Choosing my colour palette

Pantone Colour trend 'Fluidity' was my original colour palette. The original set of colours in my designs were not working together so I decided to change it to appeal more towards my chosen target market.

‘Fluidity Gliding gracefully through watery channels, Fluidity is the palette that understands the inevitable human need for life-sustaining cool water tones, rendered largely in dazzling blues and blue-greens. ese cooling hues are underscored by shimmering sea grass shades and undersea-creature colors, such as absinthe green, violet tulle, blazing Samoan sun, dewberry purple and two eye-arresting orange-coral tones.’

By keeping just the blue and green shades, the palette for the final designs is now made up from analogous colours. Colours that are next to each other one the colour wheel. Creating harmonious blends and the blue and green combination suggest a calm surrounding, ideal for a bedroom.

Soap Film Photography

After researching how artists have made contrasts or collision in their work, I came across work that were photographs of water colliding with light.

Using water as a starting point as rain had affected my sketchbook drawings in the city. This technique is an interesting way to get results that cannot be controlled.

I wanted to take it a step develop this idea and found amateur photographers that have photographed soap films.

To create a soap film you mix water with washing up liquid, make a metal circle or square out of wire and place it into the mixture. It should come out the same effect as a child's bubble blower, you place it against a black background and shine a light at a 45 degree angle. Together they produce brightly coloured and constantly moving shapes until the mixture gets thin and bursts.

Textural Black Print

This week was all about using black paint. I experimented using textures and folded paper to create geometric prints. They are interesting visually, however would not work as motifs. After putting them into Photoshop I repeated sections of the prints and made textural backgrounds. Unfortunately the dark colour was too harsh and not the effect I wanted in my designs.

Doing this has inspired me to look at other mediums instead of using black pens. To create collision I need to look which materials I can use and the techniques to achieve the right style.

Clock Drawings; Fine line pen

Time is an interesting concept; ways of measuring time have been a vital part of human life and we are surrounded by clocks in the twenty first century. An exhibition called Potts clocks looks at all the main clocks in the centre of leeds made by Mr Potts. They all have a distinctive design in the centre of the clock. Five Rhombuses that are rotated three hundred and sixty Degrees round a point creates the individuals signature design.

This week I took my sketchbook into town and recorded four of the clocks that Mr. Potts made. The clock face is quite simple, so the buildings are the variable in how much detail is around the clock and the clock handles. The drawings were recorded in the rain which slightly distorted the image, I used a thin black marker pen to get a graphic style influenced by Hennie Haworth and Rob Lowe.

Generate Collision

Heimtextil brought together four trends for 2013, generate collision, exalt purity, progress and revive and engineer nature. This project will be focusing on the trend entitled 'Generate Collision'. It is exciting to bring different elements together and see how they blend.

To create an appealing but contrasting design is a challenge, it is exciting due to the fact that the outcomes cannot always be controlled.

Looking at the first word; 'Generate' means to create something that is man made or by nature. I think it would be interesting to combine the two. The second word, 'Collision', includes a variety of exciting options to explore. In this project the elements I wish to contrast are shapes, patterns and colour whilst sticking to the current market trends.

Recording what we see and observe from the objects in front of us helps to look at specific details. When looking at an object or person, line, tone and the environmental surroundings are important factors. How it interacts with that space and colours around it.

Links to my other websites

Beth Murray's;

Tumblr - http://bethmurraytextiledesign.tumblr.com/

Photography portfolio - http://bethmurray.wix.com/photography

Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/bethmurray/

Pinterest - http://www.pinterest.com/bethnm/

LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/pub/beth-murray/48/84a/889

Road trip USA; Summer 2013

My route through America after working at a summer camp.....

Beginning:  Camp starlight, Pennsylvania.
On days off we went to Binghamton, Cole park, Ithaca, Skinners Falls, Wilkes Barre and Hancock.

After camp:
New York City
Sidney, Ohio
Flint, Michigan
Chicago, Illinois
Kentucky
Nashville, Tenesse
Atlanta, Georgia
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Washington D.C.
West Virginia
Columbus, Ohio
Lafayette, Indiana

End: New York, JFK Airport....... Back home to London.

To remember all the places I went and all the friends I stayed with, I stitched this route into a paper map. Need to find a frame and hang it on my wall! In total I was in America for three months and it was easily one of the best summers of my life. I also collected T-shirts from most the places I went, next project when I get a break from uni work - Make the T-shirts into a blanket.