Creating Decorative Designs From Birds: Mark Making, Texture and Pattern by Andrea Butler
Artist Andrea Butler shares a beautifully illustrated resource that shows how drawings can be used to develop a range of patterned papers and stitched textiles.
This project was shared with AccessArt as part of the 40 Artist Educator Project, funded by Arts Council England, aiming to highlight and celebrate artist-led teaching and facilitation.
Creating Decorative Designs From Birds: Mark Making, Texture and Pattern, by Andrea Butler
The work shown here was developed as part of a personal project I completed for my Embroidered Textiles degree. Birds and the idea of flight had been the starting point and I spent several sessions drawing bird exhibits at my local museum, which had a small taxidermy collection. I used this visual information to create a selection of patterned papers and these were interpreted in fabric and thread to provide me with textile designs to explore in the final artwork.
Some years later, a group of fashion students I was teaching were having difficulties understanding how to create decorative designs for clothing from drawings they had made on a museum visit. My bird drawings, papers and embroidered samples proved a useful teaching resource to illustrate one method of generating design ideas from initial research.
To access all content, I would like to join as…
An Individual
An Organisation...
AccessArt is a UK Charity and we believe everyone has the right to be creative. AccessArt provides inspiration to help us all reach our creative potential.
Sheila, AccessArt
December 1, 2014 @ 11:31 am
This is stunning Andrea – So rich! – a combination of knowledge, intuition and real craft – stunning! Thanks so much for sharing this amazing process and beautiful, inspiring work.
Andrea
December 1, 2014 @ 12:11 pm
Thanks, Sheila!
It’s a real pleasure to have my work featured on AccessArt!
Pat Carney
December 2, 2014 @ 12:44 am
What sheer inspiring pleasure following Andrea in this post! The colors,, textures, have a luminous life. For me it seems as if she has captured both safety and freedom in sheer beauty.
andrea butler
December 3, 2014 @ 9:58 am
Pat, thank you for such a wonderful comment on my work, it’s really great to know that you find the post inspiring!