At-Home Art Camp, Day 4: Sunset + Flower Zentangles!

all you need is paper, a cup, and a pen

May 27, 2022

Hello! As we continue to process more bad news regarding the Uvalde shooting, I’d love to remind you to—as writer Danté Stewart powerfully said in an NPR interview—"protect your humanity.” What he says at about the 3:35 mark is a great point: “If you can exhaust somebody’s heart and their mind and their soul long enough, then at some point they are going to give up on trying to change the world or show up in the world as a full person.”

If you feel exhausted by your newsfeeds, you’re at risk of not being able to care anymore. If people on either political spectrum are being violent with their words, that—when added to the violence that you’re already trying to process—might be too much. Protect your humanity. Let yourself feel. And delete the apps for a few days if you need to.

We are also moving onto Day 4 of Art Camp! Have you been enjoying these? (Day 1, Day 2, Day 3.) We’ve had three extra kids staying at our home this month, and it’s been a blast to do these activities with them and add a little bit more structure (and whimsy) to our day.

Today’s activity is something we introduced in April that deserves a lot more time and attention: zentangles! All you need is a pen and paper. You basically just repeat patterns within a certain space. If you can google “zentangles” for pattern inspiration, you can do this. And if you add a cup to make circles or semi-circles? Even better.

An adult who joined us for this art camp session told me, “I don’t know about this. I’m not very artistic.” And I said, “The main goal of art camp is to make you feel good about creating! I know you’re going to crush it on these zentangles.” And you know what? She did.

To make the sunset and flower zentangles, you simply need to trace half a circle using the rim of a glass or cup. We used Sharpie because we’re all about those bold lines. Then make either wavy lines or big petals. Or whatever creative things come to mind for you, of course.

Then all you have to do is let loose with patterns! We used fine-liner pens from Amazon (these 36 were $7.)

It was remarkable how much of a hit this was with people who are 4, 10, 30, and 60-something. We could create alongside each other, working on the same thing and gaining inspiration even from the littlest one.

Black and white looks great too! (For some reason, this activity has really connected with a 10-year-old boy’s analytical mind.)

Zentangling is a patience game. Listen to an audiobook, calming music, or just enjoy rich conversation while you create art somewhat mindlessly that still looks great in the end.