Just for Fun! Meerkats by Amy Lindenberger

I belong to the Michigan chapter of the Colored Pencil Society of America (sort of a long story, since I live in PA in the summer and OH in the winter, but never mind). About a year ago the members were contacted to make submissions for a group display that would be put together at CPSA's annual convention which took place last summer in TX. The display was to feature animals from the Detroit Zoo, and since the chapter had recently had some discussion about a drawing/design concept known as "Zentangles", the request was that our submissions be done in this manner. At that point I'd never heard of Zentangles and couldn't imagine what they were, so I of course looked it up online. Little did I know there were even certified instructors in this technique, which seems to involve an ink drawing made of a variety of lines and interconnecting shapes, sometimes with color added. Technically, I guess, only the background of my meerkat drawing could be referred to as a Zentangle. But it was my first try and I have since gone on to have a lot of fun doing these small compositions when I need to unwind.