Playing with different colourways for the original combs pattern I posted two weeks ago, this vibrant one against a dark background was a big favourite. Then, almost unconsciously as a form of doodling I began to play around making birds from the combs. They quickly became a pattern as I listened to Beatrix, a wonderful dramatisation of the life of Beatrix Potter on BBC Radio 4 Extra. Two ways to relax in the evenings when I'm too tired to take on anything that requires big thoughts! Thanks for visiting, see you next week
On Thursday morning my breath was taken away as I drove over the crest of a hill to be greeted by the sight of the moon, rising in the valley of the River Forth beneath me. A sliver of pink sickle was hovered just above the horizon in a sky of red gradient which moved upwards to deep blue, just like a Japanese woodcut. It was the last moon before it became new on Friday. It's good to see daylight approaching earlier by the day now, and to hear the birds waking up with small twootling and peeping sounds just before daybreak.
I had been working on this version of Misguided Star in warm browns during the week, and just had to somehow work in all that beauty. PS: I know, the moon's facing the wrong way for the new moon - it just looks better in the composition this way round! Thanks for visiting, see you next week I made this pattern of combs from some of last week's shapes, adding a few extra elements so there are combs and combed. I think it's my favourite!
Motivation: when I get sluggish in the creative department I will often set myself an exercise to kick things off again. This week I used one of my favourite ploys, which is to design some basic forms, decide which are of the most interest, and organise them. It could be just in one neat image like the one above, or maybe a series of simple abstract compositions. This week it naturally progressed into pattern-making and here I am all excited again - some simple block repeats, followed by half-drops which trotted out nicely. Glad to keep my hand in with patterns created in my archaic and slightly chaotic way on an old iPad with no automated process. Thanks for visiting, see you next week!
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Welcome to my illustration and patterns blog.
I illustrate under the pen-name of Binky McKee, McKee being my mother's maiden name. Binky was the name of every single cat my great-grandmother kept - allegedly about 40 of them during her 94 years of life. I changed the website address a few months ago, so some older links on previous posts are broken. If you click one of those and it takes you to a strange page, simply replace the .co.uk after the binkymckee. with weebly.com and it will work again. I hope you enjoy your visit! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I keep lots of scrapbooks and sketchbooks where I develop ideas and design little creatures. Here's a peek inside one ...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As you may know, I am also known as Heather Eliza Walker.
Click the image if you would like to find out more and visit my other website. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 2024
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This time, take a peek into my ceramic design sketchbook. I actually made some of the mugs, but I kind of prefer the drawings! The plate designs are painted on paper plates, a most liberating process.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These watercolours are from my pattern sketchbook. I used coloured wax crayons to resist the washes of watercolour, also home-made rubber stamps dipped in bleach then printed on crêpe paper - the bleach takes out the paper dyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A sketchbook I used for mark-making with unusual objects - corks, seed-heads, feathers, home-made rubber stamps, my fingers and lots of flicky things ...
|