How to draw VEA

It’s Monday and of course that means it’s time for another super easy tangle to explore.

And as Saturday, July 21st, was Belgian National Day … the lovely Vea tangle is from Belgian CZT Ria Matheussen, who writes:

I’m always on the hunt to find new tangles.

From the first of July, new collections of the winter fashion are already available and I have seen a lot of tangles in these clothes…

So I began to search different textiles and have found for the third time inspiration on a beautiful African textile.

I simplified a bit the pattern. With a little bit of imagination, you can recognize a kind of sea shell.

Shells remind me always of our holidays on the seaside. When we (my brother, sister and I) were kids, we spent every year a few weeks at the Belgian coast and I have nice memories of that time. Our mum used to protect us against the sun with a cream of Nivea from a blue box. I’m almost 64 years and this box still exists in the same form. When I think about the sea, I always see Nivea in front of me and that is why I chose the name VEA for this tangle.

I have two variations included and then the tangle looks completely different: more like little flags.

This is an uncomplicated tangle, looks cheerful and is easy to combine with other tangles.

In my composition on a tan tile, I have tried to create a bit of a sunny atmosphere with tangles that remind me at the beach: Molygon, Méringue, Shiraz, Festune and Vea.

I am often challenged in producing the smooth curves of Ria’s first step. Sometimes I get part the way through and my brain throws a different curve into the stroke or they turn out very uneven. What I’ve found is that placing a row of evenly spaced tiny dots such as I’ve shown here acts as a target for starting and stopping the elongated S shapes that create the regular wavy line — and plots the line in the direction you intend it to go. (When you look at Ria’s inspiration image, you can see an example of this on the fabric.) You could go further and place additional dots where the “waistline” of the S would be, then connect them with alternating C curves.

Ria illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing Vea here and she includes some variations to explore as well as featuring Vea in the pretty ZIA Zentangle tile she just described.

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, altered, reproduced or republished. They are for your personal offline reference only. Thank you for respecting these rights. Click the image for an article explaining what copyright means in plain English. “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” ~ C.S. Lewis

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

Check out the tag riam for more of Ria’s tangles on TanglePatterns.com.

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Share your tangle on TanglePatterns

Everyone is invited to share patterns on TanglePatterns.com, you do NOT need to be a CZT. In order for patterns to be considered for publication they must be submitted to me by email. In other words you have to let me know about them.

For a submission to qualify as a tangle it must be a genuine pattern (“a repeated decorative design”) and not “a thing to draw”.

From The Book of Zentangle:

“Keep it Non-representational. Zentangle artwork is intended to be non-representational. Zentangle’s elemental strokes are also non-representational.

We don’t teach complex elements such as hearts, stars or flowers. Tangles are also non-representational.”

Remember that tangles never start with pencil planning.

"A tangle has no pre-planning with pencil guidelines, grids or dots, no erased lines."

If you need a refresher on what makes a tangle, read the A PATTERN IS NOT ALWAYS A TANGLE page on the ZENTANGLES menu bar at the top of any page.

For details on how to submit your pattern for consideration visit the SUBMIT YOUR PATTERN page on the top menu bar of any page on the site. On that menu you will find these two pages:

1. 1. How to submit your pattern deconstruction to TanglePatterns, and
   2. Why hasn't my pattern been published?

The first page includes instructions on how to prepare and send your JPGs. (Please save me time and do not send PDFs). It also includes a link to this PDF submission form.

When your examples include additional tangles from the site, please list them in your email. (This saves me time and my memory some wear and tear.)

If your pattern is posted on your blog, attach your steps and tile JPGs to your email and be sure your email includes the direct URL so I can link to it.

And remember, to quote Zentangle's co-founders Rick and Maria: tangles should be "magical, simple and easy to create", non-objective patterns of repetitive strokes that are easy to teach and offer a high degree of success to tanglers of all ages.

"Keep the tangles as little like 'drawing something' as possible."

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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.

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