The Seasonal Creative - April inspiration
From the wet and windy Hebrides
The month of April conjures up images in my mind of daffodils and spring bulbs, birdsong and washing drying in a gentle breeze…if only eh! This year we’re off to a very blustery and soggy start to the month.
I usually spend as much time as I can outdoors eagerly awaiting the arrival of my autumn planted bulbs and soaking up any available vitamin D but this year I am left a little defeated. I have my limits when it comes to trudging through horizontal rain desperately seeking inspiration, especially with a temperamental toddler in tow!
Yet again I am forced to turn to my stash of picture books and daydream my way to my next project.
I have been taking a surface pattern design course since the beginning of March. I love learning new skills at the beginning of the year and learning to design patterns has been a goal of mine for a good few years now. The course teaches you how to design in collections which is a fairly new concept to me but something I think is applicable to lots of mediums including my linocut work.
The collection I am currently working on is inspired by 17th century Aubusson tapestries. I love the leafy canopies, the layered textures and the colour palettes of dreamy blues and greens.
The collection starts with jotting down a list of words that you’d like your work to encompass so mine includes: antique, tapestry, verdure, movement, faded, apricity, budding, sapling etc etc. From this list I created a mood board of images and inspiration for my patterns. The next step is the ‘quick jot’. I drew around twenty small squares in my sketch book and filled them with rough designs for patterns. I love to do this with print ideas too and sometimes I’ll even set a timer so I haven’t got time to waste faffing with my drawings, the aim is to get the ideas down on paper without overthinking them.
I am still very much in the early stages of this process and my collection is still taking shape but I have managed to develop one linocut pattern that I know I am happy with. I’ll probably spend more time trying out different colourways later on when I have fleshed out some more designs but I’m pleased with the composition and would love to see it printed on wallpaper - maybe I could even persuade my long-suffering husband that we need to wallpaper another room in our house!
I hope you have enjoyed this little look at what I’m working on and can find ways to incorporate these workflow methods into your own practice. Next time you start a new project, why not make your own moodboard (physical or digital), give the jotting of inspirational words and phrases a go or the ‘quick-jot’ method for getting the creative juices flowing.
Until next week,
Alice
