This is a week of federal holidays both here in the USA, and in Canada. Canada Day is on Wednesday, July 1st, and with July 4th on Saturday this year, our Independence Day long weekend starts on Friday. It should be a quiet week with many people taking vacations around these two adjacent North American holidays at the beginning of the summer. Safe travels everyone!
Today’s tangle pattern is from Arizona tangler Laurel Sponseller and Gra-Vee is her first on the site.
Gra-Vee is so named “Because it rhymes with wavy.”
Laurel writes,
“I‘ve been retired in Southern AZ for 20 years. During that time I’ve reinvented retirement several times. The latest and, I must say, the most rewarding has been my last 2-1/2 years spent with Zentangle. Frustrated with a representational drawing class, I pulled ‘One Zentangle A Day‘ off the shelf of my local bookstore. I am indebted to Beckah and you as well as to Maria and Rick and many others since. It has all been a joy.“
In the way that it’s constructed Gra-Vee reminds me a little of Livia Chua’s Frillee. It’s also similar in concept to Organza. Both oldies but goodies.
Gra-Vee is a perfect Monday tangle because it’s so easy and it can be very captivating to draw. Adding the second wavy line in Step 2 can be a bit like a roller-coaster ride. And you can really get into “sculpting” the shapes with your Sakura Micron once you’ve reached the fill in Step 4.
Laurel explains, “Start with a curve. Inter-twine a wavy line. Aura the waviest part. Fill the space created. Shade the original line.”
She illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing Gra-Vee here and features it in a Zentangle® tile with the Zentangle-original tangle Ennies.
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 a discussion entitled “Artists for Respect” by several prominent artists.
This is Laurel’s Zentangle-inspired piece featuring Gra-Vee with the Zentangle-original tangles Mooka and Pokeleaf.
Gra-Vee UPDATE:
Laurel added this comment to her tangle, “I failed to demo the more extravagant version where ‘drawing behind’ is used in Step#3.” So I asked her for an example, and here’s her “PS” shown below as a before and after.
When two or more loops overlap and blend into one large black area as they do around this Zentangle tile:
Laurel then uses white gel pen strokes to make the loops appear as if some are drawn behind, as shown here:
Very cool!!
Check out the tag laurels for more of Laurel’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?
- How to submit your pattern deconstruction to TanglePatterns
- For lots of great FREE tutorials on TanglePatterns, click on the TUTORIALS link in the pink alphabetic menu bar below the tangle images at the top of any page.
- Strings! Have we got STRINGS! Click on the STRINGS link in the pink alphabetic menu bar below the tangle images at the top of any page for 250 different (free) Zentangle-starters. More than enough for any lifetime!
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- If you have questions about the TanglePatterns.com TANGLE GUIDE, visit the BOOK REVIEWS tab on the top menu bar of any page on the site for COMPLETE details!
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June 29, 2015 | 
More like this: 
Minimalist tangles are my favourites, so much impact and an elegant look. Thanks for the links to the “oldies” too!
Dear Linda and Laurel, that’s a corker and lovely Tangle Gra-vee, you have put up !! It’s different and it looks like easy to combine with other tangles, quite lovely !! many thanks to you both for that ! Kind regards, les:)
Dear Linda and Laurel, what an beautiful, uncomplicated tangle. Love it!
Can’t wait to play with Gra-vee. What’s captured my eye is the zia with the lovely colors. I’ve avoided adding color to mooka because of the way the sections don’t form a defined end where they converge. I see now how to do it. Very nice. Thanks so much.
Thank you Linda and everyone else too for the generous remarks. I failed to demo the more extravagant version where “drawing behind” is used in Step#3. Hope a PS here is OK. Cheers.
Thanks for the updated examples Laurel, love the layered look you get!
This one is wonderful! Right up my alley. I can’t wait to try it.
Nice one!
Thanks. It is the only one I ever submitted.
Laurel. I love Gra-vee (especially the kind with no calories!) really like the versions of you drawing behind. I have a gel pen so I will try that version. Thank you for sharing. (P.s. We lived in Yuma for many years and still go down there on vacation) Linda, thank you. You must know how much I appreciate you and all that you do. Nancy
Thanks so much, Nancy. I appreciate you very much too! It’s nice to know who’s “out there” 😉
Thanks for the update Laurel. This afternoon, I hope to review Linda’s string library and tangle some of them with Gra-vee (Parts 1 and 2). Will be interesting to use not only wavy strings and some angular ones as well.