Tahlia Paige

I wanted to work on the motifs that I could have surrounding the bugs in the patterns, for the dragonflies I was thinking lilypads and leaves and berries bundles for the beetles and ladybirds.

• 

• 

• 

Using a mixture of patterns here for the options when it comes to creating the patterns, I thought about the size of the motifs too as I would want them to be different and changing throughout the patterns.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I wanted to explore texture and mark making digitally too as I thought this could work effectively on the background of my piece, I tried out a variety of brushes and strokes to get a really vast range to try out in repeat here, I also keep the colour quite middle range as I thought it could be changed easily this way with Photoshop.

While I knew I was going for a graphic outcome with these patterns, I love sewing and I wanted to explore effects of applique on the fabrics and using decorative stitches to see if I could create a motif that I could photoshop more graphic.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I worked with a few colours and tried out a range of stitches, I also tried out applique which I think is really effective, especially with the ladybirds as I used stitching similar to my drawn patterns as well. I also tried to work on quilting to see what kind of pattern that could create. I like the effect of it as it is more 3D and actually looks more like the shape of the bug.

After my mark-making and exploration of the insects as a motif in pattern later on in my sketchbook, I began to see how these could work in a more graphic sense with my patterns. I considered live tracing them with illustrator, but I know from before that this does not capture colour as well as I would have liked, and if I drew the images again on Procreate, I could adapt them more and colour them with a variety of tools.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I explored beetles first, using my patterns I had tried out in my sketchbook in Procreate using the Apple pencil. I drew the outlines in a more realistic way to my research in Cardiff Museum, then filled in the pattern. I wanted to add colour to the motif in a subtle way so they would not effect the patterns I put them into massively, just enough to catch the colour in repeat.

• 

• 

• 

The dragonflies were interesting as I was able to be creative with the pattern in the wings which I liked, I added some colour into these as well. Due to doing them digitally I was able to cut and take parts of the species and combine them, creating another motif with the wings of one and the body of the other which I think is good as another variation.

• 

• 

Finally I worked on ladybirds, which with their distinctive red colour these turned out which bright and interesting. I included the patterns again instead of using a black fill on some bits, again I think this makes the motifs more interesting and more in the style of my drawing instead of a graphic style that is not related to my hand work.

I plan on using my research from my summer research trips to do some drawings of lilypads and greenery, leaves and berries, things that would be found with the species I was looking at.

I wanted to explore the idea around my motifs as I was getting closer to what I wanted to do for patterns. The experimentation I was most happy with was a solid black line drawing or ink drawing with patterns filling the shapes to give them some interest and depth.

• 

• 

• 

I began with exploring the kind of shape I wanted to use, whether I wanted to use detailed and accurate shapes for the bugs, or more naive shapes in a more childlike style. My original target audience was aimed at young children, but as I started drawing I realised my designs have always been a little more aimed at an older audience, so I need to make a decision on whether I want to switch to an older audience or try and adapt my style to be more child-like.

• 

• 

The images above show my exploration of pattern, I tried to create a wide variety of patterns to try out in the grid, and then using some of my favourites I tried out some techniques with them. I had a go with mixing the patterns and combining them together in one piece, I also looked at the scale of the pattern, bringing it from small to large and how this could work in an insect motif, however as I explained in the sketchbook annotation, I do not like the effect of this overall.

Linoprinting is something that I never really took to much, I have recently thought about how it would be good for texture so this is something I wanted to try out.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The linoprints here I tried were white ink on black paper and black ink on the white paper, both of which I think have worked quite well. I liked that the images were not perfectly clean as it gave them a little texture to them, especially around the insects. The texture was also very interesting as it gave a good impression of what I cut out and also the texture around it. I also worked on top of the prints with gold and silver pens, I added lines to the back of the bugs and creating pattern around the insects.

Cyanotypes are something I love doing due to my photography background, using the bold blue colour they turn out often in my colour schemes. Using a digital negative of the images I want, exposing them to light after painting on the cyanotype chemical results in a printed copy of the image, which works on both paper and certain fabrics.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The cyanotypes went quite successfully, although I wish I got some more detailed images of the insects that would have been more of a drastic print rather than just the outlines of them. I quite like the splashed one too, by only splashing the developer on some parts of the images the image is only partially developed and exposed. I also added stitch to a few of them to help with the texture and to the shape of the image, bringing out certain parts of it like the veins in the leaves and the stems of some of the thinner leaves.

• 

• 

• 

The photograms were also quite interesting, the skeleton leaf in particular was very effective showing the veins and holes through it, I also like the smaller ones as it shows a great deal of detail throughout. The bugs are quite singular toned, however the shape is very clear and interesting.

I had a go at some double exposure, exposing two different images on the same piece of coated photographic paper, however these did not go too well this time, as the timings and intensity of the lighting are all factors that can affect the quality of the image at the end of the process.

Overall the photographic experiments were interesting, but this time I did not feel like they could contribute to my pattern creation this time. I will continue to work closely with photography, digital and more taditional processes, as I feel like it is part of my handwriting, whether its the process to get there or the final result itself.

I carried on experimenting throughout my sketchbook, which I have annotated through but wanted to show on here briefly.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I wanted to show the texture that can be explored when thinking of an insects path through the dirt, or the texture on its back, both of which I think are interesting points to add texture to my own work. I think texture is something I needed to work on more last term, with my pattern background often looking a little too dull I think, so this is something I really want to make sure is covered during this module.

We had a talk from Martha about using images as research and how to find these images from both the library and online, I found some useful websites that were especially good for creating my moodboards, in the way that google images and Pinterest were not. They were very well set up and photographed images that were brightly coloured and detailed. I also had a reminder about the journals, which I thought would be very good for the insect images I was after. There was an issue however because the journals are not searchable by keywords or content, so I had to just look through them. I found a few interesting titles thanks to the librarian who worked on the top floor, these includes wildlife and animals journals, as well as some scientific ones.

• 

• 

National Geographic turned out to be the most useful journal, and after looking through a large amount of the copies I finally found one that had a jewel scarab on the cover. I used this to look through then as some inspiration for shape and colour.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The high quality images in the journal were really useful and interesting, the colours were also very catching and I think these images were very well presented alongside information about the species.

Cardiff museum was somewhere I spent numerous weekends as a child, I loved the natural history and I remembered a large display of insects all along a wall somewhere in the back of the museum. When I visited again last year during a module I was completing based on the museum, I went looking for this and was surprised that it was gone. For my current module, I found insects to be a great source of inspiration due to the adventures I had in Summer to lakes and nature reserves. I found it very difficult to photograph a creature such as a dragonfly in flight, so it got me thinking about the museum and what I remembered as a child from there.

I got in touch with Sarah Younan, who I first met in a career talk in uni, and went on to take part in a photography consultancy job at the museum. She directed me to Dr Mike Wilson, of the entomology department, who was an expert and carried out his job in the archives.

I arranged a date and came in to meet him and request to take some photographs of the species he could show me, I was particularly looking for ladybirds, beetles mostly jewel beetles, and dragonflies.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

It was a very impressive room, with each unit housing thousands and thousands of different bugs, and Dr Wilson’s work taking place with the microscopes alongside. He showed us what he had lined up for the afternoon’s work, some kind of tiny fly or nat that needed checking and identifying and placing for display in a box, which seems like an impossible task when this species could quite easily be swept up assuming it was a speck of dust.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The beetles were a very interesting discovery, I had been looking online and in books for pictures of jewel beetles and similar to work from previously, but I never thought the colours would actually be that iridescent and metallic in reality, they were so shiny they looked polished and freshly painted, although some of them date back to the 1800s when they were collected and preserved. I love the texture on the shells of them, some are very linear and even, while others are more like a steel cap that has been hammered repeatedly, again something I thought was interesting as it has naturally occurred like this.

I liked the variety in shapes of the species too, the heads, antlers, body parts, shells were all very different from one to another and were good as a difference to draw and put into my patterns eventually for my giftwrap collection.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I was told beforehand that the dragonflies do not keep their colour very well in age, however I still wanted to see them for the shapes of the bodies and wings to draw from. I do not think the pictures give the best impression of scale for some of them, they were extremely large compared to what I would see in this country, and very leggy. It became amusing to try and find the creepiest species in there, I saw a couple of drawers that were labelled ARACH and I knew to steer clear of these, but did discover a beetle that was the size of my hand.

I brought a friend with me that day who was vaguely interested in looking at butterflies for her fashion collection, so we did also look at these, of course they were very vibrant and very pretty, again colours that I did not know could be that bright naturally.

• 

• 

• 

• 

The blue butterflies were of course, dazzling. They were easily comparable with the bright jewel beetles we had seen earlier in our visit. I was surprised to see rows and rows in the drawers of what looked like the exact same butterfly, it turns out the collections were done in the 1800s for a lot of time for research purposes, I would guess that any kind of endangerment to species back then was either not known or not monitored. I also queried why these drawers were not on display in the museum as I remember, and Dr Wilson said that they were created for the research purposes of being studied, not displayed, I guess as well in the drawers they are preserved much better away from light.

I think there is also an ethical issue with the vast number of these species that were killed purely to be displayed in the drawers, I did not realise before that the species are found and then killed for the collecting purpose, I guess it would not make sense to find dead ones that would probably already be decaying or damaged. It was a very informative trip anyway and I found this visit to the archives to be much better for my research that the museums in London were, giving me better photographs to work from.

I next plan on taking the photos and working from them to produce motifs to put into patterns for my giftwrap collection.

I like to begin my experimentation exploring form and shape with a series of quick sketches, I have not had much experience drawing bugs before, unlike flowers or greenery which I have studied in the past so I really wanted to explore the body shapes of them, and looking at the legs at what point it goes from cute to creepy with them.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I explored a range of techniques which working from the initial insect photographs. I used pens, pencils, both plain and coloured, as well as Indian ink to achieve the effects that I wanted, I particularly like the work with patterns on the first image which I think I could explore more, as well as the Indian ink ones which roughly show the shape of the insect with this bold messy effect which I think actually turned out very pretty and decorative.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I moved on a little to start exploring colour, using a range of paints and pencils, I used a few techniques too, such as using the paint to create a bright coloured background for the motif to sit on, as well as using the colour to give the bugs the shape and tone I wanted for them. I based the colours off of the jewel beetles, which are very bright and bold, unlike colours that we often see in nature. I also tried a technique using the blue with added white to it, as flat shades, which I think is really interesting and I did enjoy working in that style, although it was hard to maintain and not let the colours mix as they did. I also had a go at a pattern with the bugs, varying the shapes and colours of them and adding patterns to some of them as well. Overall I enjoyed this stage of experimenting, although I do not really see anything that jumps out at me for motifs, even with the bright colours.