Well, it was the fifth and final week of MATS, that focused on party goods. I never gave this market much thought...who really thinks about disposable paper goods? But I can see the potential for fun design in this area, with all the coordinating table products that are needed, not to mention, gift wrap.
Our assignment was to create a design for a paper plate and napkin with a Bavarian/Ukranian folkloric theme. When you look at this type of art, there are a lot of florals, which initially, made the brief kind of intimidating to me. There are many artists that specialize in floral/botanicals, but I am surely not one of them. Instead, I tried to take a more figural approach which really ended up looking a bit more storybook. I thought it might be fun to do a cottage and the animals sprang from that. I started out by using some symmetry with the squirrels and trees, but then I remembered how a lot of the little wooden german figurines that I love to collect, often are playing instruments, so I threw in the violins and mandolin. Birds are also a predominant part of this type of art, so I decided to feature a couple of woodpeckers to add some interest to the trees. The girl was a must, of course. Initially, I thought I was going to go with bright colors... kelly green, bright blue, warm red and pink, etc. much like the German pieces I was speaking of earlier, but once I made the grass pink, there was no going back and I ended up with a somewhat limited palette...always good practice for me. And hey, what's wrong with a little pink grass, right?
I must say, I really enjoyed this course. The tight deadlines, great themes and inspiration topped off with being part of a wonderful community of super artists all contribute to the creation of so much incredible artwork by my fellow classmates. I highly recommend it!
