It’s 3:47 AM.
I can’t sleep. I have insomnia. At least it’s late enough in the year that it is still dark outside. If this were June in Alaska, it would be daylight by now. Birds would be singing. And I love nature as much as the next Alaskan girl, but let me tell you, sometimes i wish those birds had an off switch!
I have insomnia. And I still have Artist’s Block https://northstarstudio.net/artists-block/. I’ve learned that when I have Artist’s Block, I have to keep working, even if I’m not accomplishing anything I’m happy with. So I tone back my ambitions. Right now, I’m working on studying color. I came up with a few color palettes last week and now I’m testing them out. There’s a process I use to create a floral motif that repeats into a pattern. It’s very formulaic. It’s like following a recipe. So it’s easy to accomplish. Last time, I used a template to start my design. This time, I managed enough creative energy to draw my own circles and squares to start the process.
This was a nice study in color. I learned a bit about working with bright colors. I thought the color palette that I started with was pretty bright, but when the design was complete, the way the colors related to each other made them seem less vivid. So I altered the color palette to even more vivid versions of the colors I was working with.
Insomnia + Artist’s Block = A Cool Video
There is an app I use on my iPad for most of what I create digitally. It’s called Procreate https://procreate.com. One of the many really cool features it has is that it can record your screen as you draw, and you can play it back later as a time-lapse video. So here is the video of the making of a floral pattern from scratch, blank background to full repeat. You can see where I recolored the large flowers and tweaked the colors of the surrounding foliage to match. I’m happy with the way the pattern came out. It’s bold and floral, but a little lacy at the same time. I love how vivid the colors are. I’ve been working with more muted palettes lately, so this is a fun little kick of color. It matches my insomnia. I’ve included the original color palette I used next to the video below. Yes, it’s a very not-sleepy palette.
I can see this pattern on fabric of course. I think it would make a lovely wrapping paper. Or maybe office supplies. What do you see this used as? Comment below! I’d love to know what you think!
