And.....it's done.

I finally finished it! yay! I am quite happy with the outcome. Even though I dabbled with making a textured background, I figured that the texture in the background of the border shape and in the leaf motif was sufficient. To successfully define the pattern took a couple of goes to make sure there were no track marks, but testing and testing resulted in a seamless fill. To complete the final selection for the working copy, I found that cutting out the left side and dragging it to the right aided in the seamlessness. 

Below are the final fill, and working copies!

Working copy

Filled

Half drop?

Now I have done the most brain draining task (creating what I thought was an ogee pattern was really strenuous!) and have the motif I want to work with, I am playing around with how the pattern should be laid out. I thought initially the motif would be more obvious as to having 2 curvy shapes with in it, but when I played around with using the half drop method, I found it quite successful.

Half Drop ( before moving each motif to avoid the bird formation)

This would have been side by side, not sure why I didn't take a screen shot of it as I did this one, as I took screen shots of everything else.

 I really like the movement between the motifs, it seams to have a more flowing nature. Using the guidelines I played around with the position of each row, and I am finally able to select an area to define a pattern and test in a fill.

This is me trying to blend the watercolour brush background, wasn't the best result. 

Did I create an ogee pattern?

After looking back at my 'ogee' design, I am not so sure I really created one. However, ogee means a particular S type shape, and the outline of my pattern has created one!

I also looked back over the images I created from my drawings and found that I really liked this and figured that sometimes the first response is usually my most successful.

First design, as posted previously. I will use this motif in the final design.

The ogee design that reminded my of the flowing creek, and idea of water. http://www.trueup.net/2008/the-daily-swatch/daily-swatch-ogee-week-2/

I created the leaf motif by scanning in my drawing and using selection tools to create a boundary. As I was working with water, I used the previously downloaded watercolour brushes to colour in the leaf. I played a round with the opacities and with the colours. I wanted very strong colours, so when I came across the red and blue I felt these colours were not only strong but also related to the colour of the water and of the bright red roots of the lillie stems. The Stems in the motif were also selected from one of my scanned in sketches. I paintbucketed the selection with a dark grey, then placed an effects over the top (outline). When I put the stems and the leaves together ( as they came from different sketches) I used the transform tool  to rotate and flip the motif to create more of a tossed design. I then placed this on a textured black background.
As I now have the shape for the 'ogee' ( as I'm still not certain if it is one!) I places the two designs together again using the selection tools and assuring that the layers are in the right order. To create the outline of the pattern (another layer) I filled with  black then went over the top with a grey toned watercolour brush, like used in the leaf motif. 

Selecting the design area, I wanted to have the leaf design look more 'tossed'

I tried the design with brush layer over the top, but I did not like the loss of clarity

Selected and cut out. This is the design I then worked with for the final design.

I was going to use this shape, but the brushed background was to varied and was exceptionally difficult to remove the track marks in each tile.

Creating an ogee design

Lea didn't go through the exacts of creating an ogee pattern, but I figured it was similar to the half drop. I began drawing the outline of the design, but I then realised I could obtain quite a symmetrical pattern using the shape tools in PS.

The concept behind my design is to depict the ideas of the creek lillie leaves and stems and to suggest the idea of the reflection of the leaves on the water surface. The ogee pattern is to suggest the flowing nature of the water, and it also reminds me of the constant sound of the stream down the creek rock beds.

Creating the shapes to select to create the ogee around.

After selecting the large shape, I checked if the shape was going to be symmetrical.

Using the guides aided in the selection.

I had to test if the tiles matched up, and then blend any track marks.

I was really happy with how the tiles fit together. For such a simple design thus far, I am really surprised how long I have spent on it.

This Motif was created from selecting the leaf from the images I took at the creek. I felt that this approach was too literal, and I am leaning towards the initial drawing I did.

More detailed creek lillie photos

These are more detailed photos of the creek lillies. I used the leaf detail and the leaf shape in the drawings in the last post to scan into photoshop.

I opened these images up in PS to use for shape selection, but decided that I preferred the more organic nature of the hand drawing for the subject matter.

Scanning in some drawings...seeing where this will lead me....

After scanning in some drawings, I was started to manipulate them by using the magic wand tool to select areas, and then colour/change opacity/play around with brushes etc.

I selected elements from two different drawings to create the last image which I am happy with. For my final assessable image, I am aiming to add a more watercolour/brush effect than solid colour.

I think although I am happy with the last image aesthetically on this page I would prefer to attempt the ogee design I talked about in previous posts, and also see what type of effects I can manipulate using the photographs I have taken at the creek.

Ogee's

I found that I am really attracted to the ogee style (meaning of an 's' type shape). I think it may also be because I am quite favourable to retro fabrics. As I mentioned in my last post, it reminds my of rippling water I would like to integrate a painterly rendition of the leaves with an ogee repeat design.

I am thinking that to achieve the ogee design, it will be similar as creating a half drop repeat, but dependant on if there are some rotated motif's in the design.

http://www.trueup.net/2010/the-daily-swatch/daily-swatch-pattern-types-ogee-4/

http://www.amazon.com/Ogee-Blue-41911-Duralee-Fabrics/dp/B003CEBEI8

http://www.etsy.com/listing/75679170/gray-and-yellow-ochre-ogee-on-white

http://phyllismorris.com/trw_view.php?id=14

Lillie associations.....

After deciding on focussing on the creek lillies, and their reflections on the creek bed, the work of Monet came to mind, as did the ogee style designs as it appears to have the look of a water ripple. I would look to perhaps blend a painterly effect, the impression of the lillie leave in an ogee design.

This image reminded me of the long stems of the creek lillie, and I also like the very digital colour effect.
http://kenball.com.au/gallery/

A very digital interpretation of the lillie
http://kenball.com.au/gallery/

Ogee- waterly look.
http://www.trueup.net/2008/the-daily-swatch/daily-swatch-ogee-week-2/

This is a depiction of a water lillie which I was drawn to because of it's simple indication, similar to my photos from the creek.
http://kenball.com.au/gallery/

Monet's Water Lillie's
This painting captures the reflections from the willow tree and the lillies.
The images of my own I'm working from are reflections of the lillies as the creek lillie has long stems and the leaves overshadow the creek.
http://www.artquotes.net/masters/monet/monet-nympheas-waterlillies.htm

Week 7 - Creating different repeat systems

Lea went through different methods of creating working repeats and assuring that the working copies blend. The random repeat was the most difficult, as the canvas needed to be divided up with guidelines, and dragged to create a blended working repeat.  

Blending half drop with PS tools

Working repeat

Working half drop

Ramdom repeat

Thinking about the assessment....

Thinking about the requirement to use my local environmental attributes to assist in the design motivation for the textile design, I wandered to the creek all of 30 metres away from my front door to see what I could find. I really had no pre-concieved idea of what I wanted to find, or really what part of nature I wanted to focus on, I thought I'd just let the natural setting guide me. I headed to the creek around 8.30am, which was such a great time of day for lighting. Due to reflection created by this low light I was able to see different environmental interpretations of the shapes of the leaves, trees and all the things lying around the creek bed.

What stood out for me the most during my little trip to the creek was the large creek lillies. Initially I thought that perhaps the micro fern moss had potential, but the reflection and the shadows of the lillies on the water surface was so interesting, with a painterly quality. 

My next move to begin the designing process is to place these lillie leave images into PS and manipulate to extract the shapes for me to work from.

Lillie leave reflection on water

Lillie leave shadow on water

Top of the lillie leave

Lillie leaves hanging over creek edge and reflection

Lillie stems