Tip Jar Thursdays! No. 10 - Patterns and Repetition
Hey hey Sketchers!
And welcome to another, quite frankly unmissable edition of Tip Jar Thursdays! After meeting some of the artists from the 2011 Sketchbook Project at Saturday’s Homecoming, and finally getting the chance to match a name and face to a sketchbook, I’m in the Brooklyn Art Library this week taking good care of their beloved books. The “Lines and Grids” theme is getting seriously close to garnering the title of my favorite theme from last year, so in homage I’ve decided to focus on Patterns and Repetition for this week’s Tip Jar!
Getting accustomed to using patterns and repetition in your sketchbook can be as simple as focusing on forms in your surrounding landscape on a daily basis. The Large Bodies of Water sketchbook, from the Mystery Maps theme, is a veritable treasure trove of layered and found images, using repetitious elements. Using some techniques from last week’s collage and appropriation Tip Jar post, this image incorporates a vintage postcard of a mountain landscape dotted with repeated brass shapes.
Even your walk to work or school in the morning can become a goldmine of ideas for ideas for your sketchbook if you try and pick up on the repetitious shapes that you pass by again and again. Something as mundane as construction materials can evoke some truly inspiring sketchbook work, as exhibited by jewelery designer Sarah Spalding. Her geometric patterns lead directly into preparatory work for her intricate silver jewelery designs, which are influenced by pattern and structure found in and around cities.
As a contrast, nature can also be used as a starting point. Symmetrical forms in particular can be used to adapt linear patterns which will work really effectively when reversed vertically and horizontally to create a mirrored tiled effect. Diahn Ott’s sketchbook is chock full of symmetrical patterns which produce an almost kaleidoscopic effect. These stylistic and and ornate compositions, which reminded me of the textiles of William Morris of the Arts and Crafts movement, retain a stark and striking quality through her use of pen and ink.
Why not use photography to document repeat patterns in nature? Groups of saplings peeking out of a freshly fallen blanket of snow and shadows of tree branches can all create visually interesting patterns, as demonstrated by Janell Turner, who documented a field trip as she “walked across snow covered fields and photograph nature’s mark upon that day.”
So many starting points for you to start working from! Whether you choose to explore repeat patterns through the use of pen, collage or photography, we’re pretty sure this is one technique you’ll come back to using again and again and again…
Until next Thursday, much love!
- Fiona.
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