This is a simple one but it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. This takes time for the simple reason that it is meant to be LARGE. A single piece of 8x10 paper isn’t what we’re going for here. Don’t have large paper but have a plethora of cardboard, use that instead. But whatever you do- GO BIG!

Our two main goals are to go BIG and emphasize our pattern and to use a color family. Color families are groupings of color that work together in harmony. We’ve talked about them throughout the year but it’s always good to review. Let’s list some:
+ Primary colors: the first colors that are used to make other colors (red, yellow, blue)
+ Secondary colors: colors made by mixing TWO primary colors together (orange, green, violet)
+ Complementary colors: opposites on the color wheel (red/green, yellow/violet, orange/blue)
+ Analogous colors: neighbors on the color wheel (red/orange, orange/yellow, yellow/green, green/blue, blue/violet, violet/red)
+ Tertiary colors: mixing two analogous colors together (red + violet = red violet)
+ Warm colors: energizing colors that make you think of warm things (reds, oranges, yellows)
+ Cool colors: calming colors that make you think of cool things (greens, blues, violets)

I think you get the point. These are some of your options. In my examples we went with neon warm colors - brightly colored versions of the warm colors, including pink (which is made with warm color red!) Let’s go!

MATERIALS:
+ large white paper
+ paint in the color family of your choice
+ brush and water
+ ruler/straight edge
+ sharpie

Paint that paper in your color family choice. Primary and Secondary colors way be too bold and distracting to draw patterns on, so simpler color families may be best. Also, dark colors will work against you because your sharpie might not show up.

After your paper has dried- and I mean actually dry not damp - use your ruler or straight edge to create a large rectangular border. I may have even used a large rectangle of cardboard to trace around- like a very large stencil! In the end, whichever way you decide to go, you want to create a border.

Now it’s time to add a pattern. In the examples above you can see that some artists stuck with one pattern for the entire length of their paper. Others chose to mix their patterns up. Whichever you decide on, notice that they all tried to keep their patterns on the larger side- just like the paper. To save time on this monster of a project we worked directly with the sharpie- no pencil drawing before hand. Just go for it. Remember, you can always practice patterns on another piece of scrap paper if you need to. Sketches are always a good job if you’re just not sure how something is going to look. Once you’re done, stand back and admire your hard work and the beauty you created. This is one of my favorite projects. Happy making!

Large Scale Patterns