How to draw GOURDGEOUS

Gourdgeous is the latest Zentangle®-original tangle recently introduced to CZTs at the beginning of the month and now shared with everyone, just in time for Hallowe’en this weekend.

Rick writes that Gourdgeous is “our newest tangle inspired by our porch wall and celebrating our changing season with a little help from diva dance“.

Maria describes how she was captivated by the way light was reflecting off the beadboard on their porch and she picked up some black tiles and a white pen and began …

“putting down the boards … experimenting with how the boards were separated with one space, two spaces, three spaces, etc. … I drew a line, aura-ed it, skipped a space, then another pair of lines and repeated that sequence. Then I colored in the larger space. … 

Then I started bending the boards, creasing them to form origami-like structures. Curving and winding them around and out, mixing and matching the different styles. … THEN, I happened to have (of course) a mail order catalog nearby (did you know they are like spiders . . . you are never more than three feet from them?) with pumpkins and such things on the covers of course. And, voila! A gourd-like image began to appear before me, like magic.   

They were curling this way and that, in and out, skinny and fat . . . there was no stopping me!

After a while, the gourds began to cluster, in a wonderful hollibaugh dance … 

Wow, it was awesome . . . 

. . . all GOURDGEOUS and voluptuous. “

Rick writes, “After all was said and tangled, we realized that gourdgeous is actually a version of diva dance, with the ‘expansion’ step always appearing in the same place. When you do that, this shape tangles itself organically.”

For my example I have just a single instance of Gourdgeous because that’s all I had room for, but in Maria’s tiles you’ll see the clusters and layers and skinny and fat versions she refers to above.

Check out all the gorgeous Gourdgeous tiles here in the Zentangle newsletter where you’ll also find Maria’s step-by-step instructions for drawing the latest Zentangle-original tangle.

UPDATE March 4, 2020 – Project Pack #8. As part of the Dancing in the Moonlight project pack, with Rick keeping her company, Maria tangles Well, Mooka, Tripoli, a “Kite on a String” motif, Printemps, Gourdgeous, and Fife on several different black prestrung Zendala tiles:

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UPDATE September 21, 2020 – Project Pack #11. As part of the Fee-PHI-Fo-Fun! project pack, Maria tangles Gourdgeous on the new Phi Zentangle tiles.

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UPDATE March 21, 2022 – Project Pack #17. As part of the The Kaleidoscope of Our Lives project pack, Maria tangles Gourdgeous beginning at 02:34 in this video:

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UPDATE August 30, 2022 – Project Pack #18. As part of the Introducing Zentangle’s new Translucen-Z Tiles project pack, Maria tangles Mooka, Knightsbridge and Gourdgeous in this video:

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UPDATE December 9, 2024 – Project Pack #25. As part of the Twelve Days of Zentangle, 2024 Edition – Drawing Behind project pack, Maria tangles Gourdgeous in this video:

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Check out the tag zentangle for all of the Zentangle®-original tangles with online instructions.

For a complete list of Zentangle’s Project Packs click the PROJECT PACKS link in the pink alphabetic tangle menu bar.

Happy Hallowe’en and enjoy a safe, sweet weekend!

I couldn’t resist sharing this “spooky food” I saw on the Australian recipe site I subscribe to, http://www.taste.com.au. Of all the Hallowe’en-themed food I’ve seen, these Cocktail Sausage Mummies are just the cutest. Click the image for the recipe!

Image © Taste.com.au, Photography by Al Richardson

Related Links

1. 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.
2. What is a Zentangle? — if you are new to the Zentangle Method, start here for the fundamentals.
3. Zentangle terminology — a glossary of terms used in this art form.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. "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?
7. How to submit your pattern deconstruction to TanglePatterns
8. 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.
9. 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!
10. Never miss a tangle! FREE eMAIL NEWSLETTER - visit the SUBSCRIBE page on the top menu bar of any page on the site and sign up to get notices delivered free to your inbox.
11. 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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