Author: Rachael Ashe

Pattern Mixing in Green

This pattern mixing piece in green paper began as a sketchbook drawing. I tried to stick as closely as possible to the original layout as I translated it into this larger piece. It’s the strangest shape I’ve worked with yet with its mix of sharp angles and curves.

My biggest struggle when drawing these is working with the French curve templates I have the are often slightly too small to cover the area I am trying to trace a line. I’ve figured out a way to make it work though. It’s also tricky to use my compass to draw partial circles because I can’t get it to expand as wide as I would like. I should look into whether I can find a larger version of both tools.

This piece has the most made-up-on-the-fly patterns (as I was drawing) of any of the work to date. I think because at this point I’d been thinking and looking at patterns enough that I could now come up with my own. I included one section of freeform cutting using my classic repeating crescent shape.

Pattern mixing in green (not the actual title) is hand-cut from Canson Mi-Tientes paper, and is 25 x 17.5 inches in size.

Pattern Mixing Diptych in Turquoise

Earlier today I was looking at the sketchbook drawing this piece is based upon and realized how much more complex it became in the final version. It was always a diptych but the paper cut version walked away with additional sections and way more elaborate patterning.

This turquoise blue paper is my number one favourite of all the colours in the Canson Mi-tientes range. (It is sooooooo goooooood). I could use it again and again to make all sorts of things.

With this piece I really started to consider the line weight of each pattern, which is something tricky to figure out in the drawing stage. I like that the upper sections of both half-circles have sections that are matching in airiness because the paper is mostly cut away, while the sections below are more dense. This was not planned, so clearly dumb luck panned out well with this piece.

The final version is hand-cut from Canson Mi-teintes paper, and each one is 18 inches by 10 inches.

Pattern Mixing in Poppy Orange

This is the second in my new series of pattern mixing paper cut pieces. I finished this piece in late June, and was super jazzed about how beautiful it turned out. The paper is a vibrant Poppy Orange and the patterns play together in an energetic way that is pleasing to the eye.

I hand drew most of the patterns in this piece but I also decided to use some previously cut paper pieces as stencils to trace some of the most complicated ones – like the Islamic geometric pattern inside the circle. Those ones always feel intimidatingly complicated to hand draw.

This piece is another that began as an idea in my sketchbook, exploring composition and a pretty crude mixing of pattern ideas. It’s been so helpful to have these drawings, capturing ideas, to refer back to when working on a more refined and finished piece.

The lozenge is hand-cut from Canson Mi-teintes paper, and the finished size is 22″ x 16.5″.

Pattern Mixing Cut and Ink Test

The paper I often use in my work comes in a pretty limited range of colours, and I’ve been trying to figure out if I can customize this by painting or printing on the paper. It’s tricky because the Canson Mi-Teintes paper warps and buckles with the addition of wet mediums because it isn’t made for painting or printing.

I was inspired by another artist to try rolling ink and acrylic paint onto the paper to add smooth flat colour (which is what I actually want). I tried it out on two different types of paper I use in my work, and it was mixed results.

I made this pattern mixing piece from one of these ink rolling experiments on Mixed Media paper but the results aren’t great on closer inspection. The ink and paint sit on the surface and flaked off at the edge of every single cut line. It made for very messy work with these small flakes covering my cutting matt and hands as I worked.

The piece itself was an experiment in quickly putting together a pattern mixing piece as a test of the idea, to move from sketchbook drawings to a completed piece of work.

Pattern Mixing in Cut Paper Series

This is the first in a new series of pattern mixing pieces I started working on back in late May/early June. I’ve been pondering creating this work for a loooooong time, and only figured out how to bring it to life thanks to planning and drawing in a sketchbook. (I’ll share some of those at a later date).

I’m terrible at pre-planning work but in order to evolve/improve how I create work I needed to add this to my process. I spent a long time sketching out ideas before ever moving on to the next stage of making, and then I now use this sketchbook work as reference.

I did practice drawing patterns and mixing them together in the sketches, but the biggest leap was how to lay them out within the larger form. I don’t pre-plan ahead of time what patterns to include and instead make those decisions as I go.

I’m using a few different books as reference for patterns, but also still like to include non-repeating patterns that I “make up” as I draw. I was so thrilled when the first piece felt like it came together successfully. I love its odd organic shape filled with energetic patterns.

The final photo is of the piece hung the opposite way because I was trying to figure out which way worked better as “up”.

The finished piece is hand-cut from Canson Mi-Teintes 90lb paper, and is 25 x 18.25 inches.

Work In Progress: Printmaking/Cut Paper Collaboration

Late last year I met with my friends Rebekah and Norberto, who run The Hive Printing, to talk about working together on pieces for a show I have in 2021. I want to include screen prints but don’t have the skills the create the work I have in mind, and asked if they’d be interested in collaborating with me. Lucky for me, they were keen, even though it is something they don’t normally do

Norb produced initial test prints of two potential screen print designs in May. I worked with these to explore ways of cutting the paper that collaborates with the print, and compliments the design, while also not removing too much of the paper. My usual process is to cut most of the paper away, but I want to showcase the cutting and printing in equal measure in this case.

I think pattern cutting small sections of the prints will work very well. I drew my designs on the front of the paper in these tests, but the finished pieces will be worked from the back. Based upon these tests, I think this collaboration is going to work very well.

Make Art While Apart

These are a few of the awesome murals that were painted on boarded up shops along Commercial Drive, Gastown, Granville, and Robson Streets in April and early May. I’m so grateful to all the artists, the Vancouver Mural Festival, along with various neighbourhood business associations for this initiative. It brought life and positive energy to empty streets.

Work In Progress: Patterns of Influence

Towards the end of April my mental health started to collapse. I lost hope, and felt I had nothing to look forward to. I also felt intensely isolated because while I do lots of reaching out to people, very few reach out in return. I’ve struggled with depression in the past and could feel a bad one coming on if I didn’t find a way to cope with this.

I made myself go to the studio to work on this series of pattern paper cut pieces that I started during the Leeway Studio residency in 2015. It was the right thing to do, and just the lifeline I needed.

Up to now there are twenty-six pieces in it, and I’d been procrastinating figuring out how to transform them into a 3D installation for an upcoming show (next year). Giving myself time to work on this aspect of an existing piece of work allowed me to refocus and snapped me out of the bad mental state. It’s been so hard to concentrate or be creative the past few weeks so this project felt like a lifesaver.

The series of thirty-six laid out in the studio

Once all twenty-six existing pattern paper cuts were measured, cut, and folded into 3D boxes, then I decided the series needed at least ten more pieces for an even thirty-six. It was fulfilling and satisfying to build momentum and get the entire project into a more complete state.

I still have lots of work to do on this installation before it feels “complete”, and a major hurdle will be assembling and hanging the piece. I’ll figure out this less fun part another time.

To bring it back around to mental health, because that’s where this blog post started, I wrote about this on IG at the time because I hoped my experience would help others. It’s been a crazy struggle of a year, and we all need to do what we can to keep ourselves mentally healthy.

Work In Progress: Embroidery Side-Project

I wanted to work on a larger embroidery sampler and decided to go with a 10 inch diameter hoop this time. It’s about triple the size of previous projects, and I’ve been working on this off and on since the fall.

The sampler has become a mishmash of textures and colours, and I sometimes love it, and sometimes hate it. I set it aside while I worked on the embroidered gift for my mom, and work on it about once of twice a week.

I’m hoping to finish it once I reach the borders of the embroidery hoop, but I’m not in a rush to get there. It’s nice to have a side-project with no timeframe or deadline.

Freestyle Embroidery in 3D

I began this small embroidery project around mid-March, just at the Covid 19 restrictions hit BC, and worked on it almost every day until completion. It was the one thing I was able to focus on during that time, and it helped carry me through the weirdness.

It was a gift for my mom’s birthday in early April, that I very last minute decided to make. I managed to finish in half a month, (which must be some kind of record), and get it into the mail a few days before her birthday. It ended up taking so long to make its way across the country to Ontario that I thought it was lost forever. Thankfully, it arrived and she loved it!

The piece is created with a six inch embroidery hoop, using black cotton/linen blend fabric as the canvas. The composition is made up of hand stitched French knots, bullion knots, picot stitch, seed stitch, and back stitch. I love highly textured embroidery, and making use of all of those colours!