Spotted: Chicago

 I've been away visiting Chicago for a friend's wedding. I spotted this hexagonal pattern at Mercat, at the Renaissance Hotel.

Emerald Pinwheels

Here's my entry for Spoonflower and Milk and Honey Shoes' Small Scale Geometric pattern contest. I chose emerald green because it's Pantone's color of the year, and I always thought green heels looked sexy. The basis of this pattern design is hexagons. Want a geometry puzzle? Figure out how I made a rectangular repeat tile using the bottom design.

More geometrics

Today I played around with hexagons and came up with this design. It looks very dimensional depending on the coloration.

Geometric Patterns

Tonight's pattern is based on hexagons.

Working Large

Earlier this summer I visited Houston and stopped by the fabulous Texas Art Supply store. This is one of my favorite art stores ever.* Basically my test for a "good art store" is do they carry litho crayons. It has been 5 years since I did lithography and I no longer have access to stones or a press, but this is still my metric. It's such a historic yet arduous medium that only stores that cater to serious art students would bother to stock such items. Items which generate very little profit, mind you -- litho crayons sell for a couple bucks. There are plenty of stores that cater to more popular media: painting, crafting, drawing, but you're not going to find the cool stuff like cerulean oil paint crayons with a color that makes you salivate (I still want that pigment but I need a plan to use it before I let myself buy it.)

 Okay, so Texas Art Supply is a store where you will be swooning over all the pretty colors and items. I found an urge to work large and loose, and I found these cool paint markers. The tip is about .5 in across.

I used three markers and a big sheet of bristol paper tonight.

My pattern was inspired by tortoises and an incredible design from the 1920s I found here.

*Two other favorite art stores: Flax in San Francisco, and the University Bookstore in Missoula, MT. Have a favorite art store? Please leave a comment, and also let me know if they have litho crayons.