Visual Tapestry Design

Week 14: Day 6, It's a Wrap!

2011-06-14T11:42:00.000-04:00

Well, I have completed 15 weeks of blogging in just 6 months...not quite what I had planned, but I am determined to complete 52 weeks.

After a hiatus, I started back with Week 12 and a new format to help me be more consistent since I'm a fly by the seat of my pants kinda girl. It's tough to be constrained by a schedule and routine. When I have someone else to hold me accountable, I am much better at keeping a schedule. But as you can see, when that person is me, I'm not so great at it. Anyway, I used to check every day to see how many people have downloaded my cards. I actually haven't done it in a while, so I thought I would look and share with you. It makes me proud! WOW! so far there have been 533 downloads of the cards. The most popular is the Week 3 card with 113 downloads:

Download Card

OK fans, I want to know! What you are doing with the cards? Are you sending them, downloading or printing them? Which one is your favorite? Is there anything you would like to see me do, or do differently? Do you have an inspiration photo you would like to send me? I would love to hear from you!

Coming Soon:
My friend JoLene and I have been friends since high school. We were roomies at Arizona State University, and she was one of my brides maids. Even though we are on different coasts (she's in California), we have been able to maintain our friendship through the years. She does needlepoint and loves my blog....thanks CB! She has been on a leave of absence from work while battling breast cancer over the past 9 months. She doesn't have the energy that she used to have, she does have time to work on her needlepoint projects.

She proposed to me that we work on a project together. She is picking out the needlepoint piece....I have no idea what she will choose and although I trust her, I am a little nervous. She is going to complete the project, and send me pictures (she's out in California). Then I am going to use her work as an inspiration piece. It may take a while, but you will see it before week 52. I am so excited! I can't wait to work with her.

Week 14: Day 4&5 Freebie Card

2011-06-14T11:04:00.001-04:00

I am definitely off on my days & weeks, but I will continue along until I have 52 complete weeks of the blog...a year of blogging. Then I'll probably be crazy enough to do it again, and try to be more consistent. You never know where life will take you, huh?

So this week I have a card designed on the abstract design and dark color palette. Enjoy!

Download Link

Week 14: Day 3–Playing with Color again

2011-06-11T19:23:00.000-04:00

Since my Bleh! day, I have had my daughter graduate from 5th grade...I think the only times I graduated were from high school and from college. I can't believe my baby is growing up so much. Next year I will have one in high school and one in middle school, a teen and a tween. Boy, the hormones are raging around here. I never know if what I say will make someone laugh or cry. It's always an adventure!

But, back to blogging...the other day I tried an abstract image with the colors. I didn't like the result, so I decided to try again. It took a few tries, but I finally ended up with any image that I liked.

The Result:

The Process:
I started in Adobe Illustrator and drew a shape of curly squiggles. I then cropped the image but didn't like it, so I started over.

To try something different I started with the image size and drew squiggles within the box. Then I cropped the image and used the pathfinder tool to create individual shapes.

I stared with light colored lines, and then used the darker colors as the fill for the shapes. I tired a couple of different variations:

With this variation I thought, maybe....

So I tried turning it to see if it worked each way....

But I still wasn't quite feeling it. So I tried more variations, changing the outline and fill colors to see what I could come up with.

So still not feeling it, I looked back at what I had already done, and guess what, I thought the first was what I was looking for, but it wasn't quite right so I made a few alterations to the outline colors and weights to come up with the final image:

So I darkened the line up, made the lines thinner and made the frame color the same as the outline color, and voila, I have an abstract image using the dark color palette.

Week 14: Day 2–Playing with Color

2011-06-08T23:27:00.000-04:00

My word for today is bleh! I woke up in a funky mood this morning and haven't found a way out of it. Despite that, I have actually made myself work on the blog.

Step 1
In Illustrator, I have used the pencil tool and drew a curvy and overlapping line. Then I put a box around it and then used Pathefinder tool to divide into different shapes.

Step 2
I used the color palette to color each of the shapes in the image...bleh!

Bleh!

Double Bleh!

Step 3
After playing with the lighter colors, I found a very abstract image and re-colored the image accordingly.....what do you see? And no, bleh! is not the answer!

Week 14: Day 2–Color Palette

2011-06-07T15:15:00.001-04:00

Today I am created the color palette for the inspiration photo. Wow! I think I need to consider the color palette when I choose the photos....it's a learning experience! I love this photo but it is quite dark. I guess this that will be my challenge -- keeping the patterns and designs interesting without looking too dark and without losing detail.

Week 14: Day 1–Inspiration

2011-06-07T00:24:00.000-04:00

I took a look back at the revised schedule, and I'm supposed to be doing a card this week from the inspiration photo of the sea shells and sand dollars. Hmmm, I have already created a few cards based on those, so I guess it's time to do a new inspiration photo.

I looked through my many photos, and I came upon these. They are from night my kids and I spent with my cousin S and her son G-man. It was a fundraiser movie night in the barn where she volunteered.

G-man & K playing before the movie

My son S, he had just lost a tooth.

S had invited up there several times before to see the horses and other animals. We loved it there. It was a great for the kids to be around all the animals and help feed them.

After the movie was over, we took a walk down to see the horses with only the moon light leading the way...it was dark,

but once we got down to the run-in, S turned on the lights at the run-in. We pulled some grass and fed it to the horses. It was so much fun!

S, G-man & KK picking grass to feed the horses

KK picking grass

G-man & KK petting the horse

S feeding the horse

KK feeding the horse

The Inspiration Photo:

KK & G-man feeding the horse.

Week 13: Days 6 - Freebie Card

2011-06-05T13:42:00.000-04:00

It's Freebie Card day!

The Result:
Based on my sketches of Sand Dollars, I created this card.

Link to download your card!

The Process:

The first step of the card today was taking my scanned image into Illustrator (top), then using the Live Trace tool, I created a vector image (bottom). After creating the vector image, I copied and pasted it into Photoshop.

From a sketch to a vector image.

Once in Photoshop, I added color, duplicated and manipulated the layers, applied transparencies and effects, to achieve the final image:

The final image.

Enjoy! Next week: Graphic Interpretations.

Week 13: Days 2 & 3 - Sketches

2011-06-03T21:00:00.002-04:00

This week has been crazy trying to tweak &improve my updated website. It's not complete yet, but it's almost done. I'll let you know when we (my sister and I) get it finished.

Even though I haven't posted much this week, I have been doing some sketching.

Sand Dollar Sketches
This is the whole sand dollar...which I later broke. I had forgotten how fragile they are! This one I love. I had fun really looking at the sand dollar and noticing small details I have not ever noticed before...like the star in the middle. So cool!

whole sand dollar

The first broken sand dollar I think is horrible. The shell was on an angle with the interior facing me. The depth and foreshortening are not accurate. Part of the problem, I think, is that there is no reference to what's around it. It was interesting to look inside and see all the little chambers, but again, I had a difficult time showing that in the sketch.

broken sand dollar inside

The second broken sand dollar I liked, then I looked at it again, and don't really like it too much! The edges are too hard, and the shading is too light. When I looked at it again just now, I saw a turtle shell and not a sand dollar...oh well!

broken sand dollar

At a different angle, I think that the broken edges don't really come across very well, and there is no depth between the top and bottom of the inside of the sand dollar.

broken sand dollar

Yes, I am my own worst critic. I know what I have been able to do in the past and it was much better than this. But....I haven't practiced drawing in years, so I'm not disappointed with what I have done.

Gesture Drawings

Last night I had to take my nephew to soccer practice. I took my sketchbook and tried to do some gesture drawings of the kids as they played....the main problem I had with that was that they moved too fast, and it was hard to capture them in action. Here are a few that rated posting!

KK sitting watching the practice

JD with the ball

little boy playing with the cones

Week 13: Day 1, Sketches, Doodles & Art

2011-05-30T23:29:00.000-04:00

This week I am continuing with the new format and will be using week 12's photo for inspiration. This week my focus will be on Sketches, Doodles & Art:

One thing that sea shells always remind me of is the golden ratio. It is something I learned about design while in school - the ratio of 1.618 to 1. It's found in both nature and architecture. The golden ratio is found in the nautilus shell, pine cones, roses and sunflowers to name a few. The Egyptians and Greeks used the ratio in architecture (Great Pyramid of Giza, and Parthenon). Even our bodies have the golden ratio in the relationship of our eyes, nose, ears and mouth.

The mathematician Fibonacci developed the Fibonacci Series based on the ratio (it's not exact, but close): each number of the series is the sum of the two preceding number.

So now you know how my brain works...show me a sea shell, and learn all about math! I am what I am! I'm not sure exactly sure what this has to do with my sketching, doodles and art. Stay tuned to find out!

Week 12: It's a Wrap

2011-05-29T22:15:00.000-04:00

It's the end of week 12. Three whole months of blogging (minus a couple of weeks in the middle). With the changes in format, I have found the joy in my creativity without the stress of feeling like I bit off more than I could chew. In addition to getting through the week, I added 3 cards to the collection. Are you inspired too?

Inspiration Photo

Random Thoughts and Ideations

Color Palette

Color Palette

Patterns - Circular

Circle Patterns

Patterns - Geometric

Geometric Patterns

Freebie Cards

Freebie Cards

Next week: Sketches, Doodles & Art

Week 12, Day 5: Freebie Card

2011-05-28T12:20:00.000-04:00

It's back!! It's freebie card day! And there are 3 different designs.

The first 2 are based on color scheme and patterns I have been creating this week. The final card is a special request for my girl. KK wanted me to change the colors around a bit....so you may want to get your sunglasses out!

Card 1 – Download Link

Card 2 – Download Link

KK's Card – Download Link

So which one do you like best?

Week 12, Day 4 More Patterns

2011-05-27T10:00:00.002-04:00

So continuing with patterns, I went with a hexagon today in Illustrator.

I found a tutorial on how to make this cool retro/honeycomb pattern from Veerle's Blog. So I created this shape and made it into a symbol, then I duplicated it.

After matching it up, I duplicated again and again, to fill my page

Now it is time to crop and fill the page with the background image/pattern.

Next, I found a cool tool in the symbol palette that allows you to change the colors around with the press of a button. Here are some of the different variations.

Isn't it interesting to see the difference a little color can make, and how the different colors react with each other?

Week 12, Day 3 Circle Patterns

2011-05-26T18:21:00.001-04:00

Using my color palette, I created some circle patterns in Illustrator today.

The first pattern I created was using a halftone screen effect . I started with a simple gradient. Then I rasterized the image, and through the effects, I created pixels. I had to try several times to get the right size for what I wanted. Then I copied the layers in different color, flipping some of the layers 180°.

The second pattern utilized my color palette and then I created this circle pattern, intersected the circles and filled them accordingly. As I am describing these, I am realizing that showing you the steps would probably make more sense, so tomorrow, I will try to do that!

This pattern is also overlapping circles when I then intersected so I could have each piece separate. Originally I wanted to use all the color but as I started filling in the shapes with color this one just worked, so I stopped.

Week 12, Day 2 Color Palette

2011-05-25T10:00:00.003-04:00

In keeping things simple so I can find time everyday to post, I created a color palette from the colors in the photo. The palette shows the approximate ratio of colors to each other. I was actually surprised that I didn't find an orange in the mix, just different variations of brown!

Random Thoughts and Ideations

2011-05-24T13:32:00.000-04:00

You may have noticed my prolonged absence from posting to my blog. I have been contemplating how to proceed in a way that will allow me to continue on my creative journey, and to also inspire your creativity too.

When I set up the format for the blog, I didn't realize how much time it would take to complete every day. There were some days that I was spending 2 to 3 hours working on the projects. And, whereas I loved the challenges and I love creating, I also have a family, house and business to take care of.

So, I have decided to change to change up the format to something that I can manage to post on a daily basis. I like the format of the blog, so it will be similar, yet different. I am hoping to post more photos of my process and how I find solutions when things don't go the way I had hoped. It is going to be on a 3 week cycle based on one inspiration photo: Week 1 - I will work with the color scheme and develop patterns; Week 2 - I will sketch and then create an inspired art piece playing with both 2 and 3 dimensional media; Week 3 will be the week I design a card. I've had lots of downloads from the ones I have posted and really love sharing that with you. I also want to complete the collection that shows my journey.

Week 12: Inspiration Photo
I recently had a weekend getaway to the beach. Early on Saturday the beach was beautiful and sunny, so I enjoyed an early morning walk looking for sand dollars and sea shells. This is a photo of my loot:

When I went back out later that morning it was quite blustery. I sat out there for a while and when I finally went back in, I felt as though I had gotten a sandblast facial.

Week 11: Trying to get back in the habit

2011-04-29T14:24:00.000-04:00

I am definitely not a creature of habit. And, once I get out of a habit...like writing and creating for the blog...it's really hard for me to get back into the habit. But I am trying. I have been playing with creating paisleys out of paper, and creating paisley with photoshop brushes....can I just say, I am totally bored with it. Why is it that something that I like so much, I have no desire to create. Am I limiting myself, or am I saying I don't need to reinvent the wheel? Honestly I don't know. I am just totally not interested in creating any more paisley designs!

I can't believe I just said that. Oh well, sigh, what to do, what to do. I will make the commitment to create a card tomorrow, and then I am done with Paisley and it will be on to another inspiration piece!

Week 11: Where in the blog have I been?

2011-04-26T13:05:00.000-04:00

Catching up!

Hello friends, I am back. I've had a busy couple of weeks, then the logic board on my computer died and I had to send it to the factory to get fixed. I didn't realize how much I "need" my computer to get everything done. When it's a tool of the trade, it is a little hard to trade without it!

This week I have been working on a postcard for a art show. It's a Mother & Daughter art show featuring my mom & her friend Sheryl and both of their daughters. I designed the card but chose not to participate in the show due to time constraints and that while my work has artistic qualities, it is really design. My sister Kathy is participating with my mom. It was a challenge to combine all of the different styles & mediums into one cohesive design, but I am very happy with the final card!

Front

Back

The show is at the Johnson City Area Arts Council, in Johnson City, Tennessee. Please stop by if you are in that area!

My sister Kathy and I have also been working on our website and it is now live...we still have a couple of things to work on, but it is up: www.visualtapestrydesign.com.

I'd love to hear what you think about the postcard and the website!

And Now, Back to Blogging!

I am going to pick up on Week 11 where I left off. Then I will work until I reach 52 weeks to finish a year of blogging. To recap:

Day 1, Inspiration: Paisley
I loved paisley or I did until I started this project. Now I would say that I am more intrigued by it. I do love the patterns and color schemes when I am not creating them. I love the history of them, middle eastern in origin, but named for Paisley, Scotland.

Paisley pants from Olympics.

Paisley tapestry

Paisley Stamp -- love the intricate detail!

Paisley ties!

Day 2: Sketches and Doodles

I like some of my art to be very precise and exact and I like to draw freehand. Not only is that a paradox, it makes it hard to draw paisleys! But none the less, I have "doodled" some and looked at different patterns.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's paper paisleys!

Week 11, MIA

2011-04-08T15:35:00.001-04:00

Yes I have been MIA...my blog has suffered while my freelance is flourishing. It's good and bad. I miss the time for me, but am working hard.

A glimpse into the the fruits of my labors:
Client: Greenfield Farms Foods
Scope of Project: Branding/Packaging/Signage
Benefits: Grassfed beef is the the only beef I eat now. Find out more about why it is better for you!

Stanchion Sign, Case Dividers & Labels

Large and Small Stanchion Signs, Meat Case Dividers

Up next: Paisley!

Week 11, Day 2: Sketches 'n Doodles

2011-04-05T23:13:00.001-04:00

Last night in there were some bad storms...winds up to 90 mph, trees, limbs and power lines down all over the place including one of our major interstates in both directions, so it was just a traffic nightmare today. Normally it wouldn't bother me, but I had a meeting this morning all the way across town. After changing my route about 3 times to avoid traffic, I finally made it. The best part of the day was after the meeting I got treated to lunch...at this awesome biker bar called Mac's! Best burger I've had in a long time! I didn't have to even eat the rest of the day. My daughter K is playing Lacrosse over in that area, so I might be eating there more often.

Anyway, that was the beginning of my crazy day, and I was so tired tonight that I was thinking that I would just skip posting today. Then my conscience got the better of me (not to mention not wanting to hear about it from D...just kidding!) and I sat down and started to draw. Although I didn't draw that much, I enjoyed the time I took and found it relaxing. I'm glad I honored my commitment.

In addition to drawing, I researched "paisley". These are some interesting facts I came up with -- there are plenty more, but I'm too tired to think too much!

Of Indian or Persian origin, dating back to around 200 AD.
It has a kidney/twisted teardrop shape
Although the motif origins are from 200 AD, the name comes from the town of paisley in Scotland.

My sketches and doodles:

Week 11: Inspiration...

2011-04-04T23:41:00.000-04:00

Every week I wonder where this blog will take me and what I will use for my inspiration the next week. Sometimes I'm not even sure what my inspiration will be until I am almost ready to work on the post. Other weeks I have something on my mind. I have a seed of an idea that festers in my head until it finally takes root and begins to grow.

This is one of those ideas that has been festering in my head. All week I have been thinking about patterns...strange, I know. This afternoon when I was at the store, there it was on the lady in front of me...Paisley!

I told K, I love paisley, and she said that most people my age did...Really? Really? She didn't mean it as an insult, but it seemed like it was. The more she tried to explain, the deeper she sank...poor K! Poor me, I'm getting older and have no idea how that happened. I don't feel like I am getting older.

Even if it is a bit old fashioned, I love paisley. What is a paisley? Why are some so simple, and others are completely complex? Have you ever noticed all the patterns within a paisley? I am fascinated by it. So this week, my inspiration is good old fashioned paisley.

The funny thing is I don't own anything that has a paisley print on it. So I got these images from Wikipedia Commons

Week 10, Day 7: It's a Wrap

2011-04-03T22:13:00.004-04:00

Trauma after posting yesterday:
Yesterday after I posted the freebie card my computer quit working. It went black, wouldn't shut down, wouldn't restart, sounded like it would go on, but never made that beautiful sound a mac makes when it starts. I was freaking out! It put me in the depths of despair ...it's not a good feeling.

As a freelance graphic designer, blogger, photo-editor, website builder (trying), email-aholic, fb-aholic and tweeter I felt as if a part of me died. How was I going to recover? What if I had to buy a new computer...could I even afford it? What about the projects I'm working on, can I recover them from the Time Capsule?

It might sound dramatic, but it's my bread and butter and if it doesn't work, I'm in trouble!

After several futile attempts to restart it, I went on my son's computer and booked an appointment at the Apple Genius Bar for late this afternoon. I also did some searching for troubleshooting...I got some info, but got frustrated with the slowness of his computer and gave up and went to bed.

Today after I got home from being out and about, it started back up....never did that startup chime sound so wonderful!!! Now I did the research to troubleshoot the problem. Evidently I had to reset my System Management Controller...a very simple process, and now it is working fine. R E L I E F!

So, now for the Week 10 review:
Every week I marvel at how far I've come from the beginning. Committing to this blog and finding regular time for myself has made a big difference in many ways. D says I am different. I guess what I am trying to relate to you is that everyone needs to take some alone time for themselves. It doesn't matter if you are reading, meditating, creating, enjoying nature, exercising, just do something for yourself!

Day 1: Inspiration - Dogwoods in Bloom

Day 2: More Photos and Sketches

Day 3: Going Graphic

Day 4: Adding Color and Patterns

Day 5: (ah haaaa, the missing day!)

Day 6: Freebie Card

Until tomorrow.....

Week 10, Day 6: Freebie Card

2011-04-02T14:06:00.000-04:00

The week 10 Card is done and I realized that I missed a day this week. Not sure where or when, I thought I had posted everyday. I loved the images from yesterday where I manipulated layer filters in Photoshop to create a different look for the black dogwood graphic I created. I took my favorite image and applied different filters to change only the color. Depending on which filter I used depended on what part of the image was changed. Some of the filters used were hue/saturation, channel mixer, levels, curves and selective color.

The Final Image:

The final image,
a collage of different colored blossoms.

The Freebie Card:

The download link.

So what do you think? I'd love to hear what you think about the blog, get suggestions for future inspiration, how you've used the cards or if you've gotten comments on them.

Week 10, Day 4: Adding Color and Patterns

2011-04-02T00:35:00.000-04:00

Since I didn't have as much time today to work with color, I decided to try combining different effects in Photoshop. I used only layer adjustments of hue saturation, pattern and gradients.

gradient, 2 different patterns, hue/saturation

Gradient & Hue/Saturation

Hue/Saturation & Gradient

Gradient & Pattern Overlay

Gradient Overlay

Pattern, gradient and vivid light

Gradient, Pattern, Luminosity

Gradient, Hue Saturation, Pattern & Vivid Light

3 different Hue/Saturations, Luminosity,
2 different patterns and gradient overlay

Week 10, Day 3: Going Graphic

2011-04-01T09:33:00.000-04:00

In trying to do something a little different, I decided on a simple graphic image of a dogwood blossom. Simple it was not. I started out very simple then seemed to add more detail as I progressed. It took a long time to do this all in Adobe Illustrator. But I did learn some new tricks as I played around with it, and after all this is a learning and discovery journey, so what if my kids got leftovers for dinner!

After finishing this and then coming back later, I thought about why I like dogwoods -- because they bring light and life to a seemingly lifeless and dead area. And this image looks so dark, it just doesn't capture my feeling...something to work on later today.....

Week 10, Day 2: More Photos and Sketches

2011-03-30T02:13:00.000-04:00

Today was a beautiful day and I took some time to go outside to take some more photos of the dogwoods so I would have some more sketch references. One of the reasons that I love dogwoods is that they bloom and dot the brown bark of winter with new life. It's so just so pretty, unfortunately my photos just don't capture my vision. Why is that?

Then I did some sketching late tonight. I also got S's markers and did a marker drawing too. Then I took it into photoshop and added some colors that S didn't have. I also played made one of the drawings look like copper.

sketch, sort of what I see...

Now, through the magic of Photoshop,
it's a copper etching.

My marker sketch of a dogwood flower.

What is your favorite flower? or tree? Or what do you like best about spring?