Stepout des Monats Januar 2023: Lug

Kwong Khiam originally submitted the step-out for our random drawing in August 2022 . Although it wasn't selected at that time, Kwong Khiam agreed to let us use the step-out for a future SOOTM. That day has arrived in January of 2023!

Lug is a grid tangle that creates fascinating meta-patterns.

On the left, you can see the two examples by Kwong Khiam using Lug as a monotangle and how this creates different meta-patterns . On the right, I used Lug as a reticula: I drew one large Lug fragment and filled each section with different fragments. I chose the fragments in terms of how light and dark they are, loosely following the way Kwong Khiam inked in and shaded in his step-out.

Although the steps for Lug are very simple, I found it to be a high-focus tangle. Just like Knightsbridge, you need to stay focused when inking in the sections. And especially as you draw the grid and the meta pattern starts to emerge, it can quickly be confusing as to where the original square is and which direction the curves should be going. Luckily, Lug looks pretty good even if you mix these things up! Here are two tiles where I got confused about the curves and the inking in. But I am still happy with the result:

Kwong Khiam discovered this month's SOOTM in the city of Lyon in France, which he visited in 2022. He writes:

"The city is rich in history and culture. Its ancient name is Lugdunum during the Gallo-Roman civilisation. The Gallo-Roman Museum of Lyon-Fourviere is now known as Lugdunum too. It has a vast collection of fine arts and antiques dated back to thousands of years ago.

"Inspired by the works of our ancient artists, I deconstructed several new tangles. The new tangle that I would like to introduce today is “Lug”, the name chosen to dedicate to the city and the museum."

An entire floor of the museum is dedicated to the piece of artwork shown on the right.

Lug was the stepout of the month for January 2023. If you would like to receive the step-out of the month before it is published in our blog, you can sign up here:

Please feel welcome to share your artwork using Lug at any time on our Step-out of the Month Facebook page , where you can also see many other beautiful examples of artwork using this tangle. When you post on Instagram, Facebook or the Mosaic app please use these hashtags so we and others can find your work: #lug, #conzentric, #sootm #stepoutofthemonth.