Lessons Learned

Lately, I’ve been doing my best to see my completed designs and artworks more as lessons learned than successes or failures - or maybe as a combination of successes and lessons learned. There are some things I really like about this piece, which is a repeating design intended for fabric or wallpaper - mainly the colors which are rich yet more subtle than my usual, and also the fan, bird, swirl and sideways tulip details which make it a little more whimsical than just a floral design. I am intrigued that some watercolor pencils are less “melty” than others, so sometimes there is texture and sometimes not. Overall, I like the way the colors meld together on the hot press paper, which is smoother than cold press.

However, as can be seen on the second slide, the repeat is not quite there yet. The large flowers line up in too regular a way. Also, the green leaves are too heavily outlined compared to the rest of the design. Creating a good repeat is something that I am still trying to master and is quite hit-or-miss for me at this point.

In case you are wondering, the odd wavy lines in the piece are where it was cut in order to hand draw the repeats properly. Also, the first slide is cropped so it’s not obvious where it repeats. This design would have to be cleaned up a lot to make it sell-able. For now, I take it as some wonderful lessons learned that can be incorporated into future designs.

Overall size is 11” x 14” but only an 11” x 11” section is shown on the first slide.

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