In late 2019, I was watching this little safety-pin, lying on my desk. Probably, the previous day, I was in hurry and left it over there. This little thing, just caught up my attention, on how a steel wire is curled to a round-shape at one end and the other side gets tightly hooked. That spring-like action is so fun to play with (caution at the pointy-edge) and of course, we all know the utility of a safety-pin. But to think, isn’t it an interesting invention/engineering?

I remember, how in my childhood days, I had ample time, and when my mom was at work and no one to monitor me (hehe), I would dig from deep chest of drawers, little mundane things and see how it work and what good use I can do with that. Sometimes, I would find old saree-brooches, hair-clips of different colours and designs, old pair of glass bangles in odd numbers (as my mum would love to wear perfect even numbers :-D), at times some interesting toothbrushes, etc…..I had such fascination for common things, as in my brain, I would imagine a better use of it. I would clean them and try to see if I can invent something out of them. I would uncap the tubes, and play with the caps, decorate them, use them for my craft, etc or at times, just enjoy counting the number of bangles and sometimes, I used to practice pinning my clothes on the back of my neck (without the help of a mirror) - hahaha…..Everything in childhood was interesting but so much of time just got wasted(if seen from the adult point of view). But today, when I am grown-up, I realize that I would not have been the “Me” today - had I not wasted those precious hours. Sometimes, I get the same kind of feeling when I draw a zentile after zentile, and stack them in a box. hahahaha….. just creating art for no absolute purpose! I call it Divine!

So let’s now jump back to the Year 2019, when the safety pin was lying on my desk… at that moment, I suddenly had an idea, if I could use this as a reference point for my new tangle. And I started with some sketch up and down.

Tangle Veera gave me a reference to my earlier tangle pattern Tangle Silo as well. To say, there is not much of a difference between Tangle Silo and Tangle Veera, and because of this reason, I was reluctant to bring both the tangles out together. Tangle Silo starts with 2 orbs and then connected with a leaf-like shape. We do the same in the reverse direction also. Whereas, Tangle Veera stands alone, starts with Dot-Orb-Dot, connected with a single leaf-like shape. It is a stand-alone tangle and gives a lot of variation to play with.

Why did I give this Tangle Name as Veera?

It is always fascinating to know why a Tangle is named; the story behind its existence. And sometimes, until I don’t find a reason; a connection to the tangle, I don’t really use it much or bring it out in open. They stay in my drawers for months and sometimes years until one day - THEY START MAKING A SENSE TO ME.

And Yesterday, Two such coincidences happened!

For a very long time, I have been remembering a friend, now a CZT colleague, Veena Arun whom I have never met to date. In 2018, all of a sudden, she agreed to hop on a call with me; when I was in cross-roads not knowing what to do, how to go about, in my Zentangle Journey. I had already applied for my Teachers Training Seminar with Zentangle (R), and she had already finished her CZT Course. We talked for almost 120 minutes and did not feel like it was our first time. I asked many questions and she very patiently replied to each and everything. I told her how I was struggling and reluctant to build my own website - Tangle and Inspire, and how I have completely lost the understanding of the techy things. She so selflessly offered to help me and not only that, but she also created the logo that I am currently using in many of my artworks and workshop posters/banners.

Yesterday, while the whole world celebrated Woman’s Day - I was thinking of Veena and her Selfless Act of Service. I have been wanting to send a personal gift to her, but due to this pandemic period, I am unable to. So, yesterday midnight, I felt, I must dedicate this new tangle pattern on her name - Veera [Vee]na [Ar]un- which also means (“Fearless” in Hindi; for a woman is called Veerangana). And really this new tangle name suits her - since she crossed all boundaries of her fear/insecurity and helped and encouraged another woman (here: me). :)

You can find all of Veena Arun’s Tangles - she has exceptional ones on her blog - https://knotbrat.wordpress.com/original-tangles/c-rendipity/

Three of her tangles are also hosted on tanglepatterns.com

Thank you for reading this long blog post. Hope you enjoyed reading them. Do leave a comment or share a story of your bestie or a woman-friend who helped you selflessly?

Let us together honour such lovely friends. I am presently all soaked in gratitude for having many such people in my life.

Here are in someways I have played with this new tangle pattern.

Hope these artworks fill you with ideas! I would love to see all your artworks,

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Thank you Once Again!

Big Cheers to everyone here!

Regards

Aishwarya Darbha