I call this year, the “year of 50”. I turned 50 last year. While I am still 50, I figured I could do things in groups of 50. Why not?

Every year I like to place focus on a type of art that I’ve been dying to spend more time on. Last year, it was all about doodles and art journal related art as well as coloring books for adults. This is now on auto pilot and will continue to be part of my regular work.  Still on board are of course my fine art work in watercolors and the freelance illustration for various markets which brought me such joy last year.

But what about something new? After much thought, I’ve closed in on two areas which I want to develop this year: repeat patterns and editorial illustrations.

This is where it gets real –  I tell you in advance what I am planning to do, and I will post here and on social media as I go along.

REPEAT PATTERNS
I did some work on repeat patterns last year and got absolutely hooked. I just love creating the icons, picking the colors, figuring out how to arrange it all, decide which size the icons and tiles will be, and creating coordinate patterns. It is addictive. My goal: 50 pattern sets in 2017! Stay tuned for more!

EDITORIAL ILLUSTRATION

I LOVE LOVE LOVE illustrated content in print and online articles. Yes, photographs are fantastic, and necessary. However, I love the quirkiness of hand done illustrations. I draw constantly. I paint with my watercolors regularly as well. I really like doing ink sketches with watercolor washes. So, here it is! I will draw, you guessed it, 50 illustrations for articles. I have asked a dear friend if I can use her blog and photographs as inspiration as I get started, and she agreed! I plan to focus on travel and food. Both are topics I am passionate about. Of course, I will have to work characters in there too. Yikes!

Thank you for reading, I hope you will follow my blog or follow me on social media (lisalarsenart). I am active on Facebook and Instagram.