Paisley Play

Last year, I created my first pattern ever. It is a piece called ‘Paisley Rainforest’, and my inspirations for the pattern, unsurprisingly, were paisleys! I thought it would be fun to give you a peak into some of the paisleys I saw in my everyday life that helped me create this pattern.

Here is the completed ‘Paisley Rainforest’ pattern!

When I set out to design my first pattern, I knew I wanted to play with paisleys. To get into the swing of things I began to look around me and see where inspiration already existed. What I found was a wealth of beautiful images ripe for great ideas! Take a look below to see some of the patterns that helped fuel my creative fires:

Here is a scarf I have with a paisley pattern.

One of my scarves, seen above, has a colorful pattern which highlights its beautiful paisleys. I loved the patterns within these paisleys, but I knew that much detail would be difficult to incorporate into a rug pattern. Instead, I took inspiration from the idea of layering patterns within the paisleys. I incorporated that idea in a simplified manner in ‘Paisley Rainforest’.

One of my blouses also has a really beautiful paisley pattern.

Above is one of my blouses, which also features a paisley pattern. I love this paisley in particular, because of the way the paisleys begin to take on shapes reminiscent of leaves. This inspired me to incorporate actual leaves into my pattern! The shape of a leaf seems to naturally compliment that of a paisley.

Finally, take a look below for a special treat. Ania has begun to hook ‘Paisley Rainforest’, and even though it is still a work in progress, what she has come up with so far is a vision.

Ania’s take on ‘Paisley Rainforest’ includes a lot of color play.

Although this post only shows two examples of paisleys that I found inspiration in, there were many other elements around me that ultimately helped me decide on the creative vision that became my final product. Inspiration is a wonderful thing, because it comes from all around you, in anything striking or beautiful you see! I hope that you take that lesson away from this post — because something as simple as your favorite scarf can help you create something you are proud of.

Let us know what you think in the comments below! What things have served as sources of inspiration for your art? We’d love to hear about it.