How to draw PEBBLE FLOWERS

Today, the 11th day of the 11th month, is a holiday observed annually as a special day of remembrance in many countries. In the UK and Canada and throughout the Commonwealth it’s known as Remembrance Day, and here in the US it’s observed as Veterans Day.

According to Wikipedia,

“Veterans Day is an official United States federal holiday that is observed annually on November 11, honoring people who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces, also known as veterans. It coincides with other holidays including Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, which are celebrated in other parts of the world and also mark the anniversary of the end of World War I (major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect). The United States also originally observed Armistice Day; it then evolved into the current Veterans Day holiday in 1954.

Veterans Day is not to be confused with Memorial Day; Veterans Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans, while Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who gave their lives and those who perished while in service.“

With this occasion in mind I was looking for a tangle that helped represent the poppies synonymous with Remembrance Day, and I remembered Australian Helen Williams’s Pebble Flowers.

Lapel poppies like this one are sold each year in Canada to help raise funds for various service charities, similar efforts are carried out in the UK and elsewhere. This time of year everyone contributes to a “Field of Poppies” by wearing their poppy on their lapel and in fact Remembrance Day is often referred to as Poppy Day.

Last year in the UK an incredible installation of 888,246 hand-made ceramic poppies “representing each of the commonwealth servicemen and women killed in the first world war” was undertaken at the Tower of London and entitled Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, marking the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Here’s a photo gallery from the Financial Times of this breathtaking installation of handmade ceramic poppies.

“More than 9 million combatants and 7 million civilians died as a result” of World War One, sometimes called The Great War.

The haunting and beautiful war poem “In Flanders Fields“, so well known to many of us as we learned it in school and recited it every Remembrance Day, was written during the First World War by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae and is inscribed on his tombstone.

“Johnmccraememorialbookcloseup02” by Lx 121 – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons

And thus we arrive at Pebble Flowers.

It’s drawn with one simple stroke, repeated: an orb. Alternating large orbs and small ones compose the pattern. Helen grows the pattern outwards from a “chain” of the large and small orbs. Spacing might be an issue however after playing around with it a bit, I found that drawing the small orbs (the solid black ones in my example) as a grid first then adding the large orbs between, made spacing a breeze.  I also added an inner aura and some graphite fill to my Pebble Flowers.

Helen features Pebble Flowers on a page with another pattern she calls 2/8s, but I think Pebble Flowers is perfect for this day of remembrance.

Helen illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing Pebble Flowers here on her website.

Check out the tag helenw for more of Helen’s tangles on TanglePatterns.com.

Veterans Day Salute

This is a reprint from today’s “Dear Abby” column. I could not have expressed my sentiments any better, so many thanks to Abby for this.

“Dear Veterans: I salute each and every one of you for your service to this country. My heartfelt thanks as well to the brave and dedicated men and women who are still on active duty. You are the personification of patriotism and self-sacrifice for your dedication to our country. – Love, Abby“

.oOo.
Enhance your Zentangle experience while supporting TanglePatterns:
CURRENT 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.
	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.