How to draw LAPWING

Welcome to another “Zen-spirational” new week and a very Happy Monday to you!

Today’s lovely Lapwing tangle is from UK CZT Lucy Farran and it’s her sixth on the site. Most recently Lucy paid tribute to the late Caroline McNamara, CZT with her sweet Caro tangle.

Lapwing might look complicated but it’s truly very simple — it will give your pen control skills a workout because it’s all about the aura. It’s also very flexible, it comes in both a ribbon-style and a dot grid-based version that reminds me of Mi2.

Update: As Jan Brandt points out in the comments, this is indeed a very close cousin to Ria Matheussen’s lovely Mazorito. (I plead COVID fatigue!)

Before we get to the steps, Lucy explains her inspiration for the tangle and for its name.

Lapwing is inspired by the pattern that can be found on the still water version of Harrogate spring water, a bottled water from Harrogate in the UK. I don’t often drink bottled water in the UK, but sometimes when I am out and about I will indulge in a bottle, and recently I took a short holiday in Cheshire and happened to pick up a bottle of Harrogate spring water on the way, only to notice the interesting pattern on the label, which I promptly deconstructed. (The sparkling version has Crescent Moon on its label!)

The history of Harrogate and the springs there is quite interesting: (from the Harrogate spring water website and Wikipedia)

With a history dating from 1571, Harrogate Spring is Britain’s oldest bottled water and has been revered by Royalty and enjoyed across the world for centuries.

First bottled in 1740, it is ‘ The Original British Bottled Water’ from ‘ The Original British Spa Town’ Following discovery of the mineral springs in the 16th century, Queen Elizabeth I’s personal physician recommended their medicinal properties and Harrogate was christened ‘ The English Spa.’ Wealthy visitors travelled to ‘take the mineral rich waters’ and Harrogate became a popular health destination.

The first mineral spring was discovered by William Slingsby who found that water from the Tewit Well in High Harrogate possessed similar properties to that from springs in the Belgian town of Spa, which gave its name to spa towns.

The well was named “Tewit”, after a local word for Peewit or Lapwing, a bird which still frequently flocks on the area near the well.

I named the tangle Lapwing, based on the above, and the fact that it the aura-ed V shapes makes me think of birds in the sky. I developed the tangle as a border tangle, but it can also be started as a dot grid as on the original water bottle label design, as shown at the bottom of the step out.

Just for fun, I include a Zia of a Lapwing that I tangled for my aunt’s Birthday last year.

Lucky Aunt, what a beautiful keepsake!

Lucy illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing Lapwing below where she includes the steps for a dot grid variation and three lovely sample tiles to inspire you to venture forth. “The tan tile shows Lapwing as a border/ribbon together with Flux, Marasu and Crazy ‘Nzeppel. The black tile shows Lapwing in dot grid formation as on the water bottle label. The grey tile example shows Lapwing in border form, but in the round.”

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. Click the image for an article explaining what copyright means in plain English. “Always let your conscience be your guide.” ~ Jiminy Cricket

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Check out the tag lucyf for more of Lucy’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!
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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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