Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.
Thomas Merton
I have always loved the wonderfully intricate repeating patterns of William Morris, but have always thought them fairly impossible to create. However while playing with doodles for the Sketch book challenge doodle theme, I filled a page with flowers and leaves and vines and them colored in parts of it.
When I finished I was quite happy with it. It was fun, whimsical and a relaxing way to spend part of an afternoon. It struck me then that it reminded me of those elaborate patterns that I love. I decided to try to make it into a repeating pattern. Computer software makes this fairly easy.
I just made a selection, then mirrored the selection both horizontally and vertically. A bit of cleaning it up and then I had a repeating pattern.
It is funny that something I have tried to do for years while thinking it was difficult should happen so easily when I was just playing around. The truth is that it has taken me all of those years to get to this point. The doodle is the result of hundreds of similar doodles. It has classic elements that have been pulled from that style that I love. The color palate is also very typical of that style. It is a delightful blend of learning, practice and just letting go and creating.
