The fifth theme of the Wanderlust year is “Patterns” and, as usual, we’re starting off with inspiration from the organiser: Kasia Avery (website, Instagram).
This project introduced the theme of patterns in the most straightforward way: paint some squares in flat colour and then create different patterns on each of them. I was in need of some cheerful colours and chose to go with orange and yellow for my backgrounds, but then kept it simple by creating the patterns in black. I did add some extra details in white on nearly all of them.
Most people doing the class seemed to follow Kasia’s lead and cut circles out of their pattern pieces; I like to do things a little differently if I can without losing the flow of the lesson so I cut mine into hexagons. Of course, as soon as you have yellow and orange hexagons, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that your focal point should be a bee. I found a suitable image in my ephemera collection, printed it, fussy cut it out, and added a touch of colour to the body, eyes and wings.
I painted the background in flat black, but I had a lot of black paint left over on my palette and I didn’t want to waste it. Rather than create yet another background in my other art journal (my usual use for spare paint), I grabbed the bunch of cotton buds left over from the first of the rivers classes and dabbed it all over. Once it was dry I dry-brushed white over the top to highlight the texture.
Finding an arrangement that I liked took an absolute age. I tried every option, including throwing them randomly at the page in frustration! I am quite pleased with the final layout and the charcoal shading along the overlapping edges does add a nice bit of depth.
Class:
Crafty Rat 
I really like this! And yes, with the shapes, it does scream bee! 🙂
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