Ellen Donald

Gardens and flowers bring joy to me. Through this project, I wish to instil this same joy in others. My inspiration was gardens and their ability to improve negative mood. Visual sources were from gardens that are emotionally significant to me. Rather than building a garden with seeds and dirt, I have created one with ink and fabric.

The flowers represent how emotions vary over time, especially with Seasonal Affective Disorder. Both flowers and emotions wilt and fade over time, but spring will come, and the flowers will bloom again along with the joy and colour they represent.

I played with the contrast between modernity and tradition. My design method was to paint floral compositions with traditional materials. I used Acrylic Ink as it could be used for loose flowy styles akin to traditional watercolours but with bright, impactful colours.

Then, via Photoshop, manipulate said paintings into repeat structures, classic florals combined with modern geometric shapes. Although digital design was fundamental in method and style, the painterly touch remained at the heart of my designs.

I took inspiration from glitched versions of my images to exaggerate the impactful colours of flowers in nature. I took geometric grids from my pattern composition and revealed them to bring structure to the organic and add contrast to my designs.

I created digital print designs for interiors so that printed surfaces bring life, colour, and happiness into the environment at all times of the year.