Video Blog: Finding Inspiration from Plants
In this video blog post I am creating this art journal page and talk about finding inspiration from plants.
If you got interested in creating imaginative plant-inspired pages, see also the previous blog post mentioned on the video: Create Abstract Botanical Art!
Create Abstract Botanical Art!
Last Friday I saw impressive paintings. When I see something that appeals to me, I try to analyze that in pieces. It is fascinating to find out little things that make a painting so memorable. I created this collage called “The Odd Nature” by using those factors. The whole subject – abstract botanical art – is mind-blowing.
Inspired by Hilma af Klint
Starting from the beginning: I was at Hilma af Klint‘s exhibition at Kunsthalle Helsinki. I had seen a few of her works before, but never this many at the same time. Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) painted botanical art and landscapes but then moved to create abstract art. She was a female artist and one of the pioneers of abstract art. When that is combined with her interest in spiritual ideas, no wonder she did not make her work public. In fact, she ordered that her work should be shown not earlier than 20 years after her death! Look at some of Hilma af Klint’s paintings on the Swedish Moderna Museet’s website.
Here’s what inspired me with Hilma af Klint’s art:
1) Odd compositions that were skillfully balanced.
2) Graphic, often decorative shapes which reminded me of plants and biology.
3) The combination of bright and muted colors with great contrasts.
Zoom in on Nature!
After the exhibition, I began to think about how far we often look at the world around us. To me, it felt like Hilma af Klint had divided living objects like plants into small components and then constructed new pieces out of them. So I began to zoom in on the photos I had taken from my garden this year.
When thinking about the structure of apple blossom, I remembered something which is small too: the little box where I save the tiniest scraps of my hand-decorated papers.
Creating abstract botanicals from the paper scraps would be the thing to do!
Color Inspiration
The idea for the color scheme and the atmosphere came from this photo, taken just a while ago. I painted the background blue purple by adding several layers with watercolors.
Collage Shapes
After the background had been finished, I began to create the abstract shapes.
You can easily create intriguing collage pieces by combining small scraps together. Your cut shape does not need to be perfect before gluing it on the background. You can think of the shape as the beginning of the final shape. You can add more details with paint and pen around the shape later.
Composition
When gluing the shapes before they are finished, you need to make bold moves in the composition. I advise not to think of the composition more than this: make sure that the shapes are not evenly spread in the background. After the preliminary shapes are glued, you can then continue working with them by expanding them with painting and drawing. At the same time combine some of the shapes together and create new, smaller shapes to balance the work.
In my work, the center of the work is left almost empty. There I created a tiny detail that adds dimension to the work: a blue horizontal line near the two small circles.
So why not pick up your scraps and honor Hilma by creating surrealistic botanical art!
Read also
Fun Designs from Decorative Papers – An easy technique to create collage elements.
How to Draw a Rose – A simple rose seen in the collage above. You might want to use it as a decorative element too.
Video Blog Post: Free Doodling
Here it is – my first video blog post! Here you can see how I create a small artwork by doodling freely with colored pencils and markers. It took about 30 minutes to create the drawing. You will see every single phase, but a part of it is fast forwarded.
This was terribly exciting, so please excuse my slow talking and grammar mistakes!
Arboretum Patterned Paper
My newest design for hand decorated papers is called Arboretum. Arboretum as a word means a collection of trees. It is often used for the gardens where various kinds of trees from the collection. As you can see below, this design is very versatile: you can create any trees and play with the colors and pattern repeats.
I have used mainly watercolors here, but you can create this pattern with almost any supplies. When I designed this, I was inspired by two things: 1960s retro style and modern quilting.
Living in a house built in the 60s, we have brown, sturdy floor tiles and pine trees in the garden. The whole era celebrated the simple shapes forming simple designs. In modern quilting, solid fabrics are combined with modern patterns. Modern style quilts also often use asymmetrical and improvisational piecing.
I wanted to create a design that would be improvisational as well. I aimed for the painted design that leaves space for variations and self-expression. The simplified black and white pattern picture shows the structure more clearly.
Each of the trees has rectangular shapes in the middle. They represent the trunk of the tree. The rectangles are surrounded by round shapes, which represent leaves. Each row is separated by the row of rectangles, representing the fence or earth. A single tree can also be used alone, as an element in an illustration or as the only image illustrating a text.
Step by Step Instructions for the Painted Design
1) Create the background
Use several colors to create the background. The colors can be intensive but not very dark as this is only the bottom layer that shows behind the trees.
I used thin watercolor paper, watercolors, broad brush and plenty of water. I worked with long strokes from top to bottom and vice versa. The paper was dry, but the brush was very wet. In the end, I added splashes of water to create even more variation.
Let the background dry well. If you like the result, and you have a scanner, scan it so that you can use it multiple times by printing it!
2) Add the fences.
The fences can be straight or curvy. They can break or continue from edge to edge. The distance of these rows determines the size of your trees.
3) Add the trees.
Start with the rectangles of the trunk. Continue by adding circles near them. Create the rectangles and circles in different sizes and different colors. Color variation looks great especially if you maintain the intensity of the color fairly even between the shapes.
Leave some space between the trees.
3) Darken the background around the trees.
Add darker color to the space between the trees. You can use various colors here too. The dark background represents the sky.
4) Finish with doodles.
Create details to the rectangles and circles. I like to use white gel pen here. You can make each tree look different if you like.
My finished piece is inspired by fall. Thus some trees only had few leaves. On the top row, there ‘s also a tree that has rectangles set like branches. The darkest tree in the upper left corner reminds me of a cone. I could have made an art journal page too by replacing the fence with the journaling. There’s so many little tweaks you can make to this pattern to tell your personal story!
After creating these, I have begun to wonder: what if I cut some of the trees out and created a collage from them!
More patterned papers: Basic instructions + links to more
More inspiration from simple shapes: What to Create from Simple Shapes? 6 ideas
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