Well I made it through the first week of the Make Art That Sells course. It has been so inspiring already, and I feel like I am back at university with the amount of energy I have for this and also the amount of time I have spent drawing and creating in the last week!
Our first week was all about Fabric design. Our assignment was to use our sketches of berries and casseroles from our mini assignment to create a professional level fabric pattern.
I decided I really wanted my pattern to have a traditional hand-created feel, because a lot of modern patterns have a very flat, 'digital' look to them. One technique I've been wanting to try for a while is creating hand-carved stamps, so I figured what better time to try?! I made a few different stamps which was ooooodles of fun...
strawberries...
some spoons and cake stands...
and some leaves...
and then after a conversation with my husband who always has good ideas, I decided to include a few different things, so I did some drawing and painting too...
Then I scanned them all in, along with some scrapbooking paper I have, and arranged them in Photoshop. I didn't really have a plan for how I would do this. Normally I would do a sketch to work from but I decided to let it come together a bit organically. This is the first piece I came up with...
I really like the '4 and 20 blackbirds' reference, but something wasn't feeling 'right'. I'm not sure if it was the colour scheme or the composition.
So after I put my little boy to bed tonight I had a glass of wine and started over. I started from scratch with mostly the same elements and came up with this:
And this one feels a lot better to me. As I said to hubby "I'm not blowing myself away" but it feels like it sits better. I'm happy to submit this one. Here's what it looks like repeated:
Had sooooo much fun this week. I've enjoyed creating this work and could definitely see doing this as a fun break from watercolour washes to do some more iconic work.
(see my mini assignment for this week here if you missed it)
Next week: Home Decor. Bring it on!!
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6 comments:
Thanks Kim for sharing this! Recently I've heard A LOT of people talking about Lila Rogers MATS course (i was talking about it this same evening with Louise!) and wandered if it was really as amazing as people say. I would love to hear your opinion! Please keep sharing stuff about your assignments, such a good insight!
Gorgeous kim, keep having fun, although we are missing your 9x5 entry terribly i can see why you've been so busy
Thanks Jody! Yes was sorry I couldn't do a 9x5 this year but just not enough hours in the day!!
Hey Laura - yes I think there is a big buzz about this course at the moment, and with good reason. I have only done one week but it is pretty amazing so far. Incredible information and insights into different markets that would be difficult to find elsewhere. It is quite $$ is the only thing, but so far I've just loved it.
Thanks for checking in and will keep posting here!
Kim this is gorgeous. It's fabulous to see the process you went through too. What a great first week! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with for week 2.
Looks wonderful, Kim! Please keep posting, you are inspiring! Can I ask what you used to make your stamps? I've always wanted to make my own.
Thanks Dan, yes it has been fun so far hasn't it?
Thanks Marjory! The stamps were really fun to do. I've been using Speedball carving rubber which I found while in the States, with a set of cutters from Dick Blick. I think you can order them online maybe if you can't find any locally? All the best!!
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