How to draw SURYA

Continuing with what we might call a mini theme of snowflake-like tangles, today we explore Surya from German tangler Indrani Novello.

Surya is Indrani’s seventh tangle on the site, most recently she shared her angelic-looking Aydee with us.

Indrani actually came up with Surya as her first tangle several years ago, it’s another one from the archives:

I came up with this pattern when I remembered the drawings I used to do as a schoolkid using a compass from math class.

It’s also inspired by the patterns of a compass rose and depictions of a “sun in splendour”.

Surya (or suraja) is the Hindi word for “sun”.

Surya the tangle could be symbolic of the Thanksgiving Day holiday for Americans everywhere, who like the points of a compass rose may have scattered to the four winds to be with family and friends for their traditional celebrations.

What are the origins of the compass rose? According to Wikipedia,

A compass rose, sometimes called a windrose or rose of the winds, is a figure on a compass, map, nautical chart, or monument used to display the orientation of the cardinal directions (north, east, south, and west) and their intermediate points.

One of the earliest depictions of the compass rose is on this nautical chart from 1375:

First ornate compass rose depicted on a chart, from the Catalan Atlas (1375), with the Pole Star as north mark.

And as for a “sun in splendour”, Wikipedia explains it’s a symbol common in the heraldry of many countries,

A representation of the sun is used as a heraldic charge. The most usual form, often called sun in splendour or in his glory, consists of a round disc with the features of a human face surrounded by twelve or sixteen rays alternating wavy and straight. The alternating straight and wavy rays are often said to represent the light and heat of the sun respectively.

… The Sun of May shown on the national flags of Argentina (1818) and Uruguay (1828) is identical in form to the “Sun in Splendour”.

Fascinating how simple symbols connect humanity across the ages …

For my example of Surya I went in a little different direction (NNE 😉 ) and used a leaf-vein type of fill to make it a little less compassy looking.

Indrani illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing Surya below and she includes two tiles featuring Surya and variations along with several Zentangle-original tangles you’ll recognize.

Image copyright the artist and used with permission, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. These images are for your personal offline reference only. Please feel free to refer to the images to recreate this tangle in your personal Zentangles and ZIAs. However the artist and TanglePatterns.com reserve all rights to the images and they must not be publicly pinned, altered, reproduced or republished. Thank you for respecting these rights. For more information, click on the image for the article “Copyrights and your blog.” “We must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.” ~ Albus Dumbledore

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 indranin for more of Indrani’s tangles on TanglePatterns.com.

Warm wishes for a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow we will be enjoying Thanksgiving Day traditions in the U.S.A., giving special thanks for all the blessings we have to be grateful for every single day of the year.

Whether you are celebrating this occasion or not, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being such an important part of this wonderful, caring, sharing Zentangle® community. You keep me going with your love and support and I am so very grateful to have you in my life.

With much love and gratitude not just today, but every day.

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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