Talking Pattern
Santine Alexander
I feel that spotting colour and patterns in my every day has always come naturally to me, but physically relaying and creating patterns has been more of a struggle. In order to train myself to better work with pattern in this project I pushed myself to use very different styles and source imagery for my drawings. I feel that this may have negatively affected the execution and final result of some pieces, which I would correct by working bigger and more tactilely, with lots of media. This helps me focus on the overall image, rather than just the composition or colour or texture.
Some of my ‘Pattern’ drawings came directly from my environment rather than just observation. One of my drawings came from applying paint to the bottom of an egg box and making prints from it. Another drawing was made from letting the movements of the tube guide my pen on the canvas. These two might not be my best pieces overall, but they are my favourite in terms of technique, as they could inform lots more exciting experimentation.
Drawing on different surfaces was very fun for both parts of the project. Painting on film was something I had never done before, and I would love to explore it further, as I could see it informing some interesting knit. For one of my colour drawings I also applied modelling paste to the paper before paint to create more dimension. I have really enjoyed pushing myself to really experience and observe my surroundings in this project, and look forward to further exploring a lot of the techniques I used in future projects.