How to draw YING

Today’s pretty Ying tangle is from Cat Kwan, a member of the first CZT-Asia class, and it’s her first on the site.

I’ve been saving Ying for this week when we celebrate the first day of Spring (yesterday, March 20th) AND roughly the peak bloom time and the annual “Bloom Watch” for Washington’s Yoshino Cherry (Prunus x yedoensis) blossoms. (There’s even a video cam for the Bloom Watch, unfortunately there were technical difficulties and it was down when I last checked it.)

Here’s some background on the Cherry Blossoms and the annual Bloom Watch,

In a ceremony at the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C., on March 27, 1912, First Lady Helen Herron Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted the first two of 3,020 flowering cherry trees gifted to the nation’s capital from the city of Tokyo. As a show of gratitude for this generous gift, former President William Howard Taft arranged for the United States to send 50 flowering dogwood trees to Japan in 1915. This reciprocal gift featured a species of tree native to the eastern United States and Canada.

These gestures of goodwill fostered a rich tradition of exchanging cherry and dogwood trees that continues to this day.

This information is contained in the United States Postal Service press release announcing the Joint release in 2015 in the USA and Japan of these gorgeous commemorative stamps, which are still available for purchase today. The only reason I know about these is because coincidentally earlier this week Robert showed me the set he just received. What great serendipity!

Image links to USPS Store if you’d like to order these stamps.

Again from the USPS press release,

Stamp artist Paul Rogers worked with art director and designer William J. Gicker to create the U.S. stamps. Japanese artist Junko Kaifuchi illustrated the stamps from Japan Post. The left side of the stamp sheet features four new stamp designs: two created by the Postal Service and two created by Japan Post.

Continuing with the Cherry Blossom theme. As you may recognize from examining your Microns, the logo for the manufacturer of our treasured Sakura Micron Pens, is a symbolic cherry blossom. And indeed if Google Translate is to be relied upon, in Japanese sakura means cherry blossoms.

About her tangle’s background and its name, Kit writes:

In Cantonese, the pronunciation of is “Ying”. This is a gift for my sister, Kit-Ying.

She likes Japan, and hope to travel to Japan a long time ago. I want to create a tangle to her as I know she feel depression last year, then I started to find some ideas from the symbolic element of Japan – Sakura.

This idea is come from Sakura, but I think it can have many variations.

Here are some of Cat’s beautiful tiles featuring Ying.

And here Cat illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing YIng and she features it in a closeup of one of her lovely Zentangle® tiles above.

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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.

Check out the tag catk for more of Cat’s tangles on TanglePatterns.com.

Happy Spring, y’all! 🙂

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