Beginning to Construct Repeats

Previously in my blog I mentioned that when I first started to put repeats together, I felt it was a little too soon. They had a rather blocky feel about them, quite like a tiled print and that just wasn't what I wanted to go for. Now with my newer paintings, I wanted to try again; this time hoping for more of a flowing repeat and hoping that putting them into a half drop will make them less boxy. 

In the image on the left I adapted the painting of the ring, making a more balanced pattern. Taking the circular elements from the top left side makes the design less crowded, but by moving them to the bottom, almost reflecting the top diagonally, creates a flowing element in the designs. It connects the largest circles with one another, through a pattern of smaller circles that will move the eye up and across the design when it is hung on the walls of a home. I layered over the technical lines here to add a little more depth and connect the shapes once more, also to reveal to the audience a stage of my design process (one of the secrets in my labyrinth). 

The second design on the right was made by mirroring my original art deco I inspired painting to reveal a design slightly more sophisticated than the previous. This looks most like a wallcovering you could find in shops, in my opinion. At the moment it only properly repeats vertically, I wanted to see what they would look like side by side in a half drop repeat - if this were put onto a screen to repeat on a length or wallpaper, I would simply crop them image down the centre of each strip, this would then work in repeat like it should. I believe this design is so successful because there is no obviois start or end point, which is really my intention for all the designs in my final collection. The circle design and diamond in the centre connect the other shapes, thus creating a flow as the eye travels down the pattern. However, one improvement that I think is needed is to add some colour into the central diamond, as is in the circle, because at the moment I think it just looks a little empty and disrupts the design slightly. 

These are just using the colours from the original paintings. One of the things I mentioned in my portfolio chat was showing more colour ways in my work, and also to showcase my ability to separate colour within a design, so stay tuned for that!