Lack of updates and other burblings

So the last few days I've not felt inspired to do anything outside of work and sleep. According to my little Fitbit my sleep has been over 90% efficient these past few days - which basically means I've either not woken up for several hours or I've had longer periods of sleeping so soundly I've hardly moved; or a mix of both. I would have thought this would have been beneficial; but apparently I feel more alert and with it if I have less efficient, more disrupted sleep. Which is a pretty longwinded excuse for the lack of updates.

I have been continuing with the Zentangles though. I've not quite been managing to do one exercise a day, but it's been close. I am still deeply unenamoured of the terminology and whole cult-like feel to the things, but I am turning out decent looking abstract doodle-things.I plan on scanning or photographing some of these over the weekend and uploading them.

My current bugbear with it is the assumption that using top quality supplies will make it easier to start doodling, sorry - tangling, and that doing so will automatically improve the quality of your work because you will be aware you are using top quality materials and therefore treat it with more seriousness. It's not stated in those exact words, but that's the gist of it. I am all for using the best quality materials and supplies you can afford, simply because it tends to make the whole thing a little bit less painful. But if you are uncertain of your skills or otherwise lacking in confidence, they can be far more of a hindrance than a help. I know I'm not the only one who's held back from using the good stuff because they didn't feel worthy of it, or because it intimidated them, or because they felt they would be wasting it somehow. But a random biro and the back of an envelope - they're not intimidating. And the Zentangle designs work just as well done with those as they do with anything else.