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 - 2023 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!

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.

ARCHIVES

How to draw SHIRL

Zentangle pattern: Shirl. 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.Ohio tangler Joan Stark is on a roll creating new tangles.

Just a few weeks ago {although it feels like an age now, right? – a lot has happened!} we explored Joan’s 2 Diamonds + a Rice.

Her latest, Shirl, is so-named “after Shirley Temple and my mother,” Joan writes.

As an aside, Shirl is also a masculine name — my sweetie Robert’s late and much-loved uncle was named Shirl. As yesterday was Robert’s birthday, I shall think of this tangle as a tribute to this sweet and very funny gentleman Shirl Farmer of the village of Barwell in Leicestershire, UK. Here’s to all the Shirl’s and Shirley’s everywhere!

Joan continues,

Shirl is similar to Coil and Shirley but very different.

I think you’ll find it easy when you realize it’s only 3 shapes (S’s, insides, and hatching).

The shapes are attached to each other at their points to adjoining mid-sections. This part is important so you can get the insides to look right.

I find creating them in one continuous movement to be very zen. However if people are still working on trying to draw the shape, it can accomplished with 2 flat reverse “S”s touching at each end.

It can be a border, a ribbon, or just Hollibaugh a handful of them (like on my step-out).

I’ve also been told that it looks like there are pearls between the shapes — that can be. I didn’t intend for it. LOL

As Joan demonstrates, Shirl can either be constructed with a continuous stroke or by creating back-to-back S shapes, or reverse S shapes depending on which way you want them to face. I used shading in place of Step 5’s hatching, just a personal preference but anything goes! 🙂 There are many ways you can embellish or decorate the insides too but the basic Shirl looks very cool as is.

Joan illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing Shirl-the-tangle below including her “Hollibaugh-ed” example that “kinda looks like a telephone cord — I’m showing my age here!“:

How to draw the Zentangle pattern Shirl, tangle and deconstruction by Joan Stark. Image copyright the artist and used with permission, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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 joans for more of Joan’s tangles on TanglePatterns.com.

.oOo.

Laughter is the Best Medicine

Courtesy of my UK brother-in-law …

SHARE! SHARE! SHARE! for all of us in the community who don’t do social media (there are many, including me) if you’ve seen something funny that “takes the mickey” out of our current sticky situation and you’d like to give a smile to your Zentangle friends, email the image (with credits if at all possible) to me (linda@tanglepatterns.com) using the subject line “Laughter is the best medicine” and I’ll select the best ones to add to the upcoming posts for a while. Let’s see what you’ve got!

.oOo.

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.
  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.

.oOo.

How to submit your pattern to TanglePatterns

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

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. 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."

.oOo.

.oOo.

Enhance your Zentangle experience while supporting TanglePatterns:

BRAND NEW ! 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.

3 comments to How to draw SHIRL

  • JENNIFER SPARROW

    Thanks for another cool tangle, and a hilarious photo! I immediately saw the telephone cord! Both took “the mickey” out of my lonely evening. (Hubby, a medical courier, is hard at work on the front lines.) Peace, health and humor to you!

  • Looks like a play for this afternoon. And thanks to Jennifer’s hubby for being on the front lines along with so many others. Hoping all our heros out there stay safe.

  • Pam

    I picked this up about 5 years ago during a very stressful time. It was like finding a gentle stream I could return to over and over. Thank you

    Well that time and situation passed and I slowly stopped visiting that stream. During this isolated time I have rediscovered this oasis and I am enjoying your talents and sharing once more

    Thank you for making this so available and easy to step into I’m enjoying the stream
    Pam

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.