I am always looking for opportunities to continue my interest in 2D art and drawing as well as surface design and constructive textiles, I particularly like doing designs using patterns in a tattoo way almost, just more detailed. I think this is definitely my handwriting and something I plan to continue doing throughout my time in University.
Drawing with Patterns
I worked on the design and outline of the shark first, and then fit the background in where I thought it would look best, where the tail was not completely using as much space as the head was. I included a closer view of the shark as I wanted to show the full use of the patterns I use, including lines and shapes that occupy the space. I like how these work but I think in my work I need to experiment more with size and varying the size of the pattern to see if it gives any sense of depth with it which could be something interesting to try.
Penarth is a lovely little village between my home in Carmarthenshire and my parent’s holiday home in Cardigan, my boyfriend and I decided to go and spend the day up there, so this meant that we were passing through this village, so we met my family there for a walk before we went for a meal.
This particular place has been visited by my family since I was very young, the main feature being a small bridge that you can walk over, next to and under, with very large circles through it where we would regularly climb inside for photographs.
The Penarth River
I’ve always liked visiting this place, and the surface and texture of the rocks I think were really interesting. I think this could be something I could look into as I explore texture more during the module. I also like how the water has a pattern on the surface.
Looking vaguely into trends I have noticed an increase in bees over the past few years, so I started to think about how other insects could be used to create effective patterns. I know butterflies and bees have always been popular as insects to use on designs, but I thought about why not beetles? Or other insects so much like dragonflies, ladybirds or snails, I feel like they could all be made into attractive designs in their own ways.
A bumblebee on a flower
I thought this cute bumblebee on a flower was a pretty image, and could make a great placement motif. I think bees are currently overdone so I would like to look for different insects, but they were quite easy to photograph as they tend to stay in the same place for a little longer than some other fliers.
Butterflies
I found butterflies actually surprisingly easy to photograph when they land on fruit, as they do tend to stay still distracted. I liked the black ones as they are a change from the usual colour scheme of them, and the lighter one too which was giving me almost a marbled effect which I thought was also quite interesting.
Snails
I think snails are so weird and unusual, from the way they travel to the heavy shell stuck to their backs. I think they could quite easily make a very cute pattern for children and even patterns extracted from the shells could be used as a beautiful pattern in itself.
Following on from the trip to Llansteffan beach, I began to think about the inspiration of fish. I love animals and I always think about the possibility of including them in my work, but in terms of textiles I have always been inspired by architecture and structure. During a visit to a pet store, I saw a great deal of soft floating fish that I found inspiring, I could imagine them being created with interesting fringing or even as a soft watercolour painting in Procreate.
Fish photography
I found the colours in them very vibrant and interesting as well, I thought this would make for an interesting colour palette along with the blues of the water too. I know that I have an aquarium visit lined up next month too so this is something to think about.
Llansteffan beach is one of the closest to my house, although it is still an hour and a half at least away to drive, however it has always been a really nice place to go. This particular trip was with my boyfriend, to celebrate a month to the day where we last came to the beach on a first date, I loved the patterns and colours on the rocks and the sands, so I took advantage of the nice weather to get some interesting, textured photographs.
Texture on the beach
The seashells tend to wash up quite a lot on the beach and gather where the tide naturally washing them near the larger rocks and the gaps in the rocks. I also like the mixture of the natural colours of them, each shell individually has its own interesting texture as well the groups of them giving an interesting texture of their own, especially the further away you get from them.
Larger rocks textures
The larger rocks were extremely textured and pretty, the unusual colours of the oranges and purples looked even better in person than they did in the photos, I think texture is definitely something I want to focus on more this time as I find my plain backgrounds to my patterns can be quite boring and even distracting as a plain block shape behind my detailed motifs.
This is a place that is quite close to home for me, and I probably do not go often enough for how close it is. I do like going when they have craft fairs or exhibitions on there, but this visit was just a research trip to gather images.
A pond near the entrance
The botanic gardens are a showcase of the best wildlife and plants from around the world, the pond at the front I thought was very inspiring, it was full of different plants and looked quite natural. As we walked further we found a lot of very interesting looking flowers and plants, especially when we got into the large domed glasshouse.
Inspiring flowers and plants around the gardens
The flowers were so colourful and even the leaves presented really interesting and unique shapes and colours within them. I found some colours that I really thought were not able to be produced naturally such as very vibrant blues and pinks, traditionally colours that we do not associate with the earthy greens and warm browns we find in nature, so I did love this side of the research.
Insect Inspiration
There was also a butterfly house and in full summer the bees were out collecting pollen as well, I managed to get a few photos of these before they flew off too which is something I found very difficult when I was trying to do the same by lakes and ponds with dragonflies.
Bird of Prey Flying Show
We were lucky enough to witness a bird of prey flying show while we were there, I found it so interesting seeing the birds so up close and the different patterns in which they fly. I thought about how this could be translated into a pattern which I thought would be really interesting, such as adding spots behind the motif across the fabrics to show the pattern in which it flies.
Overall this was a very interesting visit for research, it gave me inspiration in nature and natural botanics, as well as insects and birds, so I knew I had a lot to think about as to which way i could like to take my research to focus down on one thing specifically.
Tahlia Paige 