{creative soul}: Surface Pattern Design

September 30, 2013

Mojo Monday: Nature Sketchbook

Hello! Happy Monday to you... it is a gorgeous fall day here in Michigan and I'm very blessed to have a park near my studio where I can walk, jog or bike. Right now, the leaves are just beginning to change and even though it's warm & sunny here there is a little crispness to the air, which I just love!

Today, I am working on an online class and one of the assignments was to sketch with pen, pencil or whatever medium you wish, items that you find in nature. I decided to head out on my walk to collect whatever caught my fancy. I love flowers, but I was looking for more wispy, twigs and leaves. First, I started off from my office and headed out to Hines Park. The evidence of fall was all around me...

On my walk I found a lot of goodies! Once I got back to the studio, I sorted through them and picked out my favorites.

Next, I sketched them using a combination of marker and graphite. I really enjoyed this process. I'm not sure where it will lead, but it helped me to view nature in a different way and I came up with some great motifs that I may use in a scrapbook paper or other surface pattern design down the road.

I hope you enjoyed this process and that you might choose to use it in your own work. Taking pictures really helps too, esp. since some of these may dry and out and change their look later on (which may lead to a cool and totally different motif!)

Hugs!
N

Sep 30, 2013 5:19:14 PM | Design, Inspiration, Mojo Monday, Surface Pattern Design

July 01, 2013

Mojo Monday : Artist Spotlight on Yaz Raja!

Happy Monday! I hope wherever you are today that you are enjoying yourself! It has finally cooled off here and is raining a bit. I love it!

For today's MOJO MONDAY post, I wanted to share a new favorite artist with you.. Yaz Raja. Yaz is a surface pattern designer living in the U.K. I found Yaz's work through Pinterest. I fell in love with her painterly, illustrated artwork. It just makes my heart sing! It's colorful, whimsical, yet elegant at the same time.

Once I found Yaz's artwork, I sent an email off to her to find out what kinds of medium she worked in and she was so sweet to email me back right away. Yaz works mostly in watercolor and gouache paints and I've found that most artists that I resonate with work in gouache. Mary Blair and Anne Keenan-Higgins also work in this medium. It is a cross between a watercolor and acrylic and I'm hoping to add more of it to my growing art supplies!

Here is a snapshot of Yaz's work as well as a link to her store at Society6. I want to order everything in her shoppe!