As the season of final critiques and thesis projects approaches design students this year, I decided to share some of my own work that began in school.

During one of the sophomore studio sessions, my professor brought in a series of watercolors where he explored different patterns. The idea was to set up a grid and a series of rules to follow. However, when completed, the pattern is believed to read as random and unpredictable. In this process, the artist is completely out of control with the final results. For me the rhythmic process of counting grids and applying color became therapeutic, similar to knitting, but in a 2-D form of paper and paint. To make it more personal, the subject of the paintings I chose was the Russian alphabet.

My first attempts had obvious grids and predictable patterns while the letter itself had its own life.

But as time went by, I began adding more layers and playing with monochromatic color palettes, trying to capture as many different color shades as possible.