Category: Sunday sketch
Sunday sketch #126
A few of my recent Sunday sketches (see #122, #123… and even #124) have traced a thin line from one side of the page to the opposite side. Finally, I pulled out my dot pad and gel pen, and tried hand-sketching some related designs.
I think right-angled triangles – in other words, half-square triangles – are my favourite shape. I like all the movement in the above design, but I also wanted to see how these shapes would look in formation, all facing the same direction.
I like it! Big arrows pointing down, or double-headed HSTs facing up.
I might try recreating these designs in EQ8 so I can add some colour. I think there could be some interesting opportunities for transparency, too.
These designs could be translated into quilt patterns using HSTs, squares and rectangles.
Sunday sketch #125
This design started out in different colours, but it felt a bit busy, so I replaced one of the colours with white. Adding some negative space really opens up the design and makes it all a bit calmer.
I really love this colour palette, although sometimes I think that rich yellow would work with anything!
It’s all squares and rectangles, so a quilt based on this design would come together really quickly.
Sunday sketch #124
I have a pretty big backlog of EQ8 designs to share, which is probably one of the reasons why I’ve felt less urgency to hand-sketch lately. I did pick up my dot pad recently though, which always feels great and makes me wonder why I don’t do it more often.
This week’s sketch arose from another series that I haven’t shared here. Sometimes a design is nothing special, but it leads to something else that’s more interesting. This design is an example of that… I started with some long skinny rectangles set at an angle, but they were kinda boring. But then I cut each one in half diagonally, and created this spiky block.
Repeated in a 4 x 4 layout, the last spike in each block meets up with the first spike in the next block, which lends some continuity to the whole design. Emphasising different sides of each block – through the use of dark and light colours – also helps to make new shapes.
There are a million and one ways to colour this design – and to create new shapes through colour. Of course, I usually settle on the obvious: a gradation from dark to light. Reds seemed like a good choice for such a dynamic design.
This design would be easiest to translate into a quilt pattern using foundation paper piecing. I’m not normally a fan of FPP, but in this case I think it would be super-easy way to get the crisp lines and angles needed to make this design pop.
