Fancy/Funky Friday: Patterns Victoria & Anna

Both of today's patterns are on the detailed and fancy end of the spectrum, but as you'll see at the end of this blog post, the "funky" pattern also has very thick, bold lines which keep from letting it feel too elegant.

First, the "fancy": Pattern Victoria

I love the detail in this pattern. It has a lot of vertical emphasis with the long ovals throughout the pattern, but in between the ovals that let in a little negative space, there are a lot of interesting details and shapes created by the thin, decorative lines. There are a couple different heart-like shapes, and there are some discernible (though certainly fancy) letters, as well - can you spot the capital E and capital H letters? I really love the amount of detail. Every time you look at the pattern up close, you notice something else new. :)

This pattern is great for a thick strip of pattern across the top or sides of a stationery design, as shown above, and it works in almost any color. It looks even more royal in a deep blue, purple, or gold, and it would take on a more organic, garden ivy feel in shades of green.


And now, the "funky": Pattern Anna

Pattern Anna makes me instantly think of tudor architecture design with its thick, bold lines that create such a huge contrast to the light negative space, and its emphasis on diagonals. While it could be argued that tudors have a certain "fanciness" to them, I've always found such designs to feel too bold to be the elegant version of fancy I often think about (and use to define the "fancy" category of these blog posts). Plus, the design, though some parts are more detailed than others, is still relatively simple. There are a lot of thick diagonal lines, some thinner diagonal lines, and some slight curves that never quite make a full elegant loop. For all of those reasons, I feel that Pattern Anna and other similar patterns would have to be closer to the "funky" end of the spectrum - they're too unique, simple, and bold to be truly fancy. :)


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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!