Wallpaper Wednesday: Scallops 3

Hi there! Can you believe it’s August? Already?!?

In all honesty, we’ve been in lockdown/MCO/FMCO/Phase 1/call-it-what-you-want-a-lockdown-by-any-other-name-feels-just-as-stifling for so long now, it feels like Groundhog Day. One sunrise is no different from the next, and the only reason I’m still able to keep track of the days is my son’s e-learning schedule, and the laundry schedule.

Sigh.

But hey - a new month means new wallpaper! At least there’s a little something to brighten up your day, no?

Scallops 3 wallpaper

Scallops 3 wallpaper

Scallops 3 wallpaper

Scallops 3 wallpaper

Scallops 3 wallpaper

Scallops 3 wallpaper

I’m still in the mood for geometric patterns with a bit of an Art Deco vibe. There’s something about these scallop patterns that I find so pleasing… maybe it’s because they’re an iteration of the basic circle, and my default doodling shape is circles? I dunno, I just like these types of patterns, for some reason.

And I hope you do, too!

-A-

As always, these are for personal use only.



Scallops 3

Mobile: iPhone // Android

iPad: Pro 11” // Pro 12.9” // Others

Laptop: MacBook Pro 13” // MacBook Pro 13” with calendar // MacBook Pro 15” // MacBook Pro 15” with calendar

Desktop: iMac 27” // iMac 27” with calendar 

The Akar Dani Series

There's a house somewhere in our neighbourhood that used to have a beautifully lush Akar Dani plant cascading over their back wall. I used to walk past it in the mornings, and every time I did, I felt happy. The vibrant fuschia and pale pink colours of the flowers lifted my spirits, and it inspired me to create the Akar Dani series, a collection of abstract pieces centred around the colour palette of the Akar Dani flowers; a range of vibrant pinks and deep emerald greens. 

Akar Dani flowers

Akar Dani flowers

It was also an opportunity for me to play around with a newly acquired set of Procreate gouache brushes from one of my favourite illustrators, Lisa Glanz. 

"Brush Strokes #1" - The first piece in the series. If the heavens cracked open and rained Akar Dani flowers, this is how I imagine it would look like. 

“Brush Strokes #1”

“Brush Strokes #1”

"Brush Strokes #2" - A variation on the same theme, but I wanted it to look a bit more gloopy and drippy; a bit like raindrops racing down a window pane. 

“Brush Strokes #2”

“Brush Strokes #2”

"Stripes" - Like a lot of people, I love me some good stripes! I initially painted stripes of equal width, thinking that the colours would be enough to lend it character. It still felt boring, though, and I started playing around with different widths until I decided to just let the lines go all over the place, and create wonky, lopsided stripes. I added random textures and patterns here and there - I wanted it to be a fun piece; something chaotic and colourful, something that would brighten up your mood. 

“Stripes”

“Stripes”

"Fish/Lilypads" - I enjoyed making "Brush Strokes #2" and I wanted to create another piece in the same vein, but one that felt a bit calmer and more deliberate. As I was painting this, I thought it looked like a school of (green) fish swimming through the (green) ocean, and went along with that image in my mind. After it was completed though, it looked more like lily pads. 

“Fish/Lilypads”

“Fish/Lilypads”

"Sidewalk" - By this time I was done playing around with random brush strokes, but I was still obsessed with the Akar Dani colour palette. I wanted to create something slightly more “structured”, but still organic and abstract. I was inspired by the pavement tiles near the neighbourhood shops. Like “Stripes”, this piece started out somewhat geometrically correct, but morphed into organic shapes and a riot of colours and patterns. 

“Sidewalk”

"Sidewalk" was supposed to be the last piece in this series… until one morning, I noticed a blank white wall where the luscious Akar Dani plant used to be. The owners of the house had pruned it, cut it down, with nary a trace to be seen or found. I was sad to see it gone; it used to brighten up my mornings so. I decided then that I needed to create another piece, one that actually featured the flower in some form. For some reason I wanted it to be a repeat pattern. The result was not one - but two patterns in a Damask style. I couldn’t decide between the two, so I kept both, and named them, imaginatively, “Akar Dani I”, and “Akar Dani II”

“Akar Dani I”

“Akar Dani I”

“Akar Dani II”

“Akar Dani II”

Unlike “Sidewalk”, these two patterns were really the final pieces in the series. I’d had my fun with the theme, and it was time for me to move on and explore other themes, other colours, and other tools. Once this lockdown is lifted and more businesses are allowed to operate again, I’d like to make these into art prints - I think they’d look nice. 

Until next time, stay safe! 

-A-

Wallpaper Wednesday: Scallops 2

It’s time for new wallpaper! 😄

This month, I chose one of my favourites from a collection of geometric patterns I designed a few weeks ago. I’d just finished a Skillshare tutorial on creating geometric patterns on Procreate and boy, was I hooked! Designing geometric patterns can be addictive - playing with shapes and different permuations, different colour combinations - I was creating one pattern after another for days on end until it got a bit too much… random patterns were popping up in my mind’s eye as I drifted off to sleep, or first thing in the morning, and even in the shower!

Scallops 2. Check out the texture on this!

Scallops 2. Check out the texture on this!

This particular pattern has a bit of an Art Deco/1950’s hybrid feel to it, in my personal opinion. The motif in this pattern is one commonly found in many Art Deco or Art Deco-inspired patterns, and in my case it was totally unintentional. I was just playing around with circles; cropping, flipping, and arranging them in a tile. The colour palette, however, is what gives it its ‘50s/’60s vibe, and that was intentional - if not fully, then at least at a subconscious level. At the time I started getting into geometric patterns, I’d just finished binge-watching The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix (late to the party as always).

I was transfixed.

Apart from the brilliant storyline and performance by the cast, I simply loved the aesthetic. The fashion of that era - the silhouettes, the hairstyles, the colour palette… and the patterns. Glorious, beautiful geometric patterns everywhere. The wallpaper, the textiles, the upholstery - everything. It was a feast for the eyes and I absolutely loved it.

Huh. Thinking back, maybe I started creating geometric patterns because of The Queen’s Gambit. It inspired me to search for geometric pattern tutorials instead of kindling a love for chess 🤓.

In any case, I hope you like this month’s freebie wallpaper. I had a lot of fun creating it, and I think it’ll give your devices a nice retro vibe.

-A-

*As always, these are for personal use only.

Scallops 2

Mobile: iPhone // Android

iPad: Pro 11” // Pro 12.9” // Others

Laptop: MacBook Pro 13” // MacBook Pro 13” with calendar // MacBook Pro 15” // MacBook Pro 15” with calendar

Desktop: iMac 27” // iMac 27” with calendar 

Wallpaper Wednesday: Dokoh

Hi there! Hope you’re staying safe. If you’re fasting, I hope you’ve had a blessed Ramadhan so far. We have about a week to go, and I suppose some of you have started making MCO Raya preparations. All the best!

I wanted to make this month’s wallpaper Raya-appropriate, without resorting to the typical images of ketupat, pelita, or moonlit skies. Don’t get me wrong - I have absolutely nothing against a bunch of ketupat hanging in the upper corner of a poster, or glowing oil lamps set against a dark, moonlit sky; I just didn’t feel like creating a pattern using those motifs.

And yes, I go through moods. Sometimes I feel like playing with watercolours. I love going through my paints and picking them out, experimenting with different brushes, and just watching the colours mix together on paper. I appreciate giving up control over the way the paints move, and letting them do their own thing. In some cases, I add details and highlights in India ink, or white acrylic ink, and when I’m feeling blingy, I add metallic gold ink details.

I even enjoy the steps after I’m done painting, ie scanning, cleaning up, and editing the artwork in Photoshop. There is a part of me that finds certain repetitive and/or operational tasks almost therapeutic. If I had to choose a household chore to do, it would be ironing. I could zone out while listening to a podcast or an audiobook. Similarly with editing digital scans of my artwork, I would zone out while zooming right into all the details, isolating the paper background, and tweaking the contrast and saturation to just the right level, with something playing in the background. And maybe a sweet smelling candle burning.

Sometimes I still feel like creating pattern motifs on paper, but I want to use Illustrator instead of Photoshop in the editing and pattern making steps. So then I wouldn’t paint, but I’d sketch (to the best of my ability) or doodle in ink. I’d choose colour palettes from images I see in magazines or things around me, import them into Illustrator, and click click Pen Tool Blob Brush Space Bar Command, I’m in the zone.

And then there are times when I just want to do it all digitally. No paint, no paper, no brush pen pencil nothing. Just my Procreate and me, doodling away with a tap tap erase and pinch pinch zoom.

By the way, I have a four-and-a-half-year old toddler who spends every waking hour talk talk talking, plus our neighbours are undertaking a massive renovation on their home, and it’s been seven months (so far) of wrecking knocking piling hammering drilling…. so if you notice a certain pattern in my writing, I hope you’ll understand why.

So anyways, back to Procreate and digital art - this month’s pattern is precisely that; one which I created and edited on my iPad, using watercolour “brushes” which mimic the real thing. I was inspired by the dokoh - the traditional accessory worn with the kebaya or baju kurung. They’re usually worn in sets of twos or threes, and can usually be worn either as brooches or a necklace. It is equally as stunning when worn alone, as some do.

The dokoh.

The dokoh.

I quite like this one.

I quite like this one.

I love the intricate metalwork in the dokoh, and I started thinking how I could translate it into a pattern. So I doodled away, came up with a few I quite liked, and chose this one for this month’s freebie.

Dokoh_iPhone.jpg

I hope you like it as much as I do, and I hope that it brightens up your day, even if for a fraction of a second. In the current world we live in, we try and find warmth in the tiniest sliver of sunshine.

You’ll find the links below. As always, these files are for personal use only.

Enjoy!

-A-


Dokoh

Mobile: iPhone // Android

iPad: Pro 11” // Pro 12.9” // Others

Laptop: MacBook Pro 13” // MacBook Pro 13” with calendar // MacBook Pro 15” // MacBook Pro 15” with calendar

Desktop: iMac 27” // iMac 27” with calendar 

Transition

I love autumn; it’s my favourite season of the year. I love everything about it: the cool, crisp air; the smell of apple and cinnamon and cloves that gently surrounds you as you browse through the markets; and the colours.

The gorgeous, gorgeous, colours. The reds, the golds, the deep, burnt oranges… so rich and warm and stunning.

Did I mention I love the colours of autumn?

Living on the equator, though, means that the only seasons we get are hot and balmy, hot and hazy, and tropical thunderstorms with a dash of flash floods. Which means I need to live vicariously through my watercolours.

Transition_1_1800px.jpg

Transition I

Transition_2_1800px.jpg

Transition II

Like a lot of the stuff I’ve been doing lately, these pieces started out as watercolour doodles (I was actually doodling mimosa flowers and leaves for another piece). As usual, I then digitised the doodles and continued working on it in Procreate. I played around with different colours and hues, and added some inky details.

To be honest, I was initially trying to channel an Andy Warhol vibe when I was creating these pieces, but somewhere along the way I started thinking of the changing colours of leaves in autumn, and I decided to go with that instead.

Transition II is my personal favourite; and now that I look at it, the colours of Transition I remind me of a flag - I just can’t remember which country.

What do you see?

And which season’s your favourite?

Watercolour Doodles: Urban Living

I’d gotten my hands on some new paints, and was swatching all the colours for reference. I had some leftover in my palette, and I didn’t want to waste any of it, so this happened:

Original Doodle_1800.jpg

The Doodle

It looked like a bunch of high rise apartments to me, so I digitised it and added some details. I like the look of watercolour and ink; I think - especially with more loose or abstract watercolour pieces - it lends a playful, illustrative, vibe. So in Procreate, I played around with some “inky” details:

Urban Living_1800.jpg

Urban Living

I also wanted to try another style, so I eschewed the ink outlines, added some shading to give the shapes some depth, and then had fun with splatters:

Urban Living2_1800.jpg

Urban Living 2

I can’t make up my mind which one I like better; some days I prefer one, some days I prefer the other.

Which one do YOU like, and what do they look like to you?