Rock Zendala Project

Over the summer holidays, I wanted to do something relaxing that also felt productive. I have a hard time doing things that are for pure relaxation, because I have the sense that I'm "wasting" time. I know that this is not really fair, and J has actually helped me to get a better perspective on this, as he values relaxation highly and intentionally spends time doing "nothing" to keep his brain healthy. However, I still find that when I have things to do that I label as both relaxing and productive, that is when I feel the best. Reading is the best example of that for me, and is part of why I spend so very much of my time engrossed in a book.

Anyway, I decided that over the holidays, I would do some rock zendala for the children. I read about it in an early childhood magazine (the same one my article was published in, actually), and thought it would be perfect for Whare Kea (my centre). We like to have lots of "loose parts" in our environment. Loose parts are objects for children to play with that don't have any designated or official use, so the children need to be creative and inventive in order to find a way to use them. This also means that they are likely to use them in a multitude of different ways, as their imaginations grow and they're inspired by the unique circumstances of each day's play. Ideally, loose parts should be interesting, beautiful, inviting, inspiring, challenging, etc. For me and my team, we also like our loose parts to be natural resources, as we aspire to have our programme as nature-based as possible. Fortunately, nature provides some of the best, most inspiring loose parts, so it's not hard to meld those ideas.

We had some stones in our environment, but the children didn't often use them, and I thought it would be nice to make them more inviting. Zendala, as I understand it, is simply drawing different patterns and shapes, often complex and detailed, and it has recently become popular as a relaxing, zen-like activity (hence the name, I assume). 

So, I bought a paint pen and some clear sealant to go over the top, and collected some rocks. J informed me that all rocks on NZ beaches belong to the Queen, but I decided that she wouldn't begrudge me a few, and if she did, she'd relent when she saw how beautiful they were.

I got my cup of tea and my audio book (as I couldn't leave reading out entirely) and settled in, ready to be both productive and relaxed. I did have a momentary surge of uncertainty as it occurred to me that I didn't know if I could actually create pretty designs, but at that point there was nothing to do but try, so I went for it. Turns out, it is beautifully relaxing, and a perfect complement to audio books!

These are the rocks that I drew on. I tried to make each design unique, and so while some of them have overlapping characteristics, they should all have their own special aspects.

You can click on that picture to make it bigger if you want to see the details better, and I've also taken individual pictures of some of them.

I made some that are a specific object, like this feather.

But I made more that are not any particular thing, but rather just designs. A lot of my "just designs" turned out a little bit flowery, but I decided to forgive that, as I like them so much.

This one inadvertently ended up a little snowflake-like.

I'm not sure about the swirls coming out of this one, but I accidentally stained the rock with sunscreen, so I had to cover it up! Necessity is the mother of invention, right?

I intended for this one to look like a pōhutakawa flower, but J says it looks like a pollen spore or a virus. That actually made me happy, because it should be open to multiple interpretations. Also, I did a side view of a pōhutakawa flower, so that's covered anyway.

I did some that are more typical of what I've seen in bigger zendala designs, which is various shapes filled with smaller designs. Not really my favourites, but fun to draw.

I also did some more geometric ones, which are the most successful at not actually looking like anything, but still being nice to look at.

I think this one might be my favourite.

This one managed to start out completely geometric and then still end up looking like flowers, which made me laugh.

Hmmm, maybe this one is actually my favourite.

I did a couple koru (unfurling fern spirals), which are very thick and solid compared to the others, but I quite like them.

This is the first geometric one that I did, and remains J's favorite.

Oh no, maybe this one is my favourite! I have a clear bias towards the flowery ones - I can't help it. I've always loved floral things! But please do admire my willpower to have done plenty that aren't flowers!

Trees have been my favourite thing to draw for most of my life, as I love the smooth curves and lines of the branches flowing up. I don't think this probably counts as actual zendala, but I had to do it!

I had a fantastic time doing this, and would have done even more, but I discovered that leaning over to do careful drawing really aggravated my lower back. My lower back hurts almost all the time anyway, and I have to be careful not to do anything that makes it angrier, so I started doing my drawing in shorter stints. That helped, but I still decided that this was enough. I'm going to do some with my children as well, and see what kinds of designs they come up with, which will be fun!

If you ever want to take something simple and make it into something special and beautiful, I highly recommend trying rock zendala out!