fly to Providence RI for your seminar. At 75 I was afraid to fly alone but prayed for guidance all the way and I arrived safe and sound at the proper hotel. During that weekend I was transformed! It was 12 hours a day of Zentangle! I was able to enjoy doing beautiful drawings. At night I read your books. A whole new world opened to me through the experience. My attraction to this art form did not prepare me for the seminar and my life ever since then. Back in 2013, I was first attracted to this art form through a CZT, Sue Jacobs, who attended The Well Spirituality Center in LaGrange Park, Il, run by the Sisters’ of the Congregation of St. Joseph, as did I. I was never able to work my schedule to align with her teaching of this material. But then June 2017 happened. So why the hiatus of the last 5 years? I had a condition that caused me to fall frequently with subsequent surgeries to repair my body’s joints. I never had a length of time sufficient for teaching. So, what sustained me all that time? ZENTANGLE! I gave some sporadic 2-hour sessions to groups about Zentangle but I really wanted to teach. I filled books and frames and envelopes with pictures and cards of Zentangle. But I wanted to teach. Just this year I finally received a diagnosis if vestibular neuritis and am presently under treatment. As a result, I am now teaching Zentangle and have a weekly class of students who were curious but now are so committed and excited about the material that they can hardly wait for the next class. My transformation has increased. I feel such a sense of worthiness – words cannot describe how I feel or do justice to my sense of being an artist and have something of real value to give to others! I have you and Rick to thank! Because you continue to feed us with new ideas and projects, I sense that my Zentangle continues to grow and expand as does my own creativity. There is no limit. Your gift to the world is truly beyond words!

MaryBeth Tank Buschmann on February 14, 2022

It was my heart that brought Zentangle into my life. Open heart surgery and a book on Zentangle which helped me heal. The more I did the better I felt until I reached a point that I really wanted to become a CZT (which I did about 18 months after sugery) to help others heal as well. And to this day Zentangle keeps my heart going and the heartist in me involved in life! And helping others as well. So never too many hearts in any of our art.

Why do I love Zentangle? Let me count the ways: I love it for the peace it brings my soul as I watch my drawings evolve. I love it for the joy my tangles bring, not only to me, but those with whom I share them. I love the friends I’ve made in the Zentangle community. I love it for the way it has helped, and keeps helping me, grieve the death of my husband and my son. I love it for these blog messages and videos that help me learn and grow in my own Zentangle practice. Finally, I love the way it has reawakened my creativity and not only revived, but put wings under my childhood dreams of becoming an artist. For all these reasons, and so many more, I am grateful. Thank you, Maria, for these beautiful, romantic, exquisite examples to inspire us! What a lovely treat on Valentine’s Day! Best gift I’ve received today; this lovely gift from your heart!

In a world full of chaos and unknowns, Zentangle brings peace and calm. It brings familiar and meditation on simple tangible lines. February being my Birthday month(19) and my mom wishing I had been born on Valentine’s Day, I love drawing hearts. During the pandemic I found zentangle as a way to reach out by sharing tiles and kept my creativity flowing.

I reach for it when I need grounding and I watch videos to listen to the calming voices of Maria, Rick, Molly, Martha and Julie.
Thank you all from the bottom of my Heart 💜

I was smiling reading your blog today. It’s true for me – I began my Zentangle journey during lockdown. Every day I learned a new tangle or composition from a CZT. Time stopped – which reminded me of how time stops when my husband hugs me or when I hold my granddaughter. Zentangle rests in my inner me n brings out a creative energy that is gentle and happy. Thank you. Thank you for sharing thus method, thank you for teaching the CZTs, thank you for helping me to uncover a new part in me. I’m happier, more relaxed, and look forward to each tangling time – tangling with pen or in the snow – I’m a happy tangled follower.

I was smiling reading your blog today. It’s true for me – I began my Zentangle journey during lockdown. Every day I learned a new tangle or composition from a CZT. Time stopped – which reminded me of how time stops when my husband hugs me or when I hold my granddaughter. Zentangle rests in my inner me n brings out a creative energy that is gentle and happy. Thank you. Thank you for sharing thus method, thank you for teaching the CZTs, thank you for helping me to uncover a new part in me. I’m happier, more relaxed, and look forward to each tangling time – tangling with pen or in the snow – I’m a happy tangled follower.

Zentangle is my ‘me time’ for playing; something I am grateful for every day. Watching the interplay of tangles as they appear on the tile makes my heart sing with joy. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for gifting the Zentangle method to the people of the world.