Stretching my brain a bit

So my dear artist friend, Trisha, came out the other day. As I was showing her what I have been working on in the studio, she started musing about the idea of combining various components that I have between my different mediums - all into one piece. 

One idea she invited me to explore was the use of patterns in my encaustic paintings. This is something that was not entirely new to me as I had combined my Organic Digital Designs that first weekend I was introduced to encaustic. But as in all things, I, and my work, had grown/evolved since then and that perhaps, just perhaps, the marriage of the 2 would be different this time around.

Over lunch we continued the conversation (and I have to say I was warming up to her suggestion and could visualize the idea!) and later she waved good-bye with a firm go and play in the studio!

And so, following her direction, I printed out in varying scales, a couple of different patterns, complimentary to each other. I then cut out shapes and sizes that worked with the direction I had in mind.

After a couple of trys, "playing" as she called it, and what I so want to embrace, (I'm trying to not create a perfect (in my mind, reaching my high standards) piece every single time the first time around. I'm trying to instead embrace the idea that less-than-what-I-hope-for is just fine - especially if I am exploring, getting messy and just plain having fun!).

 I share with you the piece below, My Tiny Little House on a Hill with a Patterned Sky......

and here's a detail. I do have to say I'm especially pleased with the textural hill - with the varying values of green  :)  What do you think???

I have to say that my head hurt by the end - it did feel like a lot of work to stretch my comforts and play! and so I felt the need to end my studio time with a bit of cheerful comfort.....

P.S. since then, I have been noodling around in my head what I feel I learned from this day of play. I am looking forward to continuing this thread and am curious to see where it leads me.  As always, stay tuned!  :)