The Zentangle Craze

Let’s say that you would love to create a picture good enough to display in your home, but you have no idea how anyone does that.

You are a perfect candidate to get hooked on Zentangle! 

Zentangle is a system of creating a small piece of original art. It’s a system so simple that even people with no art background or talent can use to make beautiful designs. Again and again. Quickly. With hardly anything more than paper and  pen.

  

If you visit the website of Zentangle’s founders, you can learn about its history (it’s short) and its philosophy (it’s deep). You’ll also read about the many benefits of practicing this art form, from relieving anxiety and insomnia to improving concentration and self control. 

Does it sound like the kind of hobby that could calm the worried mind of someone with a home for sale? I think so! I have a neighbor who went through a difficult year of family problems and she swears that only Zentangle saved her sanity. 

A Zentangle in the bedroom. You can cluster a  group of your drawings into one big format.

Some people call Zentangle a kind of glorified doodling, but it’s different. Rather than letting your mind wander the way it does when you doodle, Zentangle trains your mind to stay on task. It’s entertaining and it’s liberating. It’s been used to help prisoners with addictions, and to help children with emotional and learning disabilities.

  

The traditional way to draw Zentangle is to use black ink on white “tiles” (smooth, heavy paper), that measure three and a half inches square. The designs are just that, free form designs, nothing figurative. If you look on Pinterest you will see many spinoffs of this original approach, including images of whatever delights people – dragons, puppies, flowers, initials. People are coloring their Zentangle pictures and making pillow covers and tee shirts with these intricate renderings on them. 

For your wall art, you can do a series of Zentangle squares and frame them. Show them as a gallery wall, or collect them into one poster frame.
 

If I can Zentangle, anyone can Zentangle. The people who started the craze say, 
"Anything is possible ... one stroke at a time." I like that attitude.

To learn more about teaching yourself Zentangle, visit Tangle Patterns. You can also go to Pinterest and search “Zentangle for beginners,” and then browse until you find tutorials, videos and images that speak to you. 

For more ideas that will increase the value of your home on the market, download my $5 eBook, DIY Home Staging Tips to Sell Your Home Fast and for Top Dollar.