Spotlight on Art: Personalizing Patterns

Patterns are at the core of the creative process for me. From the beginning of my ABC Scrapbooking program clear up to the brand new Make It from Your Heart publication in the Autumn / Winter Idea Book, I’ve always made it a point to provide creative patterns for scrapbookers and cardmakers alike. When you’ve got a solid pattern to work with, you’ve got a great starting place for your works of art. And a great pattern will leave room for your own creative interpretation, as in the artwork from the studio this week.

This card uses the Sunrise pattern from Wishes, with a few notable changes. In place of the signature semi-circle paper piece from the pattern, the artist has substituted a beautiful stamped image from Simple Memories stamp set. The stamped image preserves the feel of the pattern, but saves a cut! She also has shortened the horizontal bar and turned it into a pair of pennants. Even with these changes, the card still feels like the Sunrise pattern it is based on, but with its own unique flair.

This card also uses a pattern from Wishes, this one called Circle collection. The three large circle pieces that make up the main focus of this card have been omitted, but the idea is preserved by the circular elements the artist included. She has cut a circle from the gray cardstock, layering it over a colorful B&T paper, and she’s also incorporated a circle into her title. This card shows that you may depart from the pattern’s prescriptions and still keep some elements suggested in the pattern.

I saved this fun page for last. This pattern is the left page of the Final Act pattern from Magic. It has been rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise to accommodate the horizontal photo. Then, piece C, which is a long rectangular strip, has been replaced with the artist’s adorable banner, which fills the space in much the same way. If you were to check this against the pattern, you would also see that there is another rectangular piece called for just below the banner, which has also been replaced by the “A” design element on this page.

Just looking at the final artwork, it might be hard to place the pattern that the artist based her work on, but once you know, you can appreciate the adaptations that much more. Let the creative process lead you in the direction that feels best for your chosen project and you will find a lot of new avenues opening up to you. When you look through the Autumn / Winter 2012 Idea Book (it will be live to everyone next week!), you’ll see that many of our artists have taken liberties with the way they have interpreted patterns, and you are sure to be inspired by the final creations.