Latest in Surface Pattern Design

This week I’ve been wondering why my “Playful Pattern,” a repeating pattern of Matisse inspired shapes is OVERWHELMINGLY my most popular surface pattern design on Pinterest. Is it because it was pinned a bunch of times on other boards, and therefore acquired some momentum? Or is it really what people like? It has THOUSANDS more views than anything else I’ve posted. One reason I think it works is that I took a palette straight from a Bridget Riley print. Coming up with palettes from scratch can be a little overwhelming, so often I will pick a painting or print from an artist I like, and use the palette:

To me it’s practically a “throwaway,” one of those designs I start playing around with and doodling with the thought that this wouldn’t really appeal to anyone, it’s just a doodle. I do have fun creating things like that so maybe I should do more? The thing about it is that I don’t really see it on a product that I personally would use. Maybe I should make a tote bag just to see. I’ll bet it would look cute in a nursery. 

Also popular has been two patterns I created that were inspired by vintage plates. I love thrifting, but I can’t bring everything home. So I created this new process where I photograph old plates (instead of buying them), then I digitize the image into a pattern. It’s very satisfying and I love the idea of recycling older designs. One has a mid century modern feel, and the other is inspired by vintage wallpaper:

Here are a few couple more I worked on last week. I watched a tutorial from historyrepeating.se, on how to create a trailing floral pattern. It is a great tutorial, and her site is so full of surface pattern design history. Highly recommend it! She demonstrates a process that starts out with stickie notes. Usually I start straight from digital, and when you start using pen and paper, it really loosens things up:

And lastly, here is one where I combined the trailing floral composition, with the playful pattern, Matisse type style: