Inspirations

"inspiration"

I love the zentangle style of drawing and I believe most artists travel to a zen mind when creating spontaneous art so I wanted to show that feeling you get when a great idea comes to mind for the first time.
I posted this drawing:

on a zentangle site and someone replied that it wasn't a true "zentangle" I responded with a laugh emoji and this:
"Just to clear things up, (I went to sleep so I didn't see this post till now) Zen means "mind" and Zen Buddhism is based on cultivating the mind through meditation and mindfulness. I'm glad the originators of the Zentangle movement could see that most artists go to a meditative state when they draw but I'd argue that anytime you create spontaneously, without copying someone else's designs (that requires beta action and meditation is alpha waves) So I love the arguments going on here because Everyone is right. NO - I didn't copy someone's design - YES, I was in a Zen state of mind when I wanted to portray a Zen state of mind in a work of art. Thanks for all the comments and sorry I didn't see them till now."

Later on, I thought about the response which still clouded my joy over creating the image.

I find it peculiar that part of human nature (for some) is to take a great idea and "institutionalize" it by creating a set of rules that artists must follow to fit into the new style or movement.

This print is available on ebay. Here is the link:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/264742212555