How to draw EAU

Wow, we’re coming up Labor Day weekend already and true to form because Labor Day is generally considered the height of hurricane season, we have our eyes on TS Dorian headed in our general direction. Yikes. And to prove that time is flying, the 12th CZT Asia certification seminar begins today in Shanghai, China. 12!!

For today’s “Happy Monday” tangle I thought we’d have fun exploring Eau from CZT Christina Carroll of Charlottesville, Virginia.

Eau is Christina’s first tangle on the site, and it is deceptively easy to tangle. And it’s aptly-named, looking as it does like little cascades of eau (water).

Eau bears similarities (shares DNA) with several other tangles on the site — Dancet and Meo pop to mind and also as Christina notes, Fish Net and Harfe. All make use of the simple Zentangle® technique of “take off and land”.

Before we get to that comparison, let’s meet Christina:

I originally learned about Zentangles through a colleague. We were Montessori elementary teachers. I was initially skeptical about the Zentangle process, questioning everything. Why this special paper? Why these special pens? However, within just a day or two of researching and drawing, I was hooked. I shared Zentangles with my elementary students. I lived in Ferguson, MO during its time of unrest and painted a Zentangle mural on the main street as a way to work toward personal and community healing.

I attended CZT24 on scholarship and have been teaching in my classroom, teaching private lessons, and maintaining my own personal Zentangle practice ever since. Now, I’m attending graduate school to obtain my PhD in developmental psychology at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Zentangles are my way of unwinding from the hard work of following my dreams.

She explains how Eau came about and how it differs from two of its “siblings”:

About two years ago, I was sitting at my kitchen table with a medical insurance bill in front of me and I just started drawing on it…and this pattern is what came out. I figured I must have seen this pattern somewhere in all my years of tangling for it to just some out of my pen like that. However, as I have continued my Zentangle journey over the past two years, I realized that I actually haven’t seen this exact pattern although there are similar ones:

Harfe by Jennifer Hofensteiner also starts with a dot grid pattern. The dots in Harfe are connected with alternating c-curves. Eau connects the dots with s-curves, alternating or not by row. Harfe uses one aura stroke on each side of the base c-curve. Eau uses two auras on each side of the base s-curve.

Fish Net by Mariët Lustenhouwer also starts with a dot grid pattern, connecting the dots with s-curves. However, there are no auras on the s-curves.

In her sample tile, “In addition to Eau, I used Chainlea by Norma Burnell, Checkmate by Jody Genovese, and the Zentangle-original patterns Printemps and Diva Dance.”

Christina includes two versions of Eau for us to explore. I put together this side-by-side comparison to show how the two differ. In the first variation the top layer of each row alternates directions. In the second variation, the top layer in each row all face in the same direction and that’s the one I used for my example. {Full disclosure: I cleaned up my Step 1 orbs at the end with a dot from a White Sakura Gelly Roll as they had become almost solid black from all my taking off and landing.} Eau would also be pretty interesting in wonky grid form …

Christina illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing the first version of Eau below and she includes additional tips and suggestions including some for shading:

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. “Always let your conscience be your guide.” ~ Jiminy Cricket

In these steps Christina demonstrates the second version of Eau and shows how lovely it looks as a ribbon-style tangle.

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. “Always let your conscience be your guide.” ~ Jiminy Cricket

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 thanks helps motivate them to continue to share!

Check out the tag christinac for more of Christina’s tangles on TanglePatterns.com.

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!
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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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