22 Oct What I Learned Teaching (and Drawing) at the Biggest Zentangle Workshops in Spain
This year I had the joy of attending Ubuntu, the biggest Zentangle workshops in Spain, not only as a participant but also as a teacher! Over an amazing weekend in Madrid, 70 Certified Zentangle Teachers (CZTs) from Spain, Mexico, Argentina, the UK and beyond gathered to draw and celebrate creativity.
In this post, I’ll take you behing the scenes of the event, from my own workshop to the incredible sessions led by other teachers. I’ll share some of the most inspiring Zentangle tiles I created during the congress, hoping it’ll give you a lot of drawing ideas to inspire your own creations.
1 | What is Ubuntu? The biggest Zentangle workshops in Spain
Ubuntu is a yearly reunion where Spanish-speaking Certified Zentangle Teachers connect, learn and create together. The name comes from a South African word meaning “I am because we are”, which beautifully captures the spirit of this community.
The 5th edition of Ubuntu took place in Madrid (Spain) in October 2025 and brought together 70 CZTs for a weekend of creativity and mindfulness. We spent 3 days attending Zentangle workshops, sharing new techniques and plenty of laughter 😊
2 | My Zentangle workshop: “The Art of Trenzangle”
Teacher: Mario Patterns (@mariopatterns) – that’s me 😉
I had the immense honor of opening the congress with the very first workshop 🙌🏻 I called it “The Art of Trenzangle”, a playful mix between between trenza (Spanish for braid) and Zentangle.
For the class, I created custom rectangular tiles in two colors, and we worked with 3 tangles:
- GALON by Marie-Noelle Gelas & Eric Cochini (tutorial here).
- HUILA by Isabel Wallis (tutorial here).
- OJITO, my original tangle designed specifically for this event (tutorial here).
Then, using the paper weaving technique, we created this fun textile-like texture resembling the tangle W2. My goal was to remind everyone that the paper itself can be a creative element of our piece, not just a surface for drawing.
The results were truly amazing. Here’s a look at our final Zentangle mosaic from the workshop:
If you’d like to learn more about this paper weaving technique, check out this easy tutorial by Crazy Art Class:
3 | Learning from others: all the Zentangle workshops at Ubuntu Madrid
But mine wasn’t the only Zentangle workshop in the Madrid congress! We had an amazing line-up with really creative Zentangle workshops from other teachers. I’m going through every single one of them, sharing the tile I drew and the final mosaic with all our drawings together:
✏️ Workshop “Majicuri”
Teacher: Verónica Vázquez Orozco (@veronicavazquezorozco).
Verónica came from Mexico with a workshop full of culture and authenticity. We drew an interpretation of the peyote flower, a traditional symbol used in rituals.
The black lines were made with an Identipen permanent marker, and then we used watercolor pencils to bring it to life. I particularly enjoyed the technique of adding a second layer of colors (without water, once the first layer was dry) to get subtle textures and variations.
This is the stunning mosaic from the workshop:
✏️ Workshop “En un lugar de la mancha”
Teacher: Manolo Latorre (@manololatorre).
Manolo showed us two of his signature techniques: coffering and zenvitral. First we drew a star using a round zendala tile as a stencil. Then we colored the spaces in between with pink and blue watercolor markers. And last we overlayed the irregular geometry on top, guided by the blobs of color.
This workshop combined geometry with flow and improvisation, something I really enjoyed. Check out more examples of how to use the zenvitral technique in Manolo’s Instagram and get inspired!
The final mosaic looked like this:
✏️ Workshop “Ubuntu goes steampunk”
Teacher: Annie Taylor (@annietaylorczt).
Annie introduced us to a lot of tricks and little details to bring this futuristic steampunk aesthetic to our tangles. We used a brown renaissance tile, where we explored dual shading with black and white pencils.
It was far from my comfort zone but I’m really glad I tried something new. I can see myself applying these steampunk details to enhance my tangles!
The final mosaic was spectacular:
✏️ Workshop “Aprendi-Z”
Teacher: Yasmina Leiva (@siente_el_tangle).
Yasmina taught us her brand new tangle: SALITRE. She also posted the full step by step tutorial on her Instagram, make sure to check it out because it was so meditative and fun!
We didn’t need any crazy supplies for this one, because the tangle itself was the main focus. We drew the central part in a separate tile that we exchanged with another fellow tangler, so in the end all our works were hybrids between two people’s strokes.
This is how our tiles looked together:
✏️ Workshop “Spheres of Life”
Teacher: Oswaldo Burbano (@soyosczt).
Oswaldo taught us his new fragment MOLAMBRA, which has a lot of possibilities and I’ll for sure explore further in the future. Also the tile shape was super inspiring, they’re called Sashiko tiles and were created by Almudena Mora.
The special part about this workshop was that we were guided into a meditation where we reflected abour ourselves and applied colors to our tile based on that.
This is the mosaic we created:
✏️ Panel discussion “Beyond the Tile”
Participants: María Tovar (@elultimotangle), Emilia Puche (@emipuche.t) and Carmen Muñiz (@carmenmunizreal).
We didn’t draw anything, but it was such an interesting talk about how Zentangle can support mental health and emotional well-being. We also had a chance to debate and share our experiences. Definitely a topic worth thinking about, and I’m sure it’ll be treated in future panels as well!
✏️ Workshop “Tangle Laboratory”
Teacher: Vivi Batata (@vivi.batata).
Vivi brought a fun short exercise where we had to create our own tangle, SORALUNA, based on the instructions provided by an artificial intelligence.
The best part was seeing how each person interpreted the same prompt, having a great variety of results as you can see in our final mosaic:
✏️ Workshop “Searching for the perfect pairing”
Teacher: Verónica Díez (@veros_tangling_corner).
Vero had the difficult task of hosting the last workshop of the congress. It was just a perfect way to wrap everything up, so freeing and relaxing. We used many mixed media techniques and materials to fill our canvas with as much color as possible.
As a person who doesn’t experiment with supplies that much, this was a great way to open my mind to new possibilities.
This is the colorful mosaic we created:
What I learned teaching Zentangle at Ubuntu Madrid
😶🌫️ I’ll be honest: teaching at Ubuntu felt intimidating at first. Facing a room of 70 fellow CZTs (many of which I admired) is no small thing! I wanted my workshop to feel inspiring, yet I knew it would never be perfect… and that realization gave me some peace. I wished I could’ve come to that conclusion earlier in the process to take some pressure off myself!
🥹 What truly moved me was the kindness and openness of everyone there. The Zentangle community is incredible supportive, and being surrounded by people who share the same love for mindful drawing reminded me how important it is to seek out our creative tribes, specially in an increasingly individualistic and lonely world.
🥰 Attending other workshops was so nurturing. Trying techniques outside my usual style pushed me creatively, and I think we should all do it more often. Even if you go back to doing your thing afterwards, you can always incorporate small details you learned from others.
📖 I also reconnected with how nice it feels being a student again. I found a lot of comfort in following someone else’s guidance and delegating part of the decission-making process so I could focus on enjoying the moment.
Last but not least, I wanted to thank the organisers @emipuche.t @vivi.batata @carmenmunizreal @veros_tangling_corner for putting together such an amazing congress. You’re the best!
Feeling inspired to draw Zentangle? Download my FREE WORKBOOK!
If all these ideas made you wanna start drawing Zentangle patterns and need a little guidance, grab your supplies and download my FREE WORKBOOK below to practice my favorite 10 tangles for beginners.