Lindsay Nohl : Venus Flytrap

Detail

I spent the whole weekend sketching and this Venus Flytrap is one of the sketches that I was really proud of. It's done with graphite and then colored in Photoshop. I was thinking this one should be pretty subtle since it's particularly line-heavy.

On Friday I was hanging out with a couple friends and one asked to see my sketchbook. I don't know about you, but it's really hard for me to actually let people look through my sketchbooks. Half of what I've got in there is embarrassing -- for various reasons... and the other half are notes that I'd rather not show to anyone. I tried (as politely as I could) to decline, and felt super awkward just sitting there, clutching it to myself, holding on to it for dear life. You know when you're practicing drawing and you draw the same thing over and over? Or when you're not sure what you're even sketching... just making lines all over a page? Well, my sketchbook is full of those things. That, and a zillion notes that I've written about everything I'm thinking, doing, or wanting to do. Sort of a diary, I suppose.

I am still trying to feel good about sharing my sketchbook with other people, but for now, I just show the pieces I think are ok online. The rest I'm keeping for myself.


Full Repeat

Lindsay Nohl : Vintage Floral

I have this great old wallpaper book from the turn of the century that has this massive cabbage roses in just a couple colors. I had been looking through it last week for inspiration and came across this mustard and green color combination. I'm absolutely amazed at how beautiful vintage patterns are. It's apparent how much preparation and time went into creating them.

It's no wonder I'm a vintage paper addict.

I have been doing some complex patterns lately and decided that this week I'd do something a little more quiet. I created this one with ink on paper first, with a linen texture overlay on top -- and colored it up!

Lindsay Nohl: Creeping Charlie

Here's the mini view of this huge pattern I made tonight.

When I first got my cat, Oliver, I had named him several things before something stuck. Charlie was one of the names that was high on the list. Oliver is, by far, the creepin'-est of cats, and as I was making this pattern tonight I thought for a second that it would have been very fitting had I named him Charlie.

I don't know why I labored over this pattern so much tonight, but I'm glad I did because I really like the way it turned out. It started as a complex sketch and turned into a giant winding beast. I took some liberties with the actual colors of Creeping Charlie - and I'm surprised I did because I am usually all about putting purple all over my artwork. But there was something really sinister about having red veins for vines -- and so it goes.


Here's a little close-up of the artwork

Lindsay Nohl : Succulent Cuttings

Keeping it simple today!
I had a great trip to the Como Conservatory today with Chris and it was AWESOME! Man, I have been craving some living plant-action!
It's been so white outside and it seemed like a nice Sunday outing. I did a couple tiny drawings this morning while I was at this new coffee house near my house, Parka and just ran with them for this pattern.

I was making loads of little terrariums last summer and I was having flashbacks when I was making this pattern. I really ought to do that again. I think I just might!

I usually frown at white backgrounds on patterns but for some reason this one just felt right. I had this one a couple other colors before I finally just left it alone. So here you have it! Little tiny cuttings from some of my favorite succulents!

(I'm also channeling some 70s art vibe in here. Inspired by a pic I saw earlier today while I was in a used bookstore near my house!)

Lindsay Nohl : Fern Linens

I have been wanting some new kitchen towels and I made this linen-y pattern with them in mind. Ahhh I wish they were real!
I was inspired by two new shops in the Minneapolis area -- Forage and Parka. One is a really cute furniture shop that sells a lot of local and hand-crafted furniture (nice, mid-century inspired stuff!) and the other is a new cafe with awesome coffee. Both shops are minimalist and really nice -- lots of natural colors plus white.

I got the chance to sit down and really take a look at ferns with this pattern, too, which, if you haven't had a chance to look at one closely, are super crazy. They're amazing -- or as Chris would say "They're natures fractals".

Lindsay Nohl: Abstracted Amaryllis

I received an amaryllis bulb from a co-worker back in the day and it would bloom once every year and then sink back into it's pot and appear to be dead until the next year. I always thought it was funny. As I was researching this one I kept thinking of how weird it was that all of the blooms come out of one stalk. All of the sketches I was doing looked strange, and after thinking about it for a while I decided to create an abstracted 6-blossom version from the top down. (I realize this isn't entirely accurate, whoops). Still, I was happy to make something that looks like I had a bunch of little twigs and curly doo-dads falling from the sky.

I always make my patterns at night, so they also all seem to have some kind of dark quality to them. Maybe it's that combined with the darkness of winter. I'm looking forward to the sun staying out longer and longer in the next month. It's exciting to have a little bit of sunshine still going on when I leave work!

Lindsay Nohl: Clusters

Clusters of Guarana Berries

I was inspired by vintage wallpaper and a weekend trip to H&M. I think I've been seeing this tomato red color everywhere and I absolutely LOVE it. In fact, I tried to convince Chris to buy some pants this color. It's cheery and vibrant and I think it may be one of my new favorite colors.


And here's it repeated!

Lindsay Nohl: Making Progress on Pineapples

Progress on the color so far! - Second layer of blues layered in

Ok, so I decided to go for something super complex this time - not really in the way that the pattern is made, but the technique that I'm using to paint it. I'm trying watercolor out for the first real time since high school and it's been... interesting.
I wanted to show you a little bit of what I'm working on though it isn't a repeating pattern quite yet.

I have plans for a Damask pattern -- as you can see I'm working on the diamond shape right now. I've set it up so it'll be fairly easy to repeat once I have the whole painting complete. I'll just have to tile it up and let it go!

It's been exciting. I've been making this while watching Discovery Channel documentaries on mount Everest (thrilling and terrifying!) and plugging away at it after I teach night class. I don't think I have much left to do, but once I get it finished up, I'll make sure to post it!

Just for fun you can see a little bit of my coloring process here!


First Layer of Blues


Preliminary Underpainting

Lindsay Nohl : Cactus Blooms

Pointy!

This flower was a challenge for me - mostly because, as I was looking up the Saguaro cactus for reference, I saw that the blooms cluster in these bizarre families around the tops of the cacti. I liked the green blooms so much that I wanted them to be a major part of this pattern.

Here's a never ending field of Saguaro blossoms! (with a little pointy bit here and there!)

Lindsay Nohl : Vanilla Flower, winding.

Tried something new tonight!

So - here's another new approach to pattern-making. I'm teaching a class in a couple weeks and I've been trying all of these new ways of putting patterns together. It's been a blast trying to figure it out but it was definitely a challenge!

I tried a pattern with a couple layers this time - large foliage in the background, and smaller bits in the front. There are actually three layers that went into this and surprisingly, I started with some swirly vine things and went from there!

I had a great time making it - sorry for the huge size, but I had to make a tall one to make it work! Hopefully it just makes the detail easier to see.

:)

Lindsay Nohl: Graphite Lotus

Hello again. I've been considering how to do this pattern all day and finally bit the bullet and committed to something a little more complex and more process intensive than some of my usual patterns. I have had a great time lately drawing in my sketchbook with graphite and carbon pencil and wanted to try something today involving that process.

Here's a Egyptian Lotus flower in a limited negative space pattern. I've seen other types of lotus flowers on my trips up north to my grandparents' cabin a couple times. I remember going on canoe trips with my dad early in the morning so we could catch a glimpse of the open lotus flowers before the mid-day sun made them close back up.

It's been a couple years since I've had that experience, and it may be many more years before I get that experience again. At least I remember it fondly.

Lindsay Nohl : Olive Flowers

Close-up of the inked detail

I have been spending quite a bit of time working in my sketchbook these days. I spent my Friday night sketching away amongst a bunch of talented people. We worked through the night on our different projects and I found myself craving a little bit of hands-on art making rather than my purely digital process.

I did a pattern the 'good ol fashioned way' this time, where I inked each layer separately, then compiled them together in the computer and colored them.


The repeat tile

I'm really enjoying letting the inky brush strokes show on these and backed by a dark background you really see it.

This pattern is inspired by the olive flower. I really like the shape of the leaves more than anything, so I did something a little viney -- reminiscent of a wall paper pattern.


And here it is repeated

Quiet Garden by Lindsay Nohl

Inspired by raspberry flowers and little shoots

Recently I've really enjoyed making patterns that are a little more free-form than the normal rigid patterns I've done in the past. I think in the last year I've really liked the organic feeling patterns the best -- the ones that feel like they're floating in the wind, or the ones that look like they're drifting on top of the water.

This is a good example of what I mean. I wanted to make something quiet and understated, with some little guys that look like sprouts.

I've also been listening to a lot of piano music these days. It's comforting.
This pattern reminds me of that music...


And here it is repeated!

Lindsay Nohl : Marigolds

I wanted to do something a little nested today, and a little sketchy.
Here's a vintage inspired pattern where there's little-to-no negative space.
It was nice doing things in line work and silhouettes!

I spent a little bit of time shopping for Christmas presents this afternoon on Ebay, where I inevitably end up looking at vintage wrapping and wallpaper. Today I was smitten with the bright papers of the 60s.

Lindsay Nohl - Gouache Flowers

This weekend I got the chance to head to the art store where I treated myself to some new gouache. It was super cheap, but it was definitely still fun to work with!
So, instead of taking the normal digital route, here is my gouache-painted floral pattern!

101 Florals : Clusters

Happy Monday! This weekend was a crazy one. For some reason it felt LONG. Really, really long. When I got home from manning the gallery on Saturday night I went to lunds and bought myself some flowers. They weren't Hydrangeas like the ones I've drawn for today's pattern, but a dozen roses. Bright Orange-pink ones. On sale.

Because I deserve them. Then, because I couldn't help myself, I bought roses for everyone else I was going to see that night. Yellow roses, orange roses, pink roses, peach roses. Llew and I once went to a psychic -- (which, now that I think about it, seems like a long time ago) who told me I need to buy flowers for myself more often.

I've remembered that ever since and I've made a point to get myself flowers at least once a month. I wish they lasted longer. I suppose that's why they make silk flowers. So you can have something a little more permanent brightening your day.



Anyway, speaking of permanence. I did this whole pattern with ink and no pencil. Just one group of sketches with a brush pen. Just one whole page of plant parts with no stopping. It was therapeutic. Here they are! Loads and loads of Hydrangeas!

101 Florals : Good Morning

After spending an hour making lots and lots of icons, and a couple different patterns, I finally scaled back and made something simple. I went with the star-shape and did a bunch of mini Morning Glories as a polkadot.

Today I was playing around with using a new medium called Art Graf Black Carbon. It's a block of black carbon that, when used with a wet brush, turns into ink! It's a nice, portable material to use and I ended up doing quite a few sketches with it before settling on these icons.



Here's how it looks repeated. I wish I had some sheets that look like this!

Anika Starmer: Cosmos All-Over

> This week Anika Starmer is joining us, I believe she has the most accurate portrayal of what this flower looks like in real life, here is a lil bit about her! Anika lives and works in Maryland as web designer by day and an artist/illustrator by night. She studied Graphic Design at UMBC, but has always enjoyed creating art by hand: drawing, painting, collaging, etc.. Anika likes to learn new things, whether a new painting style, or Photoshop technique, and is always trying something new. You can read more about her art experiments on her blog (http://www.aisforanika.com/b/).

101 Florals : Cosmos, Inked.

Tonight I was getting ready for my Tools of the Trade Class at MCAD and I got lost in messing around with ink. I figured since I was already covered in black ink, I might as well keep going, so I made my pattern tonight with the tools I had handy.
I love that school. Also - I can't believe that it 's starting already.
Where did the summer go? I'm not sure.

Either way, it's nice to break out the ink and do some florals by hand this time.
I did a page of icons, scanned them, cleaned them up and tossed them around. I like how random they are.



Here's what it looks like repeated!

And here's what it looks like before all the coloring and tossing!



Wish me luck for the first day of school! I'm in my 9th year of teaching. I'm not sure how that happened either, but hey, at least I'm headed into a fun semester.
Keeping busy, that's for sure.

Llew Mejia: Nopalitos!

  Prickly pears as they are commonly called in English are a Mexican delicacy and I am sure they are used in any other area they are found. But I have fond memories of my mother de-spining the flat oar-like leaves of the Nopal(as it is called in Spanish) and thinly slicing the the leaves in strips. Then mixing it with various other ingredients to make a very mucousy salad that tasted like heaven but felt like you were chewing on puke.

Either way this plant is nostalgic to me, and I decided to go real simple/abstract with this pattern, letting the textures kind of make the distinguishing factor behind plant and background. It was fun just free styling a pattern this way, and I think I am going to make more of these types of patterns in the future. The repeat has this weird pulsating feeling to it too, real trippy like.

 Stay tuned kids for tomorrow we have one of my personal favorite artists, Meg Hunt joining us!