How to draw MYSTERIA

Gosh, we’re already half way through May. This means we’re closer to warmer summer days, yay!

This week our Canadian friends are looking forward to their first long summer weekend with Victoria Day celebrations next Monday and the following weekend we get our first one with Memorial Day here in the USA. I’m picturing gardens being tilled and planted and grills being readied!

Today we’re exploring another Zentangle®-original from the very early days of this wonderful art form.

Mysteria is one of the Zentangle-originals first published in the 106 Tangles of Zentangle – An Illustrated Instructional handbook (precursor to the current Zenthology) that CZTs were awarded at the completion of their certification seminar. This is a bit from the cover of mine:

As we recapped on Monday, this year in honor of May’s Mental Health Awareness Month Zentangle began its 21-day “challenge” and releasing a new Bijouism (adding to the 24 already-existing ones) in Bijou’s Be Well Series. The Series began on Saturday, May 10th and runs through Friday, May 30th.

Mysteria is one of the early tangles that hasn’t made a public appearance from ZHQ, until this week. Mysteria has been mysterious for 15 years 😉

Mysteria is like Hollibaugh-on-steriods with lots of drawing behind — and if you’re like Maria, it’s very graceful — then a whole lotta perfs/orbs thrown into the mix.

On Day 3 of the 2025 Be Well series Maria tangles Mysteria on a gray Zentangle tile using a Blue 05 Micron pen. In their newsletter Zentangle also published Bijouism #31: Pause.

Maria demonstrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing and embellishing Mysteria in this video. Note that for this series, there are no voice-overs. “Each video lesson is accompanied by Native American-style flute music by Rick Roberts. With its calming effects and gentle tranquility, we think it’s the perfect soundtrack for creating Zentangle art.” (BTW you can easily turn off your speakers if the music isn’t your vibe.)

Check out the tag zentangle for more Zentangle-original tangles on TanglePatterns.com. For the complete list of Zentangle-originals, visit the ZENTANGLES > LINDA’S LIST OF OFFICIAL TANGLES page on the top menu bar.

Related Links

1. Looking for tangles by Artist or Type? For details visit the ABOUT > HOW TO FIND TANGLES BY ARTIST OR TYPE page on the top menu bar of any page on the site.
2. What is a Zentangle? — if you are new to the Zentangle Method, start here for the fundamentals.
3. Zentangle terminology — a glossary of terms used in this art form.
4. How to use the site — an excellent free video tutorial showing how to use the site as well as pointing out lots of useful features you might have missed.
5. Linda's List of Zentangle-Original Patterns — here is the complete list of original tangles (aka "official tangles") created and introduced by founders Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas, including those not published online. If you are new to the Zentangle Method I highly recommend learning a few of the published Zentangle classics first.
6. "A Zentangle has no up or down and is not a picture of something, so you have no worries about whether you can draw a hand, or a duck. You always succeed in creating a Zentangle." Patterns that are drawings of a recognizable naturalistic or actual object, figure, or scene, are not tangles. A pattern is not always a tangle — here's what makes a tangle. TIP: tangles never start with pencil planning.
   • Un motif n’est pas toujours un tangle — Qu’est-ce qu’un tangle ?
   • Un diseño no es siempre un tangle — ¿Qué es un tangle?
7. How to submit your pattern deconstruction to TanglePatterns
8. For lots of great FREE tutorials on TanglePatterns, click on the TUTORIALS link in the pink alphabetic menu bar below the tangle images at the top of any page.
9. Strings! Have we got STRINGS! Click on the STRINGS link in the pink alphabetic menu bar below the tangle images at the top of any page for 250 different (free) Zentangle-starters. More than enough for any lifetime!
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11. If you have questions about the TanglePatterns.com TANGLE GUIDE, visit the BOOK REVIEWS tab on the top menu bar of any page on the site for COMPLETE details!

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