Week 2 – Lilla Rogers MATS Class – Home Decor

Hi everyone. I’ve just finished Week 2 of Lilla Rogers MATS class. This week was Home Decor and the subject matter was Bromeliads. OK I’m going to be honest. I had never heard this word before. That wasn’t the problem – it was the sound of the word. Bromeliads. It made me go ‘yuck’! Strange reaction. I love words, some are just fantastic. Cinnamon, licorice – I love these words – they sound musical to me. But everytime I heard the word Bromeliad, it made my skin crawl!

Dreaming on a Star – Home Decor – MATS

Another thing that made me procrastinate this week was the subject. You will think I’m even more strange. I love flowers, love growing them, smelling them, love their names 😉 but I don’t really draw them.
I think I get frustrated with myself. I get overwhelmed with all the beautiful watercolours. People have been drawing flowers for centuries. I think of all the botanical notebooks and the fine drawings. I prefer to draw them from my head as little doodles. I don’t enjoy drawing them from life.

So Week 2 was tough for me and I needed to get over this. I started the week by getting away from the computer and playing with different media. I wanted to loosen up.

Dreaming on a Star – MATS – Mark Making

Dreaming on a Star – MATS – Mark Making

Dreaming on a Star – MATS – Mark Making

I was hoping to use some of these for the assignment so I scanned them into the computer and played around with them. Nothing came out great so I left them to one side.

I doodled a little bit more and did some word play. Exotic flowers found in hot lands. I thought of the rainforests and parrots and I drew some parrots but they came out all elongated like totem poles. So I drew them as totem poles and abstract art. I made more doodles. They look like a strange kind of language so I pretended it was some made-up language found deep inside a jungle where the exotic flowers grow.

Dreaming on a Star – Parrots & Doodles

I’m not sure if my totem parrots and ‘tribal language’ should have taken precedence over the flowers. I used a bit of artistic freedom here, but it made the project more interesting for me. I was able to dig myself out of a hole.

Anyway it lit a little fire under me and I got excited about the project. I took on Lilla’s advice and looked for a palette I would not have used before. I used a retro palette and I really loved it. I usually go for happy, bright colours, but they tend to be quite samey.
I also spent more time on my icons. I made sure each one had some TLC and I spent time adding textures.

Dreaming on a Star – Electric Parrot Garden – MATS

I was really happy with my work and made the icons into a fabric collection! I hope you like it. I’m looking forward to next week! ♡

Dreaming on a Star – Electric Parrot Garden – Fabric Collection – MATS

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