Welcome to Surface Pattern Design
I spent my life as a hobbyist.
It started young. An elementary school art project that wasn’t horrible. In high school, spending the entirety of Biology class drawing instead of “learning.” (Stilled aced that class, by the way!) Sketch book after sketch book of my brooding college thoughts and drawings of my surroundings (mostly Starbucks patrons…)
Then suddenly I was a full fledged adult with a full time job and a productive weekend habit of drawing. A sunrise and a cup of coffee (or many cups of coffee) and a piece of paper was my ideal Saturday morning.
And yes, I’d draw all the celebrity portraits! Feel free to browse my old Deviant Art site. So many portraits of Daenerys!
But, I was not an artist. There’s no way I could make a living at this. I did this as a hobby. I would do this as a hobby for my entire life.
Soon my job turned into a career. Marriage was next. We bought a house. We bought a car. I got a promotion. Then a baby girl. Maternity leave. Two years later a baby boy.
My life was on track.
Then one day in August, I decided to quit my job and stay home with the kids. This not something I ever saw myself doing and it was not an easy decision to make. In the beginning, it was easy to fill my time with activities and outings (so many outings with the kids). My artist hobby fell by the wayside and as time moved on, the hobby stood still.
And then COVID happened.
The world stood still.
It’s crazy to admit that COVID played a very strong hand in this path I’ve chosen, but it did. It was a blessing to stay home and just hang out with my kids without the habit of going places. A blessing to finally pick up that out dated IPad my husband bought me before kids and learn to use the drawing programs. A blessing to stumble upon the world of Surface Pattern Design.
Surface Pattern design, according to Domestika.org, “is any design, illustration, drawing or motif that is destined to be printed or applied to a surface, no matter what type of surface that might be.” Think fabric, clothing, notebooks, framed artwork, cell phone covers, fancy China, anything with a surface belongs to the world of Surface Pattern Design.
And guys, this was a surprise to me… that this field existed.
I’ve painted many murals in my life and, if I am honest, I thought that was the tippity top top of the artist ladder unless you were actually prominent in the art scene. Like the artist who sells that one piece for millions. And that scene is not something I gravitated to. I’m just not that cool…
But Surface Design is something that made sense in my head. I excelled at geometry, the patterns, the repetition, the fully imagined graphs and shapes that occupy that world somehow translate to the patterns and repetition and fully imagined shapes in a pattern that I create. Plus I have a deep and undying love for floral pattern dresses…
So I dove right in. I committed to creating 100 patterns in 100 days. If you’d like to see the progression of the project, please take a trip around my Instagram feed. And despite the occasional hiccup with the outdated technology (I eventually got a new iPad, thank you to my amazing husband) and weekend where I spent more time with the fam-bam than worrying about drawing, I got it done.
And now I’m here. Learning, growing, trying new things and creating new work every day.
This is just the beginning.
Welcome to Surface Pattern Design, Julianne.
J/Marie
J Marie is a stay at home mom, artist and blogger based in the Los Angeles Suburbs. Follow her on Instagram for daily artwork updates! You can find her work on Etsy, Redbubble and Spoonflower.
