Oh boy, I love love LOVE this tangle!
Gnarly is another great tangle pattern from California tangler Barbara Finwall. Barbara has contributed several very popular tangles, Zonked being the most recent. She’s also contributed many strings all of which you can find by putting her name in the search box at the top right of any page.
Barbara explains her tangle’s name:
“In my youth I had a surfer boyfriend who used the term ‘Gnarly’ for everything from great waves to great dinners. This curl pattern reminds me of a gnarly wave.“
Gnarly is … well, gnarly!
Those of you who are tole or decorative painters will recognize the basic crescent, comma and teardrop brush strokes contained in Gnarly. Here’s a fun way to use them in a Zentangle with pen and ink. This tangle also looks really good if you don’t fill in all the shapes with solid color, but once I got going it was hard to stop. Very flexible and a lovely addition to any Zentangle®.
Barbara illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing Gnarly below and features it in a beautiful Zentangle.
Image copyright the artist and used with permission, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. You may use this image for your personal non-commercial reference only. Republishing or redistributing pattern deconstructions in any form is prohibited under law without express permission of the copyright owner. For more information, click on the image for the article “Copyrights and your blog.”
Check out the tag barbaraf for more of Barbara’s tangles on TanglePatterns.com.
Related Links
- Looking for tangles by Artist or Type? For details visit the ABOUT > HOW TO FIND TANGLES BY ARTIST OR TYPE page on the top menu bar of any page on the site.
- What is a Zentangle? — if you are new to the Zentangle Method, start here for the fundamentals.
- Zentangle terminology — a glossary of terms used in this art form.
- How to use the site — an excellent free video tutorial showing how to use the site as well as pointing out lots of useful features you might have missed.
- Linda's List of Zentangle-Original Patterns — here is the complete list of original tangles (aka "official tangles") created and introduced by founders Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas, including those not published online. If you are new to the Zentangle Method I highly recommend learning a few of the published Zentangle classics first.
- "A Zentangle has no up or down and is not a picture of something, so you have no worries about whether you can draw a hand, or a duck. You always succeed in creating a Zentangle." Thus patterns that are drawings of a recognizable naturalistic or actual object, figure, or scene, are not tangles. A pattern is not always a tangle — here's what makes a tangle. TIP: tangles never start with pencil planning.
- Un motif n’est pas toujours un tangle — Qu’est-ce qu’un tangle ?
- Un diseño no es siempre un tangle — ¿Qué es un tangle?
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October 22, 2014 | 
More like this: 
Love this one! It may help me with figuring out Mooka! Thank you for sharing this one!
I love this tangle, thanks for sharing.
Yup, it’s gnarly, Barbara! Reminds me a little of Mooka which is one of my faves! Going to love playing with this!
Thanks,
Cynthia
Wow, It’s a beautiful tangle, I love it. The name is comical and memorable.
Dear Ms. Finwall, so generous of you to share your expertise and creativity in showing us how to draw GNARLY and also how to beautifully incorporate it with other compatible tangles. Gratefully, Marky
This one is pretty and simple, thanks! I know I will use it often. Vicki
Very satisfying to draw – it seems to dictate for itself where the little teardrop strokes should be added
I especially like this tangle of yours, Barbara! I so relate to calling neat things gnarly, as well (turned 70 this year!).
I’ve in the past had problems drawing flowing lines as in scrolls and such, much preferred the straight lines and geometric type tangles – but perhaps trying this one out, over and over, will loosen up my ‘flow’ – haha – Thanks!
I also like the fact that in tangles there are so many different ones from all kinds of people with talent! Makes it fun to share with others and hear their comments, etc.
NancyB
I like this one very much! Thanks for sharing!