sketchbook drawings of decorative flowers in indigo ink by Amy McCoy

new work - end of July 2020

Thank goodness for online classes, especially now.

For the last couple of weeks, I've been taking Victoria Johnson's excellent course Explore Florals, which I learned about from my very talented friend, Lana.

Victoria's creative direction and prompts are practically creative block-proof, and working in ways that one wouldn't normally (or, specifically, I wouldn't normally) is particularly freeing - and inspiring. And it's also nice to get outside of one's own head once in a while - again, especially now.

Without any further ado, here we have some new work!

Symmetry is my new best friend. I have so many - SO MANY - ideas for symmetrical things to make. And this is just one (also, technically no longer an idea, as it is out here in the world). 

pink and blue folk floral design by Amy McCoy

 

This was the rough sketch for the piece above. I sketched it out in my sketchbook, then started sorting out the color in Photoshop. There's more where this came from, too. :)  

pen and ink folk floral sketch by Amy McCoy

I'm gonna go ahead and recommend playing with cut paper shapes - to everyone.

If you haven't done it since kindergarten, you need to get yourself some construction paper, scissors, and start cutting STAT. Maybe make food shapes? Like, a cut paper pizza? Or a cut paper sandwich with lime green lettuce? Or flowers, because flowers are always a good idea. Or bugs? Honestly, days and days and days of distraction, you'll thank me (but, really, Victoria Johnson) for it. 

For this pattern, I'm really thinking sundress in my head. I'm going to make a larger pattern using this technique that tells more of a story - so I can get a full skirt out of it. We're in the tropics. It's a party amongst nature. That is all. 

cut paper brightly colored tropical leaf and flower pattern by Amy McCoy

And a cooler palette:

cut paper tropical leaf and flower pattern in cool blues and greens by Amy McCoy

Then I got off the cut paper train - knowing I can go back, of course. This is going for a vintage vibe:

vintage vibe tropical flower and leaves placement art by Amy McCoy

vintage vibe tropical flower and leaves pattern by Amy McCoy

And holy cow, I can't quite explain how much I love indigo. Indigo watercolor, indigo gouache, indigo ink - indigo vat dyeing. I love it all. I even have one little leaf of indigo in my desk drawer from a natural dyeing class I took a couple of years ago. More work to come in this theme, but I just had to share the first sketches. 

sketchbook drawings of decorative flowers in indigo ink by Amy McCoy*all work copyright 2020 Amy McCoy. Please do not share without permission and attribution. Thank you!