Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design

I know I haven't been blogging lately. I have been focusing on other things and re-developing my creative business. One of the things I have been doing is taking an art class on Surface Pattern Design. It's an e-course week course offered by Rachael Taylor and Beth Nicholls. I just finished the first module, the art section. As an obsessive doodler, I had no idea I should be doing Surface Pattern Design! Can you imagine a 5-week class taking me from doodling to designing? While I'm still a brand spankin' newly minted "designer" (I don't feel comfortable with calling myself that yet), I'm amazed at how powerful this course was. Just 5 weeks! 5 weeks! Rachael has fabulous ideas for getting you started in Surface Pattern and Design. Although a number of my classmates had either a design or art background, there are a bunch of us who didn't have any type of art/design background other than being crazy creative. I have an incredible community that is supportive, warm, engaging and I can learn so much from!

I also love "not having grades." I like being able to develop my style freely and without interference from critiques. Not that I wouldn't mind some technical critiques to help me improve. However, I find I thrive in the supportive warm environment. I end up being my own critic much of the time and I just play and learn, make mistakes, play and learn, and make more mistakes, and learn some more.

I'm so new at this, and still having fun, it will be interesting to see where this leads as a potential source of income. One of the things I did immediately, though was change the background of my blog from one of the prints in my class. It's very fresh and very me.

Here's the progression of the 5 weeks of class:

Making different marks, to music, using two pens, using brushes. A variety of things can be used to make simple marks and make interesting background. I'm learning that simpler is better.

Some of my really detailed doodles (too detailed). Some of the branches in this doodle below have potential.

Really whimsical, detail doodle. I see potential in there, but will have to pull the marks apart to create something out it.

This spoon petal was fun to play with.

Simpler line art that I see potential with using in Southwest design.

I'm just starting to learn Adobe Illustrator!

My first design that I really love. I'm getting a lot that I like, but this is one of my favorite so far. I used the coffee curl from the above design for the inspiration below. The Steam Curl inspired the wavy plaid, the flowers and the heart.

I made my own gift wrap!

And a bunch of my final designs.

Can you believe a mere 5 weeks can take me from a doodler to an actual designer? It speaks to the fabulous teaching style of Rachael.

Seriously, though. I shouldn't get ahead of myself. I'm not a designer yet, but I'm obsessed! It's sooo much fun. The annoying part is waking up right before I go to sleep thinking of more designs. Must. Sleep. With. Computer. And. Journal. Next. To. Bed.


And what else have I been working on?


Yes! I've been a busy little beaverette working away on a new project. A few months ago, I thought I was going to start bringing lessons from art into the corporate world. I was wrong. After a mind-bending and revolutionizing class from Kelly Rae Roberts and Beth Nicholls called Hello Soul, Hello Business, I can say my approach to my creative business has been revolutionized. Even in the middle of the class, I was still working on writing the training manual I had in mind for the corporate world. But then something happened - I asked for an accountability partner to "report to" as I was writing and making progress on that book. In the process of that dialogue, I started sharing the basic concepts of the process and !Oila! my approach transformed into bringing lessons from my professional life as a project manager to the art world. And a new class was born. 

Beautifying Project Management

The Basics for Solo Artists, Creatives, and Entrepreneurs

Don't just take my word for it, here is what some other artists have been saying about this approach: 

"I also want to tell you that you basically changed my life with regard to my book.  Putting together your own working method (reaching out for an accountability partner) and then realizing, through conversations with you, that simple project management principles could be applied to a big project like a book have completely radically changed my writing process.  I now have my book broken down into 100 sections and I work on them 2 and 3 at a time.  It's insanely effective.  I was very stalled and stuck and now I am working steadily.  Jenn, I owe that to you. ... I LOVE the poster.  Also - so did my seventeen year old who is, as all teenagers are, hard to please.  She's got a big applying to college process ahead of her and she immediately eyed it for HER OWN process!" - Courtney Williamson, author, memoirist

"Personally in such a big undertaking like making your ideas 'real' and become reality, I appreciate the guidance and some kind of structure that will stop me from scattering my energy and focusing my time on what matters to me most. Also it's so vital to have the support of a like-minded group to nudge you along, sympathise, give feedback and feel accountable to. I think that others would benefit hugely from forming 'partnerships', with which you might be able to brainstorm or bounce off ideas." - Nicla Williams, Language Teacher in English, Italian, and Spanish, Opera Enthusiast


Curious? Read more about the course here. 

Semi-Original 8x10 Prints

So, I'm taking this really cool class called The Art and Business of Surface Pattern design. I made my first design in Illustrator with a watercolor background and had imported my hand-drawn gerbera daisies into Illustrator and was able to outline and use different colors to create a pattern. I was so happy with my first print, that I made it my blog background! 

The first time I printed it, the flowers overlapped the edges of the watercolor background.

The Original Print

The "Blank" Print

Here are the hand-colored semi originals in 8x10 prints that should fit a standard frame.

Gerbera Daisies in Hand-Colored Blue-Green

Gerbera Daisies in Hand-Colored Brights

Gerbera Daisies in Hand-Colored Purple Pinks

Gerbera Daisies in Hand-Colored Southwest Colors

New work from my new e-class

Yes, Kanna is going through a transformation. I've put one of my paintings as the background of my blog. I have a new e-class I'm developing, "Beautifying Project Management" that will be offered to the public in September, 2012... check it out and see if it's something that might help you! I'm very excited about it.

I've been taking the Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design. I'm in the design Module 1 right now. I'M SO LOVING THIS CLASS! I've been prolific with doodling and drawing and I'm loving the directions that my work is taking. I haven't started using Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop (full version) yet, but just the handwork and hand-coloring has been really fun. Here is some of my work. More is on Flickr.

Southwest Style

Floral Border

Cherry Blossoms

Hummingbird

Cherry Blossom Vine

Turquoise Geodes

Pink Geodes

Blue Geodes

I've been painting a bit...

I surprised myself with these paintings. I usually don't do modern and minimalist (and this ended up being a smidgen more than minimal with the paint dribbles) but I love how it turned out! Will be doing more of these. I'm learning how to scan to make prints of these paintings.

2012 (C) Jennifer Borek 

2012 (C) Jennifer Borek

What have I been up to?

First, I just finished the Hello Soul, Hello Business class by Beth Nicholls of Do You What Love and Kelly Rae Roberts. Oh. My. This class (really, it was a Creative MBA) revolutionized my entire approach to my creative business. I was looking forward to just growing my jewelry business, but through this process of digging through everything, jewelry is now up in the air. At least for now, it's on hold. Their next class will be offered in September. If you really want to change how you look at your business and gain the tools you need for building it, I highly recommend this class.

Regarding one of the first outputs of this class, I'm in the process of developing an e-class and e-book I think will be useful to Artists. I still have some preparation work to do before I release the details.

The next thing I started working on was another e-class. This is the Art & Business of Surface Pattern Design.

Here is one of my first cheesy attempts at a pattern. It's a graffiti petal. But, it was SOOOO fun to put it together. And two of my favorite designs so far.

WHY DID I CREATE KANNA LLC?

Ah, I’m back! I have temporarily relocated to Kansas for a long-term contract. So, let me introduce (or re-introduce) myself to you. I am girl geek project manager by day and relentlessly creative person. While I say I am primarily a glass and silver jewelry artist, my creative brain is more like an F5 Tornado churning out an unstoppable debris of creative ideas strewn across the landscape of my mind. I dabble in wirewrapping, chain maille, precious metal clay, low-tech metal-smithing, polymer clay, resin, painting, pastels, colored pencils, water color, marker, knitting, crocheting. If you name it, I'll want to try it. I am a professional klutz. Well, technically I haven't been paid, but I have been entertaining audiences from a young age. I have has stumbled through life in nine states plus two years as an ex-pat in Hong Kong. I am owned by Maltese dogs named Molly Dolly, 13 years old, and Sophie Belle, 3 years old. I love southwestern and western metaphors even though I’m just a repressed suburbanite. (These are the dressy cowgirl boots I’m saving up for.)

Part of the reason for blog silence is that I have been taking a business class on re-designing Kanna LLC with soulful intention. (This class is absolutely fantastic for any creative souls trying to start their business the right way.) There are two sides to Kanna LLC: the process of project management and the creative jewelry side. Right now, my mind is ablaze with ideas!!!! Currently, I have this mischievous sense of literary abandon overtaking me where I positively plan to skewer everything I know about the English language. But, more important than skewing, smashing, bashing, and mashing the English language, I wanted to spend a little time on the heart of my business…WHY I do what I do.

WHY

I created a painting for my home with a quote that has been said to me, personally, "I care. You matter." That really boils down the essence of WHY I do anything that I do in my professional and personal life. PEOPLE MATTER. In a world where people are being treated as objects and relationships are fraying at the edges, the heart of WHY I do anything is because PEOPLE MATTER. YOU matter. I practice, teach, and create art jewelry and project processes because I care and you matter.

WHAT

Professional Project Management: While I recognize that there is no system or process that is a silver bullet perfect solution, I have pinned my heart on to a style of project management, called Agile, because one of the core principles of the Agile Manifesto spoke to me. Techno-Averse and Techno-Phobic people have permission to close your eyes, plug your ears, and sing "lah-lah-lah" for the next until after the parentheses. Or just skip the parentheses. (Agile is a set of project management and software development principles geared toward Information Technology.) The soul-infused principle is "creating a sustainable work pace" which, in my interpretation, means, "I care about people." When done well and with heart, people can enjoy work, enjoy productivity, enjoy accountability and be rewarded with a sense of satisfaction. I believe this style of wrangling time and tasks has application far beyond the Information Technology sector. I would love to see adoption in every kind of project. 

The Chaos Corral - Boxing Up Time and Tasks for Creatives: A particular interest for me is smashing the Information Technology jargon and project management babble out of this form of Time and Task Organization. First of all, people glaze over when you speak techno-babble. Second, I don’t want to scare Creatives/Artists off with the words (shhh, please only whisper these words) "project management." I want to translate these cool techniques into “artish.” We can pluck our creative dreams out of the chaotic clouds in our minds and wrap a few fun, simple techniques around that creative maelstrom, become productive, and *gasp* maybe even profitable with our creative endeavors.

Creating Jewelry and Teaching Jewelry Techniques: A balancing interest to the organizational process is creating jewelry that helps people value themselves, an anchor to silence the inner critic and put a positive, self-created soundtrack in our head. When you value yourself sufficiently (but not in a selfish way), it is more possible to value, support, and help other people. In addition, the simple process of creating jewelry is a destressifying means of wholesome recreation.

So, if PEOPLE MATTER to you...raise your hand. 

Um. Let me re-phrase that since I can't see your hands.

If PEOPLE MATTER to you, leave a comment. ;-D

A little over halfway through BSBP Hop!

So sorry, if I haven't made it to your blog yet, but I'm "pacing myself" so I can truly enjoy the inspiration and eye candy produced by all the talented designers in this hop. Thank you for stopping by and commenting and checking out my soup and final creations!