How to draw AWHINGING

Today we have a floral-like tangle named Awhinging and it comes with an interesting background story.

Awhinging is from tangler Phylis Chen and it’s her first on the site.

Phylis writes,

My husband and his longtime friend spent several weeks hiking the Haute Route Pyrenees last summer during which time he had been sending me photos of his travels. In one of the small villages along the way, they had stopped at a cozy looking cafe for a well earned coffee and rest break.

It turns out that hanging beside their table were lace curtains with a pattern on it. However, I wanted to increase the ‘uniqueness’ factor of this pattern and so, I started to experiment without knowing whether anything would come of it.

Eventually, I ended up with an unexpected ribbon tangle that bears absolutely no resemblance to the original curtain pattern.

Chuckling to myself, I decided to title my tangle, Awhinging (owing to a hilarious scene from The Game of Thrones where their usage of the word ‘whinging’ has never failed to make others seeing the same scene laugh, too).

As to the tangle’s floral nature, well, I am glad that it turned out this way, because I would like to dedicate this tangle to my Mother who had passed in 2008, and to my Mother-in-law who has just recently passed.

There is much potential for fellow tangle artists to customize this pattern to suit the needs of their own unique Zentangle art pieces.

It is so easy and fun to do that there are really no particular tips that I need to share about it, other than the fact that the additional petals in step 5 can be omitted, if desired. This would lead to a cool ‘flatter look’ where the elongated Flux tangle petals appear to closely adhere to the centre line in a skin tight fashion, as in this example.

The centre line separating the florals to either side was highlighted with the Paradox tangle drawn inside the leaf shapes. This helped to make the Paradox leaves stand out as a vine upon which the florals hang.

For those not familiar with the term “whinging“: it is British and Australian slang meaning to complain or whine, “especially about something that does not seem important“. This link includes an audio clip on how to pronounce it. Tip: it’s not pronounced the same as “whine”.

Phylis illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing Awhinging below with her example including the “extra” flux-like leaves. (The version I used for my example.)

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 comment helps motivate them to continue to share!

Check out the tag phylisc for more of Phylis’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!
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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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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