Poinsettia Christmas Flower Repeating Pattern

I had so many Christmas designs ready to go, and somehow December has almost crept away from me without posting any of them. This poinsettia design is bright and cheery. It puts me in the mood to draw some more floral designs.

Merry Christmas, everyone! Thanks for looking.

Basic Black and White Patterns

One thing I've learned while working with homewares is that it can be hard to find simple coordinates. There are plenty of busy, colourful patterned things available, but when someone wants a throw rug or cushion to match, it can be difficult. Monochrome solids are often the best option, but simple patterns in a smaller scale can work too. 

So I thought I'd put together some simple, plainer repeating patterns that might coordinate nicely with some busier ones.

"Simple Crosses", Digital, October 2015

"Simple Weave", Digital, October 2015

"Simple Triangles", Digital, October 2015

"Simple Stripes", Digital, October 2015

"Potted Succulents" - Tiling Cactus Repeating Pattern

Some days you start drawing, and come up with something that you absolutely adore. Thanks to these adorable little cactus pot plants, this is one of those days. Succulents in happy little brightly coloured pots must be one of my favourite novelty patterns. I'd love to have this printed up and made into a dress.

"Potted Succulents" Digital, October 2015

Arabesque Trellis Preview

I'm currently getting back into the swing of things after a pretty solid month of work at my day job. It's nice to have the time and energy to be creative again. Sometimes you just need a bit of time to play. Unfortunately, I wasn't quite thinking when I created this pattern, because I managed to save this small preview sized image that I'm currently using as a desktop background, but not the original sized artwork that I was actually going to make something with. So that's frustrating. Luckily, it didn't come out quite how I wanted, so I was going to have another crack at it anyway. 

For now, here's the small version to show you.

"Arabesque Trellis", November 2015

I'm not even sure if that's clear enough for you to see, but it's the best I can do. Let this be a reminder to keep track of what you've saved when you're closing files. I have a bad habit of getting distracted mid project, and going to work on another image, so I often have about ten tabs open at the end of a session. Don't do this. Save what you need as you go.

But also, don't worry too much if you lose things. It happens. There will always be something else to draw tomorrow.

Strive Home and Design - Handbags Coming Soon

Well I've been working hard this past month at my day job, so this morning I was feeling pretty fatigued. Luckily, I received an email this afternoon with some exciting news that has invigorated me. As some of you may know, I've been planning to have my designs printed on some things to sell in an online store. I've been going though the plans for the last few months, researching possible objects, finding manufacturers, discussing logistics, calculating potential cost and profit margins. It seemed like a big undertaking, with a lot of things that could go wrong. But, despite my cautious nature, I decided to say "Why not?" and took a chance on it. And today, it's looking like that chance is paying off.

This is the very first sample of the first handbag I've ordered. You might recognise the pattern as "Space Highway", from an earlier blog post. And here it is. On a bag. That actually exists. And I'm positively thrilled about it. All that remains is to look at the handbag in person when it arrives, then go about placing my first bulk order.

There are still some decisions to make, and some work to be done before I can start selling, but this is a huge step forward for me. I'd really love to be able to develop a business around my designs and today I'm the closest I've ever been to making that a reality. It's a good feeling.

"Hibiscus and Pansies" - Floral Repeating Pattern

I keep coming back to pansies as one of my go-to flowers to draw. They have a nice shape to them, and they come in some pretty colours. I'd rather like this pattern on a summer dress.

"Hibiscus and Pansies", Digital, September 2015

I made this red hibiscus pattern first, before I drew the pansies. it looks very Hawaiian in red.

"Red Hibiscus", Digital, September 2015

"Connection" - Digital Mandala

This one reminds me of those construction kits that were a thing when I was a kid. Not sure if they're still around. I think they were called Konnects or something. They were like plastic paddlepop sticks with holes in them. I've named this one "Connection" based on that memory.

"Connection", Digital, October 2015

"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

"Ditsy Daffodils" - Colour Throwdown CTD364 - Repeating Floral Pattern

The running shoe seems appropriate because I'm in the middle of a marathon of shifts at work. My blog posts for the last few days have been scheduled and updated automatically, which is good because I've hardly had time to touch them. Unfortunately that also means I forgot to upload this one in time to add it to the list on the Color Throwdown website. Aah well.

I miss drawing at the moment, but in a couple of days I'll have a day off, so hopefully I'll get something done and won't be too tired to work on the ideas that have been floating around in my head lately. Today, here's a ditsy daffodil pattern, 

"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

"Blue Totem" - Digital Mandala

This is another one that didn't get posted from September. I like monochromatic colour palettes. Not much else to say about this one.

"Blue Totem", Digital, September 2015

"Chrysalis Psychedelia" - Digital Repeating Pattern

Today's piece has a bit of a simpler shape than some of the other art I've been working on recently. It's just an oblong with some marks inside. I'd like to create more like this, because I think it makes a rather striking repeating pattern. It's simple, but the gradient adds a bit of texture to it. The shape makes me think of a butterfly chrysalis, hence the title.

"Chrysalis Psychedelia", Digital, September 2015, 36x24 Inch

"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.

"Warm Flowers" - Color Throwdown 362 - Digital Repeating Floral Pattern

Today's pattern was made for Color Throwdown's colour palette challenge, but once again I was a day late to submit it to the link list on their website. Either way, I think it's worth posting here anyway. 

I took the inspiration quite literally, as I'd been wanting to draw some more floral patterns lately. This one has orange roses and red pansies, as well as random sprigs of mystery leaves and white dots. 

"Warm Flowers", October 2015

"Warm Flowers Tiling", October 2015

I don't mind how this came out, even though I'm not a fan of brown. This brown is pretty chocolatey, so it's not so bad. It's a pretty warm colour palette overall. This week's colour palette is a lot more pastel and beige, so I'm not sure if I'm going to try something with it. I'll see if I can make it work.

Autumn Feathers - Pals Paper Arts Challenge 271 - Digital Mandala

A little out of my comfort zone with this colour scheme from Pals Paper Arts. Brown is well outside my usual choice of colours, but I guess that's what makes these challenges interesting. It's something a bit different, that you wouldn't have necessarily chosen for yourself. That makes it a bit more fun.

"Autumn Feathers", October 2015

I've posted both the single tile and the tiling version, as the tiling would be a bit harder to see in a thumbnail. Also I'm not sure if it's just me, but my blog pictures seem to be coming out a little blurry. I'll have to keep an eye on that. Hopefully it's just my imagination.

"Autumn Feathers", October 2015

"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

"Ditsy Leaves" - Color Throwdown Challenge - Digital Repeating Pattern

Time for another colour palette challenge from Color Throwdown. I always intend to do these, but I rarely get around to them in time. I spend too much time trying to decide what I'm doing, and suddenly a week has gone by. This week's theme is green, yellow, black and white.

I wanted to make sure I submitted something, so here's just a quick ditsy leaf pattern. I'm starting to practice patterns where I have to arrange different elements and make them look like a balanced repeating pattern. This is a lot easier now that I have a Wacom tablet and can draw in additional elements to fill spaces rather than sketching on paper and scanning them in as I had to do before.

"Ditsy Leaves", Digital Repeating Pattern, September 2015, 15x15 Inch

It's still a bit rough and I might go back to clean it up later, but I'm pleased with the technique and look forward to doing it again with more complex pattern elements. Look forward to some paisley and floral patterns in the near future. 

"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

Kurt - Digital Symmetrical Tiling Abstract

Lately I've been trying to upload some of my art on a stock photo website. I've been contemplating getting into digital downloads again, like the cat silhouettes I used to sell on Etsy. Actually I've been contemplating a lot of directions I could take my art, and it has left me at a bit of a standstill. I don't know the best way to tackle it, so I overthink everything and don't get much done. I know that I could spend many hours on a project, only to realize that my time would have been better spent another way.

This morning I spent about an hour uploading files to Society 6. I like the amount of control they give you, but wish the process could be more streamlined. There should be an option to upload the largest size file, have them automatically resized by their system to fit the dimensions of each product, and manually fix whichever products you might want to turn out differently. Maybe it's more complicated than that, I don't know. 

This is my latest addition to my Society 6 store, Kurt. I designed it in a few colourways, but only the teal and purple version at the top is in the store. I don't know that I have the patience for any more today. It's just a shame that things that shouldn't take so long take many hours away from actually being able to create new things. 

Check out my store on Society 6 if you want to see this design (and a few of my others) on mugs, tote bags and other products.

30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day 21 - Wilma WIP 2

Another crazy impromptu addition of colour - this time a lime green. Then finally, bright blue. I thought about adding bright yellow to finish it off, but I quite like the white there. I've already started on the lineart of my next abstract today.