I've been wanting to work on a project with houses for ages and this eemed like a great opportunity. I  adore Paris and have visited many times seeking out the architecture and street scenes. I started with the mood board and went about finding elegant tall houses with beautifully alingned windows and balconies. 

I then drew in uniball pen (rather than pencil) and brush pen for slightly different qualites. As you can see I got rather carried away with windows, street lamps and street signs - it just happened so I went with the flow!!

I do not come from a surface pattern background so found Elizbeths method of just starting in the middle with whatever image appleals to you the most really helpful. I felt the strong verticals of the houses and lamposts helped with structuring all the different elements I started adding. 

After playing around with the layout I realised there were a few gaps and went back to add a few decorative features. Next was colour - I'm always abit nervous about this as its been a bit hit or miss in the past. But refering back to my mood board I settled on white, two neutrals, two pinks and a minty turquoise for contrast. 

I'm so pleased with how it turned out. I feel much more confident about creating a pattern and then turning it into a reapeat. I'm now looking forward to applying it onto products - and seeing how it looks.

Follow my other works in progress on Instagram