Dee Friesen | Arts + Life Editor

Kayla Wilson is a Graphic Design major. Her interest in art started in high school when she became more involved with photography. Her interest in art she’s done recently didn’t start until last year.

Wilson found a specific style of art called Zentangle on Pinterest one day and decided to give it a try. It’s used as an art therapy. She enjoyed how relaxing it was and how her first try turned out so she kept teaching herself more about the art style.

“It’s actually not as hard as people think. The whole point of Zentangle is art therapy. If you look really close, it’s just simple lines and shapes repeated,” said Wilson.

It takes Wilson about 12-20 hours to finish one of her pieces. She waits to begin a project until she knows she has a good 2-3 hours of free time where she can just sit and get a good feel for the piece.

“Once I get going, I usually lose track of time. There have been times where I’ve just doodled all day and realized I forgot 2 meals,” said Wilson.

Another tactic Wilson uses with these art projects is taking pictures of her progress whenever she has to take a break. It makes it easier for her to see where she stopped and pick up from where she left off.

Wilson uses pencil to sketch the initial outline, but when she does all the inside patterns and textures she free hands with pen. She shared what she does if she messes up while working on a piece.

“I mess up all the time. It’s just learning how to hide it or make it part of the work,” said Wilson.

Asking the question why do you like art can actually be a hard question to answer. It takes some thought to think back to why an artist even started this artistic journey in the first place. Wilson answered the question perfectly by saying,

“Art was kind of my way of saying and doing what I wanted and there was no wrong way of doing it. No matter what I do someone’s going to hate it but also someone is going to like it.”

Advice that Wilson would give to other artists or those who are interested in art is to try new things.

“I know there are a lot of people who are afraid to do art because they don’t think they will be any good so they won’t even try. It took me like a month to talk myself into even trying this style of art and now I love it and find my self doing it all the time.”

To those who struggle with perfectionism and art,

“Get past the fact that it doesn’t have to be perfect. The more you do it the better it will get.”

Graphic by Dee Friesen
Photos by Kayla Wilson