Friday, March 16, 2012

Fancy/Funky Friday: Patterns Vera & Melissa

If you're like me, you're never more grateful for a Friday than the ones that precede a holiday weekend. And what better way to celebrate the start of St. Patrick's Day weekend than with today's Fancy/Funky Friday post? ;)

First, the "fancy": Pattern Vera




If you've been following this blog, you know that I love patterns that remind me of argyle. Anything that uses diamond-like shapes just feels instantly sophisticated to me. :) This pattern is no exception, even though the "diamonds" are more like ovals, since the lines are so curved. I think they resemble those fancy Christmas ornaments that were popular decades ago... And so this pattern feels kind of antique or vintage to me, which I love. It's simple and classic, and perfect to use in the background of so many different stationery designs or watercolor paintings.




The pattern is a light enough color in the background that it just adds some visual interest without being too distracting. The ample amount of white negative space also helps the pattern to stay simple and classic. Any pattern that has that much negative space can never be too busy. :)


And now, the "funky": Pattern Melissa




If Pattern Vera was simple and airy, Pattern Melissa is it's opposite. This pattern is quite busy and dense, made to seem even more so since the pen strokes are so thick. If you look carefully at the pattern, you can see that each individual square "unit" is either rotated 90 degrees from the one directly next to it, or reflected across the invisible axis between them. This makes the pattern flow so well that it's hard to tell where the "units" actually are, since they function so well as a whole. That's one of the marks of a good pattern. :)




It is a very busy pattern, but if you use just a column of it instead of an entire block, it's a little simpler. In the stationery design above, I used a single column in a copper color to add a fun pattern to both vertical borders to frame the invitation information without being too distracting.

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Shameless plug time: Love my patterns? I incorporate them into a lot of the artwork I create, from stationery for Invites by Andrea to the watercolors I paint. Check out Invites by Andrea's website to see examples of these patterns in use or drop me a line at andrea@invitesbyandrea.com to let me know what you think!


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