Who is that?

I spotted the quote above by Richard Wright this morning and decided it was really apt! Well, I think this is the guy who said that. But there are other Richard Wrights. Here's one: Richard Wright (musician). Here's another: Richard Wright (footballer)
Take your choice?
I don't think so. Here's a biography of the first and most likely author of those words. Inspiring.

So why quote them on a doodling blog?


Well, I read and commented on a comment by a persistent and very ambitious perpetrator of "Zentangle", which is apparently and disparagingly claimed not to be doodling, though Z... serves the same purpose as other forms of recreation; re-creation was the word used for hobby or leisure activity long before the word hobby was used; pastime = pass-the-time is another word for recreational activity, but the word recreation says it all - the aim is to rejuvenate, relax and refresh (= the 3 Rs). According to this person on that blog, everything that isn't Z..... is an imitation (= plagiarized). All those who dare draw a pattern not apparently invented by the inventors of the adopted term Z ... are imitators.

Informed people know that in the 90s a Russian lady named Nadia Russ used this form of drawing, but mainly for educational purposes (Z... people got onto the educational side much, much later). The Z.... thing came about 6 years later.

As for imitation, patterns 'invented' by Z... artisans are often based on other patterns that were drawn, created, woven, hammered, stuck etc. previously - in other words they are copied and/or imitated. There are many examples of that on the blog of the woman who claims imitation by anyone who is drawing patterns but not on or in the Z... thing. Incidentally, one of the rules of Z... is that the drawings have to be abstract, but that rule is also old hat.

I wrote an irate comment on the woman's epistle. My comment will either not be published at all due to censorship of anything not in harmony with that woman's thinking, or will be severely edited to cut out anything negative! That is protectionism: inviting comments and then not publishing them if they do not suit the purpose. But it's her blog, not mine, and my opinion not hers. I am not saying who that is since she is entitled to her opinion, though she ignores the facts of the matter and not least because I am not going to promote her!

I write these lines (inspired by that R.W. quote above) because many people now well and often exclusively into Z.... had never drawn in their lives before and are dependent on rules and regulations to keep them on the straight and narrow of Z...., though in my view they could - and some do - grow out of Z.... and do their own thing, as I do. The rules and regulations of Z... include not using an eraser (haha not admitting to doing so???), strictly speaking no colour (although the inventors of that commercial Z. label use colour now),  and other rules you can find listed on various blogs. Z... is traditionally drawn on squares marginally smaller than a beermat. Creativity has at last come to people who thought they were uncreative. All praise to that, of course. But as for the rest...

I've been doodling A3 a bit, but I had to buy a new camera and haven't had time to take any photos of recent studies.......yet. 

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