I recently painted three small 4"x6" patterned watercolor paintings, all with the same olive green, blue, and orange color scheme - colors that remind me of rivers, river rocks, sand, and pebbles. My intent from the beginning was to group the trio into a single frame with three openings, so I wanted them to all go together.
Like all of my patterned watercolors, these were first created in Adobe Illustrator my manipulating characters from different font families. The left most design below I titled "Pattern Myrtle" and is based on a 'S' character from a very loopy bubble font. The middle design is titled "Pattern Waverly" and was created with a capital 'E' from a decorative font. And the far right design is titled "Pattern Melissa" and was created from a cursive/italic lowercase 'w'. Sometimes the letter(s) I used to create the patterns are not discernible in the final design (and therefore I forget what they were), but in these three I can still pick them out.
As an aside: I don't think it's important to know what the letters are, since the whole point of these patterns is to abstract them into other shapes and positive/negative spaces - but it can be interesting to see if you can find the letters in the designs, if that's something you're into. :)
A few years ago, I printed out these patterns in black and white. I have a whole binder full of many options like them, which I peruse and select from when I need to. I chose these three because I thought they would go well with my "River Pebbles" theme - and once I had the patterns selected, I traced the designs onto watercolor paper.
Then, I taped them all down with masking tape to keep them flat while I painted, and pulled out the three tubes of watercolor paint I intended to use.
Because they're so small, they go quickly. Here's the first painting - "Pattern Myrtle" - complete.
Next was "Pattern Waverly":
And finally, "Pattern Melissa":
Once they were dry, I untaped them. These actually ended up curling quite a bit, despite the tape, so I had to flatten them for a few days underneath a stack of books before I could frame them.
I also completed another trio of 4"x6" watercolors - a set called "Dramatic Irony," which is the subject of my next blog post. When both sets were done, I framed each trio (the subject of another upcoming post). If you're impatient for this blog to catch up to real time, however, you can skip over to my Etsy shop and see this finished set, framed and listed for sale!
Like all of my patterned watercolors, these were first created in Adobe Illustrator my manipulating characters from different font families. The left most design below I titled "Pattern Myrtle" and is based on a 'S' character from a very loopy bubble font. The middle design is titled "Pattern Waverly" and was created with a capital 'E' from a decorative font. And the far right design is titled "Pattern Melissa" and was created from a cursive/italic lowercase 'w'. Sometimes the letter(s) I used to create the patterns are not discernible in the final design (and therefore I forget what they were), but in these three I can still pick them out.
As an aside: I don't think it's important to know what the letters are, since the whole point of these patterns is to abstract them into other shapes and positive/negative spaces - but it can be interesting to see if you can find the letters in the designs, if that's something you're into. :)
A few years ago, I printed out these patterns in black and white. I have a whole binder full of many options like them, which I peruse and select from when I need to. I chose these three because I thought they would go well with my "River Pebbles" theme - and once I had the patterns selected, I traced the designs onto watercolor paper.
Then, I taped them all down with masking tape to keep them flat while I painted, and pulled out the three tubes of watercolor paint I intended to use.
Because they're so small, they go quickly. Here's the first painting - "Pattern Myrtle" - complete.
Next was "Pattern Waverly":
And finally, "Pattern Melissa":
Once they were dry, I untaped them. These actually ended up curling quite a bit, despite the tape, so I had to flatten them for a few days underneath a stack of books before I could frame them.
I also completed another trio of 4"x6" watercolors - a set called "Dramatic Irony," which is the subject of my next blog post. When both sets were done, I framed each trio (the subject of another upcoming post). If you're impatient for this blog to catch up to real time, however, you can skip over to my Etsy shop and see this finished set, framed and listed for sale!
