Color Throwdown 374 - "Tints and Tones" Abstract Digital Art

I really like the inspiration picture for this week's Color Throwdown challenge. I think the dining set is from Anthropology or somewhere like that? I seem to remember seeing it before.

I decided to make an abstract this time, just doodling in Photoshop. I used a few tints and tones of the orange and turquoise colour, to mix it up a bit. I quite like how that turned out. This also counts as Day 9 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge. Still not sure if I should stick to abstracts for the whole month, but at this point I haven't felt like doing much else. Follow the inspiration where it strikes, I guess.

Day 9

"Tints and Tones", Digital, January 2016

Product Ideas - Beachy Starfish Picture Frame

Now that a sample of my handbag is on the way from the manufacturer, I'm really excited about creating new products. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of startup capital, so I can't just get twenty samples of different items made up and keep a bunch of things in stock. So I figure I should make mock-up images of the products I have in mind, and show them off here, so I know which ones are most popular when it comes time to get them made up. 

This design has been in my head for a while now, and today I had to finally draw it out. It's a wooden picture frame with a printed starfish pattern on the front in grey and blue. There is a slightly darker grey wooden border around the opening and the edge of the frame itself. I know it's hard to tell what the finished product will look like from this picture, but if you think it's something you would like to buy, please let me know in the comments. The more interest it has, the more likely it will be made.

Thanks for looking. :)

"Corn" - Digital Repeating Pattern

A friend of mine just posted a picture of his dinner on Facebook. His delicious corn-filled taco meat inspired me to make this pattern. Now I'm hungry.

"Corn", Digital, October 2015

"Naughts and Crosses" - Digital Mandala

Another stripe-style mandala. I like the happy white cloud shape in the background.

"Naughts and Crosses", Digital, September 2015

"Naughts and Crosses Tiling", Digital, September 2015

"Cross Stripe" - Digital Mandala

Another mandala from back in September. I think I need to keep better track of which pictures I've uploaded and which ones are already on the blog. When everything is all together in one folder it's easy to lose things.

"Cross Stripe", Digital, September 2015

This one becomes a patterned stripe in tiling form, because the pattern doesn't touch the sides. So that's a kind of cool thing to do.

"Cross Stripe Tiling", Digital, September 2015

"Frogger" - Digital Repeating Pattern

Lots of blue and green shades in this one. The aqua dots make me think of the little sticky toes on a frog, so I've called it "Frogger". The more I look at it the more eyes I see.

"Frogger", Digital, September 2015

"Dream Catcher" - Digital Mandala

This is the other artwork I'm considering for my first printed handbags. I love the aqua and blue tones in this one, but I still think I'm edging just slightly towards the first. This one makes me think of feathered Native American headdresses or some kind of Mardi Gras decoration. 

"Dream Catcher", Digital Mandala, September 2015

I would have liked to create something new today, but I just spent the morning trying to fix some problems with my wacom tablet. It seems I need to spend an hour fixing things every time I try to create something. But I'm pretty sure I'm close to having all the kinks in my workflow ironed out.

"Disco Ant" - Digital Mandala

Another of my mandalas, completed back in September. I have to start posting these as I do them, rather than thinking of something clever to say, or they'll never get posted.

"Disco Ant", September 2015

"Space Highway" - Digital Mandala

Talking about your own art can be one of the most difficult parts of the process. I've always wanted to share what I'm working on with others, but coming up with a spiel to go along with it tends to trip me up. It feels strange to just post an image with no accompanying explanation, but I find there isn't much to say. I'm not a very conceptual artist, so even coming up with a title can be tricky. And while I like to be a positive and uplifting person, talking about how much you like your own art leaves you balancing the fine line between obnoxiously self-confident and annoyingly self-deprecating. It can be hard to convey the fact that you're happy with your work (sometimes more than others) but you see there are things you'd like to improve upon and areas you'd like to explore. Except in that one exact sentence, and that hardly lends itself to a second blog post.

My favourite art bloggers seem to have galleries that they exhibit in, art-related businesses that they run, sponsors to talk about, or ongoing personal projects to discuss. It's easy to compare yourself to someone who has spent many years cultivating their online presence and find yourself falling short. But it's important to look at the things they do well and create those traits in yourself. 

I wonder that I don't have any projects to work on, but I don't start them. I get distracted easily by other ideas, which makes it very difficult to work in series or finish a long term project. But I intend to change that. For the last few months, I've been planning to have some things manufactured with my designs and sell them online. In a manner that is most unlike me, I've made concrete steps towards my goal, rather than planning things in the abstract until I lose interest. I know I have to see actual results, such as sales of products that I've created, so that I know the effort is worthwhile and I should keep going. The next step is to decide which artwork should adorn my first item and have the sample made up and sent to me.

I've been working on several abstract designs that I can have printed on handbags. So far, this is my favourite. Whether this ends up being my first printed design or not, I still haven't decided. But it's nice to be making art that I can feel proud of again.

"Space Highway", Digital, September 2015

Wobbly Lines

This one is more abstract, a wobbly line design. I feel like the colours are a bit all over the place, as I wasn't planning as I worked, but I've learned from that experience since making this set. It can be important to think of how a set of papers will look as a whole, as well as individual papers, as that's the first impression customers get of your set.

I like the white page with black lines. It could be used like a colouring in page for people that want to make their own colour schemes. If you want to buy this set, go to Sixth Floor Studio on Etsy. Thanks for looking. :)

Broody Chickens

My new Easter design, Broody Chickens has just been uploaded in my Etsy store. It comes with a simple polka dot pattern set in matching colours. Not sure if I should keep working on Easter designs or if I should build up a stock of year round patterns. Either way, I think these chickens can be used for other projects at other times of year.

If you want to buy this set, go to Sixth Floor Studio on Etsy. Thanks for looking. :)

Autumn Forest

After some amount of fiddling, I finally have an art space set up. Most importantly, I have the scanner in my room where I can use it at any time without bothering anyone else in the house. It's nice to be able to upload a design and play with it digitally as soon as I'm inspired. 

Today, I've been playing with some tree doodles to make this tiling pattern. I'm still trying to figure out how I want to arrange my scrapbook paper packs in my Etsy shop, but this will definitely be one of them. This image is reduced quality to stop people from saving and printing this version without paying for it. I might offer some free printable images after I have the shop set up.

Sixth Floor Studio on Etsy