The Leftover Lesson.

2x2" white Bijou tile with red Micron 01, white and red chalk pencil, and Map Tangled watercolor.

After I posted yesterday I found this Bijou (2.2") tile.  Truth be told, this was the very first Map Tangling tile I did at the workshop yesterday.  I had tossed it aside because 1) I did it "wrong," (normally a black Micron is used for the tangling; I used red) and 2) I thought it looked terrible

But a big Zentangle® guideline is, "There are no mistakes in Zentangle."  And I had ignored that.

When I found the tile while cleaning up and putting materials away, I took a second look. I added a few black center dots and a tiny bit of chalk pencil shading, and voila.  Suddenly I liked it a lot better.

Many lessons here. 

The first is about the randomness of Map Tangling results--just like the randomness of what happens to us in life. 

Then there's the typical immediate adverse reaction to something that didn't meet expectations, with a later softening of that reaction, and then a final change of mind.  Just like life.
 
Also, there's the experience of allowing myself to experiment and put a little more effort into something to see if can be salvaged--and it can.  Just like life. 

Finally, even if I still disliked this tiny tile, still felt disappointed with it (although I quite like it now), I know I would still be happy to have made it because it was an important first try, an important learning, an important session of practice.

Yup, just like life.

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