I’ve been steadily working away on pieces for the pattern design project, and finished these two a few weeks ago. Each design seems to present new learning experiences with interesting surprises along the way.

Before I started, I assumed each of these would be relatively simple to cut, and maybe a little boring. But studying something up close for a few hours through the lens of paper cutting line by line brings with it an intimate knowledge of each new pattern I explore.

Cutting the delicate flowers and leaves in the pattern above proved to be challenging but gratifying. The waves of lines in the pattern below seemed completely uninteresting to me until I started cutting and got cut up in the flow of them. Both have given me so much to think about in terms of new directions in my personal work.

After finishing these two pieces I switched back to working on three more Islamic geometric patterns, and completed the third of three earlier today. That wraps up the cutting work I’d set for myself to reach before the end of November. Now I plan to assess next steps, and decide whether or not to add more to the project.

It’s a good thing I keep an on-going record of what I am working on with Instagram and my blog because it helps me realize how productive I have been lately. I’d been feeling unproductive, but looking back at my previous entry earlier in October about the pattern project I’d revived, I realized I’d done lots of work on it since then. I’m currently in the process of working on the sixth new one.

I switched things up last week and started cutting Islamic patterns. The two pictured here are the ones I have completed. These designs are even more time consuming and elaborate to cut than the series of Japanese textile patterns. So many lines!

I enjoy working on these because the process of cutting is like examining the structure of the pattern under a microscope. My eye is a close as it can possibly get and I literally view the structure line by line.

I finished the third new Islamic pattern paper cut earlier today, so now it’s time to assess what the next steps will be for the project. Cut more pieces?! Select a third series of patterns to add? Making decisions is part of the fun.

I recently decided to restart an old project I’d left unfinished from an artist residency at The Leeway Studio a few years back. I created a series of paper cut pieces exploring pattern design which focused on Japanese textiles and Islamic geometric designs. I’ve been thinking about this project for ages and wanted to do more work on it. I sometimes use the pieces as samples in my paper cutting classes, but they were always intended to become an installation.

Last week I cut the piece above to add to the Japanese collection of patterns, and today I cut one more. Below is an image of most of the completed ones from years ago. Each one has a cut area of 7.5″ x 5″ within a 8.5″ x 11″ piece of cardstock.

The final image below is the mock-up of three patterns with their borders folded into a box to make them three dimensional. This is how the overall installation will be and make the mixed patterns into a sort of 3D quilt.

I think part of the reason I am working on this old project again is because it’s always bothered me that I never saw it through to the end. I really want to show these, and the only way to make sure that happens, is to finally finish it.

My series of daily drawings on 3.5 inch paper circles wrapped up as of yesterday when I finished the sixtieth one. The stack of them measures about 3/4 of an inch high, which is not a lot, but equals two months of sketchbook work capturing ideas.

See the previous sets here and here.

Set 9 – exploring variations of looping lines

Set 10 – exploring tessellated patterns inspired by my visit with Nadine Werner

Set 11 – revisiting an older idea of spirals with new variations

Set 12 – exploring an idea based on a textile pattern I came across here.

Set 13 – exploring line work inspired by tape art murals

Set 14 – exploring intense and intricate line work

Set 15 – exploring some of my favourite Japanese textile patterns

I’m a little bit sad to have run out of circles before the end of the trip but I knew that was going to happen. I punched an even number of circles to cover sixty days. I’m pretty tired of working so small and badly need to go home to the studio and make some larger work. Soooooon…..

While I am once again away from my regular studio for two months, this time for good reasons, I am working on another daily project.

Before leaving home I used a circle punch to make sixty circles with a diameter of 3.5 inches from red, grey, black, and white card stock with the idea I would use these as the basis for the intended daily project. I didn’t plan anything beyond using these materials and left things to chance.

On the first day of the project I decided to draw intricate leafy vines in white gel pen on black paper and carried through with this same motif over the following three days to create a set of four. And that is the idea I am going to stick with for the rest of the series – coming up with a design to explore four times using the different coloured paper and gel pens.

I like this idea because it allows me to explore an idea more thoroughly by doing variations of four. It also means I only have to come up with fifteen different ideas rather than sixty unique designs to fill all of the circles.

The series is working well so far. I am pleased with the first three sets of four. It’s amazing how quickly the work piles up with a daily project.

I wrapped up my daily project, 31 Days of Scribbles, a few days early in March because we were preparing to move back into our apartment this past weekend. I knew I would not have time or space to work on the last few, so I made the effort to create two each day while I still had time. I mostly used handmade paper with metallic screen printed patterns, which was lovely and spectacular to work with as a material.

I tried to explore different configurations of overlapping lines and overall shapes of the scribbles while not making them too complicated to cut in a short amount of time. It was a good learning experience to work with irregular shapes, as well as paper that is much more fibrous than materials I typically use in my work.

I have a few more sheets of handmade paper similar to those I used in the scribble series. I would really like to use them to create large work making use of the entire piece of paper for a single design. I am excited to get to work on that once I am settled back in my studio.

The photo below was taken on Friday and shows all of the scribbles piled together that were created to date by that afternoon. It’s the most satisfying part of working on a daily project – seeing the accumulation of finished pieces in a short amount of time.

I managed to use up one of the handmade pieces of paper I bought last month in Seattle, which was my favourite screen printed with multicoloured polka dots. I must track down more of this paper at some point!

I’ve been trying to explore different line shapes and forms as I go. I want the pieces to seem similar but not the same. Sometimes I sketch out an idea first and other times I start directly on the paper I intend to cut. Swirly looping lines seem to be easier to make work as a paper cut than jagged lines.

This week I want to lay out what I’ve created so far for this series, and think more seriously about their potential as an installation. I’m just over the halfway point now so I feel there is enough work to get a sense of the larger series.