How to draw JUMMAH

Spring, it would seem, is not only prolific for new growth, it’s also prolific for deconstructing new tangles!

Thus we have Jummah, another cool tangle from Canadian tangler Cindy Knapp. And a totally wonderful exploration of a cherished Australian artist …

On reflection it would probably be more accurate for me to say the lack of Spring this year has driven many tanglers to their journals and notebooks. As Cyndi wrote recently,

Day 2 of an ice pellet/freezing rain storm in the Spring that thinks it’s winter.

Another day in front of the fireplace tangling and another pattern created. Jummah is one of those “fun surprises”.

It’s fun to tangle, works up quickly and, as illustrated, has great variation potential.

With the depth and pop out effect it took on after shading, I was reminded of Australian gumnuts and artist May Gibbs who painted the ever-so-sweet Gumnut Babies over 100 years ago.

This sweet image links to May Gibbs’ “Stories and Characters”. “All royalties on sales of May Gibbs products assist the works of The Northcott Society and Cerebral Palsy Alliance.”

Gumnut Babies, eh?? We’ll get to them but first let’s find out more about May Gibbs:

May Gibbs (1877 – 1969) is one of Australia’s most treasured illustrators, artists and children’s authors. Her bush fantasy world has captured the imaginations of Australians for over a century, creating a uniquely Australian folklore that holds a special place in the hearts of a nation.

May was to say in later life ‘I’ve always had the greatest pleasure in thinking of all those little children who enjoyed my books. Everything became alive for me, it was just a fairy tale all the time.’

Born Cecilia May Gibbs in England on 17 January 1877, she was the only daughter of artist, cartoonist and public servant Herbert William Gibbs and Cecilia Rogers. May emigrated to Australia with her family in 1881 aboard the Hesperus at four years of age. First trying their hand at farming in South Australia, followed by two years at Harvey Cattle Station in Western Australia, the Gibbs family eventually gave up on the farming life and settled at ‘The Dunes’ in Perth.

Over this time the young May spent many impressionable years observing the beauty of the Australian bush. In later years May was to say ‘It’s hard to tell, hard to say, I don’t know if the bush babies found me or I found the little creatures’.! ~ From MayGibbs.org.

And from that same page, a little about “The Birth of the Gumnut Babies”:

Late in 1913, May was commissioned to illustrate the headpiece for Ethel Turner’s serial The Magic Button in the Sydney Mail. Hidden among the detail is a family of gumnuts peeping shyly out. A few years later May was to tell Theatre Magazine the idea for these gumnut babies came to her ‘in the middle of the night’.

BTW, when you visit this MayGibbs.org page you’ll hear sounds of the Australian bush … it took me a bit to figure out those interesting sounds were coming from my computer’s speakers. I thought our doors were open! The site is an absolute delight to explore, little figures pop out on the header when you hover over them. What sweet, wonderful creatures, adorable artwork and admirable color sensibilities.

From Wikipedia, we learn:

Gumnut can refer to: The hard woody fruit of trees of the genus Eucalyptus.

Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, the gumnut babies of author May Gibbs.

Thanks so much, Cyndi, for such a thoroughly delightful rabbit hole to venture into!

When I was doing my example of Jummah, I chose one of Cyndi’s variations in her gorgeous Zentangle® tile. Then I added an aura around the outside of it. That did not look good to me, too thin, unbalanced. So I thickened up the aura. Still not what I was looking for. So then I expanded the aura outwards to triangular, pointed shapes and filled them in. Different from Cyndi’s but I think it works.

Cyndi illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing Jummah below and her Zentangle tile features several ways to explore variations.

Image copyright the artist and used with permission, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Please feel free to refer to the steps images to recreate this tangle in your personal Zentangles and ZIAs, or to link back to this page. However the artist and TanglePatterns.com reserve all rights to these images and they must not be publicly pinned, altered, reproduced or republished. They are for your personal offline reference only. Thank you for respecting these rights. Click the image for an article explaining what copyright means in plain English.

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 cyndik for more of Cyndi’s tangles on TanglePatterns.com.

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