Floral inspiration and using a viewfinder

In an earlier post, I wrote about using a viewfinder in the design workshop I attended at Shakerag. Someone asked me about the viewfinder, so I thought I'd share more about the design process and using a viewfinder.

For one our design exercises, the inspiration source was floral. There are many varieties of wild flowers that grow on the campus where the workshop was held, so finding a source was easy.

For this exercise, we could use any drawing or painting materials including colored pencils, pastels, markers, acrylics, watercolors, etc. to capture the essence or some aspect of the source. We worked on large sheets of drawing and watercolor paper. I did some contour drawings and color studies with colored pencils, pastels and watercolor paints.

Contour drawings and sketches.

From these drawings, we used a 1-inch square viewfinder to find and isolate an interesting portion.

Using the 1-inch viewfinder.

This mini composition was then enlarged and refined. We learned how to configure a repeat so the design could be woven or printed on fabric.

Pattern from a floral inspiration.

This is Jeannie's design from her floral inspiration. I love the boldness and graphic appearance, and the movement created by the diagonal lines. This would make a stunning fabric print for quilting cottons, as well as home dec, apparel or accessories. Quilters—what do you think?