It was a last minute decision to join the 100 Day Project. I’ve attempted in a couple of times and always considered it when the time rolls around. It's a good opportunity to re-commit to a regular art/creation process and all that but with so many other things on my plate and limited time, I am trying to be extra careful about taking on projects that I cannot realistically finish. However, I happened to be reading Lisa Congdon's "Find You Artistic Voice" for the second time (highly recommend) and also listening the The Creative Pep Talk podcast with Andy J. Pizza (also highly recommend if you are a creative) and it all just made sense. Both of them talk about getting to the root of what you love, what you are drawn to. But specifically Lisa, in the early pages of her book, asks questions like; 'how do you create lines in your work' and 'what shapes do you use consistently in your work' also, ‘what is your typical colour palette? Is it warm or cool’? Pretty straightforward but it occurred to me that I had never really consciously dug into all of that! And just like that my project presented itself - I am going to take the time to learn about my own pattern style through exploring the 8 elements of design she writes about and the break down will be as follows;
Days 1 to 13 - LINE
Days 14 to 28 - SHAPE
Days 29 to 42- LAYERING
Days 43 to 56 - COLOUR
Days 57 to 70 - TEXTURE
Days 71 to 84 - COMPOSITION
Days 85 to 98 - RHYTHM + MOVEMENT
Days 99 to 112 - PATTERN + REPEATING IMAGERY
According to Lauren Keung, "lines are the most basic elements of design. They come in all shapes, sizes, and colours. Lines have direction. Lines can be bold, thick or thin.Lines can be dashed, dotted or solid, straight, wavy."
As I draw, I ask myself what kinds of lines do I like drawing? What seems to come naturally to me? Is there anything I find particularly challenging? So far it has been really interesting. Here are my first 14 patterns:
My initial observations from this exercise are that organic and abstract lines are my go-to. I found, no. 3 and no. 9 just flowed so naturally and I like where they are going.. I would say that no. 1 and no. 10 are similar but my personal preference is for the pattern with the 'wonky' lines. I did add colour to the mix even though that element comes a little later but I used the same colour palette for all of these.
I'm thinking some of these patterns would be great outdoors and all mixed together (see mock up below)! Lots to consider.
If you made it this far, thank you. I am nervous about writing (I have always been told that my writing is very disorderly and hard to follow) but I want to share all this with you so I am shifting my focus and perhaps with practice my writing will improve?! It can't hurt.
Until next time…
UPDATE:
I have to put this project on hold for the time being but will definitely pick it back up soon!