No wait, the other thing: tedious.

Since moving back up, my art making unfortunately took a back seat to everything else going on in my life.  And now, more than ever, I know it is a very important part of my life.  I simply can't survive without it.  Recently, my muse has returned and I am making the time to create.  I have missed it so.  I thought I would just give you a small glimpse of what I'm working on.

This is going to be a series that will serve almost as a study for my other pieces.  However, I do believe they will make a strong body of work on their own.  I am hand drawing damask (a stylized version of something organic, which is usually mechanically reproduced), and I will find some way to make creatures with some sort of unique and specific instinct interact with it. 

This is the background for some seahorses:

It was my first attempt, so I tried to keep it simple.  I made a stencil, but it did not yield the results I was hoping for.  Then I realized that it would only support my concept to hand draw it, which is what I am now doing.  This however, takes a long time and is very tedious.  Plus, the second pattern is much more complex. 

I first mapped out my design with a grid, and some basic visual guides.  Then I drew in the central flower motif throughout the panel.  This pattern's size worked better with the size of the panel, so it is not square with any of the sides.  Rather, it seems to continue off the piece.  I am debating on whether I will attempt to continue the pattern to the sides.

I am now in the process of elaborating on the flowers.  This is the main part of the pattern.  Next, there are a few more things to be added to connect the motifs to each other and make the design more fluid.  This is the current state of the piece:

I'm certainly learning patience and more focus working on this series.  Oy!