Zendoodle by Susanne Schaadt

Zendoodle by Susanne Schaadt

Drawing should always be a fun pastime; it's a great way to relax and let your imagination run wild. It can also be a fantastic meditative exercise. All you need is some paper, some pens and pencils and you're ready to unwind.

The Japanese word>zen means meditation and when you combine this concept with these simple yet stunning drawings you get zendoodle. The projects are designed by therapist and art education professional Susanne Schaadt and are intended to bring calm and help focus the mind. The idea is that drawing simple and repetitive patterns relaxes the mind bringing about a sense of calm while allowing your creativity to flow.

Creativity and meditation combine in the zendoodle process, which applies a bit of structure and repetition to otherwise free-flowing doodlingMany zendoodle practitioners find it calming to focus their attention on one thing while producing pleasing designs as they go. This simple, slim guide by therapist and artist Schaadt has everything a reader needs to get started on this rewarding and relaxing pastime. A section on basic patterns demonstrates simple instructions, with the aid of sequential drawings, various ink colors, and written descriptions for how to draw various types of patterns, such as area, geometric, scatter, and band patterns. Other chapters illustrate larger zendoodle motifs and show examples of finished works. One includes templates that the reader can scan, photocopy, or trace with tracing paper to use as starting points for their drawings. A clever visual index of pattern types is included at the back of the book. VERDICT Readers of all abilities and ages will be attracted to the meditative and creative qualities of the zendoodle

* Library Journal USA *

The basic idea is that you take recognisable forms – plants, buildings, butterflies and so on -and add patterns to them. At first I thought it was an extension of adult colouring which, I’m sorry, leaves me absolutely cold, and that’s not something I welcome with the onset of autumn. It’s not, though, and the subtitle gives you a clue as to what the idea is: Meditative drawing to calm your inner self. So, pretty new-age-y then. I love Zen, it can mean anything you want it to. Actually, that’s part of the point and anything that starts your mind thinking about something else so that it can have its reasons, its homeland and thoughts of its own (to quote the Grateful Dead, one of the most head-expanding bands there’s been). I am, after all, a great fan of staring into space and it’s how a lot of these reviews start. I need a tabula rasa where my thoughts can start to take shape. Just reading the books ain’t enough. Oh, no.

* Artbookreview.net *

These simple yet stunning designs will help relax your mind while allowing your creativity o flow. Therapist and art educational professional Susanne Schaadt shows you how to achieve a state of 'zen' with these beautiful meditative drawing exercises. Perfect for children and adults alike. Drawing should always be a fun pastime; its a great way to relax and let your imagination run wild. It can also be used as a fantastic meditative exercise. All you need is some paper, some pens and some pencils and you're ready to unwind. The Japanese word 'zen' means meditation and when you combine this concept with these simple yet stunning drawings you get 'zendoodle'. The projects are designed by therapist and art education professional Susanne Schaadt and are intended to bring calm and help focus the mind.

* Hot Brands, Cool Places *

In an increasingly busy world it is vital to take time out and relax.  One way to aid this and enter a zen-like state of mindfulness is in activities like drawing and coloring, and here is a method that involves all of this and more.

 

This book is subtitled “Meditative drawing to calm your inner self” and this describes the process in a nutshell.  Using just plain paper and a fineline black pen fill shapes in with repetitive patterns, adding color if desired.  Here are pages of sample patterns to start you off, blank shapes to trace/photocopy/scan and print and ideas as to what to draw and what to do with your finished work.  After a brief description of the method this book gets on with the practical, showing how to draw each pattern in simple steps.  Each step adds the new lines in red, the existing part drawn in black so you can easily see what is happening.  There are geometric patterns, scattered shapes, individual drawings and decorative lines as well as ideas on dividing up shapes and tips for using the book with children.  I was instantly itching to get started and pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to produce something attractive, and by the fact that here at least was one craft that did not involve a lot of spending!  There are some ideas as to what to do with your work and at the back a handy overview of the patterns although putting this at the front and making each thumbnail sketch a bit larger would have been even better.  This aside this is the best book of its kind I have seen and definitely one for the keeper shelf.

* Rachel Hyde - Myshelf.com *

Susanne Schaadt studied mathematics, pedagogy and psychology at the Bielefeld University in Germany. After many years working as a therapist with children and young people, she now works exclusively as a freelance artist and writer specialising in painting, creative art and art education. Her work combines creativity with relaxation and meditation.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781782212348
ISBN 10	1782212345
Title	Zendoodle
Author	Susanne Schaadt
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Search Press Ltd
Year published	2015-10-19
Number of pages	80
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable