Going with the flow – floral pattern
Part of the new calmer lifestyle I’m trying to adopt, I’m throwing out all my design career goals and schedules and plans and ‘going with the flow’. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to do any work for studios – but I will only do so when I have the time and when it’s a call/assignment/trend that really calls out to me. There are opportunities at all of the studios I work with for this, but I have a tendency to try to challenge myself to new things (not always a bad thing, of course) or to do a gazillion designs for one assignment, rather than one considered one.
Mostly, though, I want it to mean getting back to enjoying creating art that I love – both creating and looking at. Enjoying the process and just really embedding myself in whatever I’m creating (this is a mindful thing in itself, I believe, from what I’ve read).
Friday night, I did some loose pen and ink doodling – flowers (so often flowers!) and Saturday night I dived into Illustrator and dug into my most preferred method – and then mixed it up a bit. I had such a lovely time (I did watch something at the same time – that’s a habit I may struggle to break – The Hundred Foot Journey, which was a lovely film to watch) doing and was really pleased with the result.
My favourite is the grey blue background. I like the faded silhouette leaves in the background, but I wonder if they might be better done to fit in much more in the gaps of the main design, rather than just as a repeat behind them.
Anyway, the point is that this is what I love to do. Create patterns from the heart – whether based on drawings, paintings or completely digital. Explore colour combinations and test out what different background colours do to a design (I love how different purely changing the background colour can make the feel of a design). Play about with fitting motifs together in a pleasing way.
I really like the effect of having the black and white collection of flowers, juxtaposed with the colourful print/cutout effect ones. This is a bit of a new thing for me.
The whole process of this was free of stress or anxiety. It was just for me, without the need to meet a brief, meet a deadline, or try to work in new methods. Proper relaxation. I hope I get to do more and more of it.
When it all just flows
I don’t really have a problem with artist’s block (touch wood) but sometimes it takes a while to get into a brief, especially if you’re trying to do something that’s a little outside your comfort zone, or something that’s not really ‘you’. A lot of freelance and agency work involves pushing out designs quite quickly and in quite large quantities, which can sometimes wear you out a bit. I still love doing those, and hope I always will, but it’s so lovely to have an evening to just go in my own direction completely.
I’ve had a few evenings of being too tired to sit and draw or design (evenings and weekends are my main design times) and had very early nights. Last night I was very excited to have the energy to sit up at my desk and do some designing. There were a few ‘money designs’ I could have worked on (for print studios and some aimed at specific mailouts, for example) but, after a few off days, I needed the time to just go with the flow. And the flow took me to poppies and ogees (yes, ogees are definitely my thing at the moment – I just can’t resist them!).
Chris spotted this awesome book in a local charity shop the other day and I had a flick through for some pictures to inspire me and landed on the poppies.
I did a bit of sketching to work out what I wanted to do and I also gathered together some bright and juicy poppy colours – used a couple of poppy photos as a reference.
And then I loaded up Netflix so I could watch the first couple of episodes of the new ‘Better Call Saul’ series (loved it!), and got down to playing.
I may have also had a couple of glasses of Prosecco to lubricate the creative flow!
I had such a lot of fun and stayed up until almost midnight, but felt fine for it. Some late nights are more wearing than others, but if I’m painting or designing to please just me, then those are the best and the most relaxing.
Have you found some time to just create what you want to create recently? What are your best times of day for creating?