Bijou Be Well 2025

May is Mental Health Awareness Month which means it’s time for the Bijou Be Well 2025 event by Zentangle. I adore this series. The folks at Zentangle post short project videos for 21 days straight starting the 2nd week in May. Projects are simple – a monotangle (one pattern) and a limited set of tools. Each project should only take 15 – 30 minutes to complete — enough time to take a break without completely losing your day with your art! Although, that does sound lovely, doesn’t it? If you’re already into the art form, you have the supplies on hand. Zentangle also offers packages of supplies if you need to stock up.

Last year, I tangled along with them since I had a bunch of 3Z tiles that I rarely think about using. This year, I decided to create a series of pattern tutorials for those who might want to participate but feel a little intimidated about jumping in with no instruction. Zentangle’s videos are well produced and easy to follow, but sometimes, you might feel like you need a little guidance. For those who know what they’re doing, I do my own spin on the designs — alternate embellishments, different approaches to the General’s Chalk Pastel Pencils, and/or a new way to shade. I stick to Zentangle’s general design, though.

I use the same set of tools for all of the videos in this series:

White Zentangle tiles
Blue Micron 05 Pen
Indigo Blue General’s Chalk Pastel Pencil
8B Graphite Pencil
2 tortillons (one for blue and one for black)

Zentangle’s designs feature a white pencil for embellishments, but I chose to skip it for my designs. I find white pencils don’t add much to a white tile. Instead, I show how to create the highlight just by shading.