wasp fabric design (in progress)

Below is a new fabric pattern I am designing. It has been years since I’ve worked on my lamp project (the reason I make fabric patterns in the first place). The lamp project idea started in 2008 when I lost access to a darkroom. I was working at a gallery in an entry-level position and I was somewhat annoyed by my prospects as I entered the work force with an advanced degree in the fine arts. In short, I wanted to make lamps out of empty booze bottles, which I already did before, but I wanted to turn it into an art project about my disgruntled state.

Then when I moved to Indiana, I met artist Laura FosterNicholson. Nicholson, a textile artist, introduced me to the wonders of Spoonflower, a company that will print your designs on fabric! You also can purchase other people’s fabrics and you will see most of the designs are VERY cute. I design fabrics with guns and wasps, in case you are interested.

With spoonflower, I am able to produce my own lampshades with fabrics of my own design. To create fabrics, I must think about colors and patterns more so than with other art projects. So, to reintroduce myself to color theory, I started using the software Adobe Kuler to generate color schemes.

Here are some of my wasp drawing color combos and sketches for patterns. The end result will be some low-budge, boozy lamps that serve a function AND look fabulous.