Zen Doodle Oodles of Doodles by Tonia Jenny is a zentangle or tangle book. Of the Zen Doodle line of books this is not my favorite. But there is some beautiful art inside.
5 out of 10 stars. Worth reading, but I wouldn’t necessarily buy a copy.
Here are my favorite pieces of art from this book.
One of my pet peeves about this book is that it’s not written by an actual author. It’s written by an editor who gathered other people’s art and put it in a book. I’d rather see the artists create their own books, not an editor who doesn’t really know the subject matter.
I do applaud the publishing of the book under a name other than Zentangle. Zentangle is a trademark used by Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts who attempted to trademark common doodles that people have been drawing for centuries. Maria and Rick have both gained a fortune from this, but their restrictive use of what they consider their intellectual property (which is actually in the public domain) has made a lot of people who work with mixed media dislike the name and all of its CZT people (certified zentangle teacher). Frankly I cringe when I hear the word.
What I like about the selection of art in this book are that they are unique in various ways. There are words, dangles, mirror images, landscapes, and abstract art integrated into the doodles. Beautiful.
5 out of 10 stars. Rent it from the library before buying a copy.
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