“Gotta Go” fabric design

I’ve been laboring away in a course called “The Sellable Sketch.” I reached the point where I picked out (1) a style I aspired to (“flowing”), (2) a current trend in fashion (“natural textures”), and (3) an end-user (long-story-short “cosmopolitan”). The challenge now: design a fabric collection — three or more designs that “go together.”

Oy. My vision far exceeds my skill. For a couple of weeks now I’ve been exploring a dozen lonesome roads to nowhere in the landscape of my imagination. But enough is enough. Time to wrap up winter projects.

So this is where I got. I decided some well-chosen words might persuade the viewer that I’m onto something, so I named the collection GOTTA GO — for garments that make you feel artful and energetic – ready to turn discontent into action.”(The gallery below is clickable.)

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More words:

WHERE TO NEXT? A hand-drawn mental meander on a backdrop of passport stamps. No limits. (Memo to self: save your doodles — sometimes they are the most genuine expression.)

OLD TRAVELER. A tumble of vintage passports on traditional Japanese shibori. Been there. (Memo to self: scanning my tie-dyed cloth is not a short-cut. Making something natural look “natural” is damn hard.)

BE THE WIND. Hand lettering billows and blows across the landscape. Nothing stops it. (Memo to self: this could use some revision where “wind” looks more like a river, but turning a doodle into a repeating pattern was enough of a challenge for the moment.)

Let’s toast to our imaginative (and imaginary) adventures and to our lifelong learning. Wine poured. [Continued here.]