I’m twenty-one days into the daily pattern challenge… or eighteen if you’re counting days of actually making patterns. Ah yes, I’ve had a slip. I can’t remember what my excuse was on Thursday, but then on Friday and Saturday it was too easy to just continue the pattern (ha, pun totally not intentional!!). Yesterday I got back into it, and I’m currently procrastinating again by writing this blog post. Sometimes creating feels great, and everything looks good and makes you happy. And sometimes it’s a bit like exercise: hard to get started, but it feels a lot better when you’re done. Enough belly-aching, I suppose, and on to the patterns!
The pattern above on the left is inspired by the couches at school. I’d like to rework that one, but a little less messy next time. I’m still having trouble carving curved lines into the lino blocks, so that’s something I’d like to practice more.
The pattern above on the right is inspired by a co-worker’s shirt. She noticed me staring at her with a funny look during a meeting, and I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was trying to memorize the lines on her shirt! I tagged her to the pattern on Facebook last week, and the very next day she wore a pretty patterned scarf just for me. So sweet! Admittedly, it does feel a little odd to be “coming out” about my secret art life to some co-workers. Many of them wonder what I’m going to “do” after I’m finished with art classes. It’s a little hard to explain that the lovely thing about art is that is has nothing to do with work at all.
The pattern above on the left is inspired by nothing in particular, and I was looking for an easy pattern at the end of a long day. The grey color is a new stamp pad that I’m loving. The pattern on the right was meant to be an exploration of texture, but it ended up looking like rain to me. Very Portland-ish.
I’m off to make my pattern for the night before bed. You can find my patterns posted on Instagram daily. You may also want to check out #patternadayjan or #letsmakepatterns to see work every day from talented and creative artists.
Happy Monday, and my best wishes to you for a creative and colorful week!