Meditation and Doddleing

So what to these have in common.  I can't do either.  No really.  One of the latest things to do is Zentangles.  Again - go and google it.  It's suppose to be relaxing, just let your mind go and create.

I can't - never had.  But I liked the looks of this little art form and how it's being used.  So I gave it a try.  I have a best friend who lives about an hour's drive from my house.  And after a long dry spell of not seeing each other and having a "girls day", we are trying to get together one Saturday of the month and create.  Wendy was over on a rainy, cold Saturday in February (again with February) and as she is this skinny thing with no insulation, we didn't last long in the studio.  Wendy loves doing art journals and she's a really good artist.  Some of the things she was doing were these Zentangles.  So I thought I'd give it a try.

This one piece took me the better part of an hour to do.  I just didn't know what to do in the empty spaces.  So I went back to the various websites and looked at what others were doing.  My second attempt:

One thing I noticed, I like to work around words and phrases.  Sometimes it's an idea (the mushroom in the first one, hugs and kisses in the next.  One site had the paper in grids and they filled each grid with a different technique.

I really thought the jigsaw pieces were kind of fun and then the lower left corner was "inspired" by a piece of jewelry on a Chinese statue at work.  The final (unfinished) piece is all David Bowie's fault.

I also had to add a little color to it.  After all, magic happens with red shoes.

Why I don't / can't doddle.  Most of the art I do tends to be structured.  Weaving, Spinning, dyeing, sewing, quilting . . get the picture.  Even my "random" stripes in my weavings are structured (same number of each colored yarns on each side).  I don't know how to turn off that side of my brain, or if Ieven can.  But as a decoration with some of the other paper things I do, I can incorporate parts of this art form.