Pattern: Week One

Pattern

Definition

Pattern is the repetition of an element (or elements) in a work.

An artist achieves pattern through the use of color, lines or shapes.

I love it when I create accidental patterns in my work. It's not conscious but it's a happy, serendipitous occurrence that I will run with once it happens.


Here are some patterns that I could use in my work somehow - or maybe steal borrow its color schemes at the very least:

Southwest

Native patterns are really popular right now - which makes me almost not want to like this because I see it everywhere. Nothing can kill a good thing like ubiquity. However, I have always had a strong affinity toward the Southwest region of the US and love the geometry in Native American patterns. It brings back fond memories of an extended road trip when I was 9 years old through the California desert, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma – roaming the gift shops looking for all things turquoise and silver. My abstract work can be semi-autobiographical, so it's important to me put down things that I like or that is of significance to me. I can be transported there again any time I put on a Gram Parsons record or anything 'hair country', have tequila with lime in the summer sun, or look at these types of patterns.

Quilts

There are a lot of really neat patterns and colors in quilting that I could appropriate into my work. It's amazing to me how people are able to create such intricate designs through needle and thread.