Gigantor Doodle Board!

Just posting a little progress picture of my Gigantor Doodle Board. This project has become really a fun one! We were given this to do as part of The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design, Module 2 course, and at first I was terrified. I procrastinate, for the most part, when working on large surfaces. I never was comfortable painting on a large canvas, that giant, blank, white square or rectangle kind of frightened me, lol!

This piece is on a 20x30 inch illustration board, done with Sharpie markers! I used a few Zentangle patterns that I found on the 'net, but 95% are my own doodles, flowers, and stuff that flows out of my head. I used to do count-cross-stitch, crocheting, knitting, embroidery, and I find that it brings exactly the same relaxing quality when I work on it.

If you want to Pinterest any of my artwork or photography, please attach a link to this blog and give me credit. If you don't, I will find you and hurt you ;)

Colorways

Another fun exercise from "The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design" e-course was to come up with our own colorways. A colorway is basically a color palette, which I use to create my surface patterns. Coming up with a successful group of colors just by thinking of them is much harder than you think! I've tried that before. This way was much more fun as well.

I dug up some of my own travel photos and used the "color picker" in CorelDraw to copy a few of the colors that really "spoke to me" from each. I usually have a palette in mind as I draw my designs, so what I'll do is poke through a bunch of these and see which one is a good fit. Then I'll tweak the colors and play them off of each other. It's a process, folks! It ain't easy at times. But darn, it's a blast.

I also want to let you know about a fabulous blog called "Design Seeds", http://design-seeds.com/  It's one of my favorites, I usually choose my favorite color group of the day and post it on Pinterest and Facebook. It's so well done, and I get a lot of inspiration by what I see there. A lot of my friends enjoy seeing the colors as well.

Oh, and if you want to Pinterest any of my artwork or photography from here, please attach a link to this blog and give me credit. If you don't, I will find you and hurt you ;)

"Do What You Love".

  It all started while Googling late one night.  I needed a change, and a new challenge, SOMETHING to get my create juices flowing again. While looking for potential online courses to take, I found all of these blog links to a website called, "Do What You Love", by Beth Nicholls. Intrigued, I clicked on further, and found Rachael Taylor's e-course "The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design".  That was it!  BINGO! I signed up for Module 1: Designing your way. I was so incredibly pleased at how professional it was set up, and even more impressed with the wonderful, diverse, and talented group of people that are participating!

  Various projects, tutorials, interviews, and industry links are given out daily, and you work at your own pace. Finished pieces or inspirational photos and moodboards are shared via a Flickr group. It is such a positive and uplifting experience to share your own work and see other's, receive and give feedback. It's an international group which makes it even more fun!

  Below is my very first project, done about 6 weeks ago.

© Groovity

 We had to take some sketches, or shapes, or buttons or whatever, and play around with them on a background, like a collage. I used some colorful drinking straws as a background, and overlayed some little sketches that I did. Some people used ribbons, ric-rac, it was amazing what the end results were! Fun stuff!

  The fun continued, each and every day, every week for the length of the module course. And oh yeah, I started this blog because of it...

  I just emailed my final project to Rachael Taylor's blog, showcasing all of my coursemate's designs.

© Groovity

 I called this one "Boho Carnival".

This has been such an incredibly neato and creative journey, all crammed into 6 weeks. At times I thought my brain was going to implode from all of the ideas bouncing around. Glad it didn't.   I feel refreshed and renewed, energized and ready!  Ready for??? Stay tuned :))

  Oh, and if you want to Pinterest any of my artwork or photography, please attach a link to this blog and give me credit. If you don't, I will find you and hurt you ;)