Wednesday, February 29, 2012

So therapeutic


I can imagine that all these doodle roses I do might not seem very interesting to others, or just plain old all the same.  But every time I find time to do them, I find a sense of calmness and excitement all blend into one. 
I have been transforming some of my little paintings, acrylic on wood into repeating patterns. I am glad that I finally found my way of doing it. When I first started drawing these spiral roses, I want to make them into patterns but didn't know how. Well, fast forward to now, I have experiment, explored, learnt more technology and voila, it is all coming to together. I already have ideas of how to turn this one into a pattern. 
Sleep a little long my toddler so mommy can play more.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

and let there be colours

Before I got to these ones, I had way too much going on. I had too many colours and thick stripes under the roses. Finally... as usual, I simplified it and am pretty happy with these ones.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Doodle colour study

Sick kids mean my doodle practice can't be explored as extensively, but I managed to do a quick colour study on the blood orange at the dinner table.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

No. 2 repeat

Didn't think I could make this one. Rough night. Sick kid. Interrupted sleep. Will apply colour tomorrow.

Friday, February 17, 2012

A variation



Today, I have taken my 20" x 20" canvas in PS onto the old school brush and ink on 65 lbs paper. I mixed Chinese ink and a bit of gel medium, to give it a bit more body, and doodled away. I forgot how therapeutic the motion of painting spiral has. Tomorrow I will scan and work on it on the machine.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

No 1 Repeat


Here is what I have done with the doodle from yesterday. I am liking this pinkish with grey colour scheme.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Doodle Discipline begins

I have been inspired by two amazing designer friends of mine to start an art discipline exercise. This exercise will kick my creative process into higher gear. Every day, I will set aside one hour to do this. I will open up a 20" x 20" canvas in PS and start doodling in different layers. I will select the doodles I like and arrange them into a repeating pattern. I like that it is very gestural and intuitive exercise. This will help me create a unified series of pattern. Here is my first doodle of the day. I don't know how long I will do this, but I will do it until I feel that I have a collection of patterns I am happy with.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Game Plan


Now that I have gotten the impulsive obsessiveness of producing one finished pattern every night, I am writing a realistic plan of how to divide my time up between my family life and art life. 

So with a cup of Cream Earl Grey sitting beside, I am writing my long term game plan for success in the art world.

I will allow myself to work on my process step by step, without digging into my necessary sleep time. For weeks, I was working frantically every night after the kids are in bed, I was afraid the creative juices will run dry if I don't do it now, or that I will not have time because I needed to take care of the kids. Then my body will break down and I will get sick.  I got burnt out.

Figuring out what works for me

The kitchen island is still my best doodling space, it's high enough to keep away the kids' grabbing paws and I can supervise them as I draw. I do retreat to my computer, mostly after they are in bed, to do the actual designing and playing with colours. I found a fantastic website about colours, it's called Design Seeds. It has given me great inspirations. 

Army of Me

Yes it is title of a Bjork song, but I think it is best way of describing this part of my plan. 
I remember when I started getting into Children's Illustrations, I worked on building an image library. I started doodling and worked on developing characters and use as reference later, like a boy standing or sitting. It will be a great asset to do the same for my patterns. I will doodle and build resources that can be turned into motifs or elements that can be used later. So I am building an "army of me ( my own doodles and art)" that will be around to back me up when I maybe feeling a bit dry on the inspirations department.

Sit up straight

Sounds cliche and simply right? But I really need to focus on good posture while designing at the computer, as my shoulders and upper back can really tighten up after my long sessions of being in my world of colours, shapes and lines. I also lie on my yoga block position in between my shoulder blades to stretch things out especially if I want to be able to sleep after sitting at the computer.