A Quartet, Jiving

Woot woot! I finished my Zentangle ensemble (see the other posts about the ensemble here and here)!

Here's the final corner:

My favorite part is the curvy Cubine. Oh, and Xyp!
 That used to be my favorite, most-used tangle.
 I don't use borders as much anymore, but I still love
 to use Xyp every once in a while!

And here's the complete (and completely shaded!) ensemble:

I love how there's so much going on, so much movement. This quartet knows how to jive! I wish I had payed a bit more attention to connecting them by continuing lines from one tile to the next. Ignoring the string lines is great fun, though! I'll just be satisfied with what I have and file my observations in "things to remember next time I do an ensemble".

I also wanted to share a special tile with you. This is the very first Zentangle I ever did, the one that started it all. My mom bought Totally Tangled by Sandy Steen Bartholomew, and I was thumbing through it. I got really excited - it said that anyone could do it, and it had step-by-step tangles! I cut out a 3.5"x3.5" square of drawing paper, chose some patterns I liked from the book, grabbed a Sharpie pen, and began tangling. Here's what I came up with:

My first Zentangle: 7/21/10

With much reading, a couple of classes, and a lot of practice, I have thankfully improved. But is there really improvement in Zentangle? I suppose you could say I've improved my hand's steadiness and my eye for pleasing tangles and how to combine them. But it all comes back to putting lines on the paper - something anyone can do.

While tangling the final ensemble tangle, I was thinking about "letting go" while tangling and how it echoes a truth about God.

I've found that when I let go and choose not to worry about the direction a Zentangle is going, I do much better work (or I like the results better). I think letting go may be one of the essential aspects of a true Zentangle.

This feeling of letting go and not worrying while tangling reminded me of the feeling of, as they say, "letting go and letting God", trusting Him for everything.

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.

Just like letting go and trusting that the lines of the Zentangle forming will become something beautiful, when you let go of worry and fear and trust God, He will make your paths straight, beautiful, and pleasing to Him. I love that amazing promise, and it's certainly something to remember and hold close as another school year begins.