I tried Resolutions. They don’t work for me. I felt like a failure because of that for a long time. Then I gave myself a break and decided I can change and do new things and create new habits any day of the year. It is about Intention for me. That felt a whole lot better.
This year I was inspired by someone else’s idea to come up with a theme for the year. I sat quietly for a bit and this is what came to me:
Quiet Persistence. Could become a seasonal theme…
I invite you over to my Patreon page so you can join me in creating a community around de-stigmatizing mental health, understanding my white privilege, and deconstructing colonialism and sharing my artistic process around it. 2020 had me delving deep into my own self and as scary as it was, I discovered gems I couldn’t have mined any other way. It is sacred work and vulnerable work. I have public and Patron only content. Be well, take care of yourself, and know you are Loved Beyond Measure. Happy New Year. -Ang xo
VPH Design Part Four: My Surface Pattern Design Guide.
Session two was great. I got valuable feedback and started sketching more designs of cupcakes, ice cream, and adding embellishments to come up with a collection. I referred to my mood board, but was frustrated with not being able to create easily. My direction was to loosen up and think differently.
Maybe this is a border or stripe?
I was on the verge of tears before our next appointment. I hadn’t made good progress, wasn’t having fun, and was feeling defeated. We decided the best thing to do was to postpone meeting until the next week to give myself a chance to process what was going on. I was feeling very blocked and ready to give up.
Working the initial design with cut outs and color. I didn’t get very far.
Then, I grabbed some paper and started painting with pastel and water. I didn’t think; I let myself select the color that I felt most drawn to in that moment and began. I started with a wall. Tall. Brown. Blocking me. Why are you so tall? What are you keeping me from seeing?
Note progression from 1 to 3. Made over several sessions and days.
The next piece of paper started with a pinky orange background and spikey knarly plant life. Poking me. Cutting me. Cutting me off. What are you guarding?
Note progression from 1 to 3. Made over several sessions and days.
In three separate sessions over that next week, I painted two different scenes. I decided to take photos to track the changes and see how they developed. I kept working them, adding color, scrubbing, and I started to see outdoor landscapes in them. Something occurred to me, when watercolor painting, I have always created ethereal, colorful backgrounds. Always. Sometimes I would add words, sometimes I would paint fantasy flowers and plants. But, I noticed I always, always, start with the sky. And sometimes that sky ends up being under the sea.
With my cut paper art, I make architecture; houses and buildings. Sometimes still existing, sometimes recreating demolished buildings from photographs. Now, with this new adventure in Surface Design, here I was trying to only paint. The wall I had put up between paint and paper mediums wasn’t going to stand anymore. I couldn’t keep them apart. I had to demolish this self imposed wall; I had to tear it down. Why did I think I couldn’t put cut paper on my paintings? I don’t know, but I cried. I cried like a little kid who has been told No over and over, but still really wanted the thing, or to do the thing and could not, or was not allowed to. I cried because I get to do this thing now, this thing of putting paint and cut paper together for my art. And I cried for the lost time. And then something new started to happen. I started to twirl my paper.
I joined Bonnie Christine’s Flourish community back in April, see my post here: and one of the ways she encourages us to flex our design muscles and implement what we are learning is to submit a design for each months’ challenge. May was my first submission. The prompt was to create a design inspired by someone in my life. Of course, I had a lot of ideas, but I had had a few conversations with my mom and we rehashed some situations in my childhood when she showed up like the Tiger Momma she is. Bullying, being sexually harassed in junior high. When I needed an adult to have my back, she was the one who did. Her heart is as big as the ocean for her family. For easier printing, I shrunk it down to heart-size.
Initial sketch on paper with colored pencil, left. Finished design after working on in Photoshop, right.
This design is available as a sticker now! Purchase it in my shop here. I’m offering free shipping!
Sticker design with purple background
It feels good to have an idea and follow through to its completion. It is very challenging to come up with a design every month, but I’m going to keep at it. xo
VPH Design Part Two: My Surface Pattern Design Guide.
Along with my retirement plan, I have been studying and following people on social media that encourage investment in one’s self. What does that mean? For me, it means put some money into your interests and self. So, I watched someone online for about six months and then, I contacted her before the end of the year. She coaches artists and she has done the surface design pattern gig for 20 years. We had a phone call and agreed we would work together. The money agreement was a lot to me, but I had saved up and decided I was worth spending that money on myself. I also know that I need to pay people and show that support if I in turn, would like support. So, finally I was going to get the help I could not find all those decades ago. Her name is Jeanetta Gonzales, of Nett Designs, https://www.jeanettagonzales.com/.
Jeanetta had me answer questions and send some images before our first meeting. We met four times with email check ins. I was processing pretty heavily, so I needed more time in between our meetings, which she was super gracious about. She gave me so much information and resources that I am still working through them. She was encouraging and gave me great feedback as I worked on my first surface design collection (which is still in process). She assured me there is room for me in the design world. And, one of her tidbits was to find my process. I learned two things about myself during this time: 1) I am talented enough to keep going and 2) I was so excited about beginning my journey I knew I was following my North Star!
The time and support I got from Jeanetta launched me on my surface design path! It was invaluable to me and I am still reaping her knowledge and sharing. I hope you will consider supporting yourself by finding someone that can help you on your path, too. You deserve it. XO
The inspiration for my first design collection. 2020
Next post: The icons I created for my first design assignment
Haiku and small poems about my daily bus ride to Olympia. Over the last 4 years I’ve logged thousands of miles up and down I-5 and hundreds and hundreds of trips.
Here are some in process photos of the making of “The Commute-Tacoma, Olympia”:
I took photos on the bus and had to make some design decisions.
Inspired by an artist book made with a clam shell, I decided to use this shape.
I cut up the most current schedule for my pages and box.
As I am making, all the while I’m thinking about the smells, sounds, rhythmic rocking, and views out the window that I see over and over again. How can I capture it within such a small work, and one I want to fit into a small box?
Things I want to highlight in words. I love words. I love to pepper my work with them.
How can I put this thing together? Do I want to make it permanent?
Now it is a flower, not a starfish. Still organic, not quite sure how it fits with the bus, yet.
This book was created for the 2017 Puget Sound Book Artists Exhibit, Northwest Musings. Come see this book and many other beauties through through July at the Collins Library, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma. <3
I fell in love with printmaking at The Evergreen State College. The ink smell, cleaning “green” using cooking oil, the sound of the presses, hand-cranking them across damp paper, the inspiration of antiquated art-forms… Thanks, Colleen!
I’m Dorothy. Wizard of Oz Dorothy. In the Black and White part of the movie. She has just landed hard after the tornado took the house. She heads for the front door, slowly, she opens it. That moment, right before she steps outside is what I feel like; what has been let loose? What will I șee? My life is now in technicolor.
I am working on a series of small, quick watercolor sketches from my travels in Paris. They are taken from my journal and own photographs. I will be posting them on my shop.
The images below are the first pencil sketches I was playing with. Then, I decided they needed to be painted, too.
