How to sign up for a free subscription - never miss a tangle!
What is Zentangle?
Linda Farmer, Certified Zentangle Teacher

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

All contents of this website are Copyright © 2010 - 2024 Linda Farmer, TanglePatterns.com, and artists where named. Copying content in any form other than for your own personal offline reference and inspiration is expressly prohibited. No content may be reproduced, pinned or republished without express written permission. This work is not allowed to be used in training AI systems. Commercial use of any content is prohibited. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Artists for Respect
Your support helps keep TanglePatterns available!
Make your contribution to keep TanglePatterns going in 2025

RANDOM SELECTOR

Use this Random Tangle Selector with your TanglePatterns.com TANGLE GUIDE to help you select tangles. See Pages 7 and 9 of the Guide for instructions. You can also use this to select random Strings: simply pop in any number in the range of 1 to 250.

RECENT COMMENTS

ARCHIVES

How to draw SUNSPOTS

Zentangle pattern: Sunspots. Image © Linda Farmer and TanglePatterns.com. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. You may use this image for your personal non-commercial reference only. The unauthorized pinning, reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.Irma Update: I’m so relieved and grateful to report that Robert and I and our local area have come safely through this terrifying and emotionally draining event called Hurricane Irma which continues to affect many to the north of us.

There are lots of downed tree limbs and other minor damage around our area but we basically escaped the surreal experience the Naples-Estero-Fort Myers and Tampa area of our state went through, and will for days to come. We’ve just had reports this morning that downtown Jacksonville FL has been evacuated because of storm surge, this thing is relentless.

Irma did pack a punch in our area, we had torrential rain and incredibly strong winds all day yesterday and tornado warnings throughout the evening as the storm was the strongest as the eye passed about 90 miles west at our latitude. But we were so fortunate to have power until late last night and we were glued to our television watching the reports from the West Coast.

This morning we’ve washed away all the mud and debris in our patio and opened up our hurricane shutters. Let there be light!! So wonderful to see the sun shining … although we are so exhausted now that I think we may just sleep for the rest of the week. We haven’t had the emotional resources to watch today’s reports of the outcome for our friends and neighbors who were subjected to Irma’s wrath. We are worried for them, and SO grateful for our good fortune.

Thanks again so much for keeping us in your thoughts. Your prayers and good wishes helped ensure our safety and gave us much-needed strength.

Thank you. Now we send our best wishes and prayers to those who continue to be in her path …

And as life does go on, I thought a little sunlight would go a long way today! Sunspots is from Montreal, Canada’s Rosemary Turpin who has three other cool tangles on the site.

Rosemary writes,

I saw this pattern on a woman’s blouse on my local bus one day. Looked at her for quite a while until she noticed, so I told her why – I think she forgave me!

I took another long look as I waltzed out the door to see whether the smallest shapes were actually diamonds or circles and found they were diamonds.

I went home and deconstructed it for us to try.

While Sunspots may look complicated, it is in fact very easy to do and produces an intense effect, rather quilt-like??

Rosemary illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing Sunspots below and she demonstrates it in a Zentangle®-inspired monotangle.

Image copyright the artist and used with permission, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Please feel free to refer to the steps images to recreate this tangle in your personal Zentangles and ZIAs, or to link back to this page. However the artist and TanglePatterns.com reserve all rights to these images and they must not be publicly pinned, reproduced or republished. Thank you for respecting these rights. For more information, click on the image for a discussion entitled “Artists for Respect” by several prominent artists.

Rosemary’s monotangle … I’m sure the white ink was a bit of a challenge for Rosemary’s patience on the blue tile. But as others have mentioned in the past, you barely have to touch the nib to the tile to gently coax the ink out and be sure to keep a tissue handy to occasionally wipe the nib of any accumulations. A white Uni-ball Signo gel pen is the favored tool by many over most other white gel pens.

As you enjoy any of the tangles on the site, please do leave a comment of thanks and encouragement to show the artists you appreciate them for sharing their creativity to inspire yours.

Check out the tag rosemaryt for more of Rosemary’s tangles on TanglePatterns.com.

.oOo.

Enhance your Zentangle experience while supporting TanglePatterns:

CURRENT EDITION! TanglePatterns.com TANGLE GUIDE, 2024 Edition

TanglePatterns.com TANGLE GUIDE, 2024 Edition The 13th Edition of the TanglePatterns.com TANGLE GUIDE is an instant-download 109-page interactive digital eBook/PDF containing approximately 2,000 tangles on the site from May 2010 through December 31, 2023. It's a great resource and a must-have digital tool for using the site. Visit the STORE > E-BOOKS page and help keep TanglePatterns.com going by getting your copy now!

"Linda, Thank you! I was relying on too few and getting stuck after 3 years of daily working with Zentangle. This has inspired me to ‘begin again’ with renewed excitement." ~ Barbara R.

See the BOOK REVIEWS page for more details on its features and view a sample page. Note: this is a digital product you download immediately when you place your order, nothing will be physically mailed to you.
GIFT ORDERS FOR ANOTHER PERSON: To give the TANGLE GUIDE as a gift, visit this page to place your gift order.
If you're new to Zentangle® and tangling, my TanglePatterns.com BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO ZENTANGLE is just what you need to get started. Also available en Français and en Español.

Zentangle Primer Volume 1 This is the only Zentangle book you'll ever need: the fabulous Zentangle PRIMER Vol 1. It's your CZT-in-a-book by the founders of Zentangle®. Visit the STORE tab on the top menu bar or click on the image. For more about the content and to read the rave reviews, visit the BOOK REVIEWS tab.
NEW! Now available in KINDLE format for $9.99. Spanish Edition here. Japanese Edition here.
"Absolutely the best Zentangle Book yet! As an accomplished artist I used to think I did not need instruction on this art form. How wrong I was! My tangling improved by leaps and bounds after reading this book. If you think you have Zentangle down then you need this book more than ever!" ~ Kris H

.oOo.

15 comments to How to draw SUNSPOTS

  • Sharon Jerkovic

    Hello LInda,
    So glad you and yours are OK in the aftermath of Irma….Stay well!
    Sharon Jerkovic

  • Very cool and a nice bright spot for today. Be safe all of you in Florida this week.

  • JENNIFER SPARROW

    Wonderful to hear that you and Robert are okay! Thank you for the update and another lovely tangle to try.

  • Melena

    Linda, I’m so glad to see a new tangle today. That in itself says you’re safe. I am so relieved for you and all the others who have come through this terrific terrifying hurricane safely. This tangle is so perfect for us all to have some Sunspots in our life (although it’s been too hot here in Northern California, we have nothing to complain about). Now, to prove that you and Robert are okay, I would love to see a picture of you by your house. 😀 Well, only if you think it’s right.

    Sunspots looks like a fun tangle. Thanks to you Rosemary for being so observant and deconstructing this great pattern. Everyone, be safe and happy.

  • Happy to hear you are safely through to the bright side.

  • Rosemary Turpin

    Linda, I am so-o-o glad that you and Robert come through it all safely with minimal damage. I was pretty sure you were safe when I realized that you had published my “Sunspots” tangle right on your Monday schedule! Thank you!

  • Susan Mann

    I like this one. The large spots introduce a new element into the growing array of designs!

  • Patsy Burroughs

    Thanks for your update as I have been worried just watching the news. And, we here in Houston did the round the clock during Harvey watching the news as we too were spared. Such good news but, like so many, we continue to pray for those that are still getting plummeted by Irma.
    Love this new tangle and have to laugh about how she got her pattern as I fear that all of us with “Zentangle Fever” do the same thing:)))

  • Joan Lilley CZT16

    So pleased that you have survived the hurricane!
    Welcom back!

  • Wanda Rader

    Glad you have survived the torrents and wind and I hope that you continue to recover your equilibrium. These kinds of things always shake us up,no matter how safely we come through them. I love Rosemary’s zent pattern. It is very quilt like,and also looks sort of crochet-ish. I plan to use it a lot!

  • Linda Dochter, CZT

    Linda – Prayers answered, eh?

    I really enjoy finding the megatangles hidden inside grid patterns. It’s interesting to me that the sample showing a 2 x 2 and the larger 3 x 3 blue sample show me something completely differed.

    Concentrating of the top row of spots, blue “buttercup” flowers appear to me. Concentrating on the orbs at the intersecting lines of the grid, white paddlewheels from a Mississippi steamship jump out at me. Inside the paddlewheels, I also see blue asters.

  • Sharon Wrench

    Pretty pattern! It looks perfect for string 229. I am anxious to give it a try. Thank you so much for sharing.

  • Rosemary Turpin

    Thank you for pointing out those “blue buttercups” Linda – I hadn`t seen them, and I do also love finding hidden designs in our patterns! One of my favourites for that is “Crusade” which is somewhat difficult to draw but well worth it for all the enclosed designs. Quiltz is another one!

  • Paula Commander

    So glad to hear you are okay after this massive hurricane. Thank you for sharing something beautiful. Be safe.

  • Thanks for this fun new tangle, Rosemary! In my practice just now, I made the black circles inside the squares much smaller than those I drew at the grid line intersections. I love the effect! Very striking & dynamic. 🙂 Linda, I really can’t imagine what you went through. Here in Nevada we only have wildfires which ARE scary but at least can be fought by our brave firemen! Very glad you are safe.

Leave a Reply

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

  

  

  

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting.