I could've been a professional doodler

Remember in school when you would zone out during a boring lecture and doodle all over your notebook?  I did that all the time.  Many of my tablets were sprinkled with pages of my mental wanderings.  I had no idea that I was actually making art.  Today these controlled doodles are cleverly called Zentangles.  I believe the phrase was coined by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas.  Zentangles are so relaxing to do; hence "Zen".  I carry scraps of paper in my purse so I can doodle when I am waiting at the doctors office or anywhere really.  Then I use the back of the finished work to write a  note to include in RAK packages or as tags on gifts.  Other possibilities for using them are endless: mixed media, altered art, greeting cards, decoupage, art journals etc.  Now if only I had kept those notebooks from school...lol

I made this one last year, this was my first one.  Yeah..uhhh..my sharpie marker was way too thick.   Now I use a pigma micron pen.
                                                                          

I did this one while I was on the phone and added a splash of color.

My online buddy, Sherry inspired me to try this art form (thanks Sherry).  She creates wonderful Zentangle inspired projects. I first saw her Zentangle inspired work in another forum but I later found a few examples on her blog too:  http://gotart4u.blogspot.com/2010/08/psychedelic-girl.html  and http://gotart4u.blogspot.com/2010/01/oh-oh-new-obsession.html  It would be nice to really be good at this, like some of the projects I have seen;  but for now I just keep having fun doing such a relaxing art form.  Here are a few more:

Thanks Angie from the http://www.theblingtheory.blogspot.com/ for inspiring me to revisit this art form and I plan to try using the zig markers.