Canterbury Roses

A Monthly Pattern | October 2026

This month’s pattern is one I’ve had in my ‘patterns to make’ folder for ages because it’s got an interesting underlying tiling repeat of curving triangles and hexagons, which makes for a great pattern in its own right, plus it’s got some decorative detail to make things even more interesting.

You can find references for this in a book from 1855 “A manual of surface ornament”, found here at Internet Archive.

There’s also the image below which is from the 1861 “Handbook to the cathedrals of England: Southern Division” which appears to be the same publisher (John Henry and James Parker).

The videos this month share how to draw the structure, how to add the floral pattern and then how I’ve painted the floral version you see in the photos above.

For Community members, there are two download options for this pattern: one with the floral details and one with just the structure. As usual there will be print and paint and traceable options for both.

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Rosemarkie Key Pattern

A Monthly Pattern | September 2026

In August I took a trip to the Black Isle in Scotland, it’s a beautiful location to explore and I made a wee video about our trip up there.

While I was there, I visited the Groam House Museum, the location of a number of decorative stones that were found there on the site of an ancient monastery. This month’s pattern is a panel from one of the stones. (It’s not the stone known as the ‘Rosemarkie Stone’ but another in the museum.

For Pattern Lovers, there are two videos this month, the drawing video shares how to construct the pattern. The basic pattern can be built up from simple steps, but I take a bit of extra time drawing guidelines to make sure the paths around the ‘maze’ are equal widths. There’s also a painting video which I’ve included the whole thing in real time, so do play it on fast mode or skip bits if you get bored!!

For community tier members, you’ll find your downloads below. There’s a dot grid page which I use in the drawing video as a starting point, but if you have any squared or gridded paper you can use that. You’ll also find the full outline of this pattern which you can print and paint or trace.

Do share your interpretations of this pattern over on the forum or on instagram (and I’d love it if you tag me @louracheldavis).

You may want to save the photos from this page to use as references when constructing this pattern. I found it useful to refer to them when drawing.

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Tagged Celtic Patterns

Interlocking Cubes

A Monthly Pattern | August 2026

Join me to draw and paint this pattern based on an isometric grid.

One of the first patterns I made for my monthly membership, back before I had this platform, was the tumbling blocks pattern. Often used by quilters, this pattern gives an impression of depth by using light, medium and dark shades on the faces of the blocks. These patterns use the same method, they’re just one step more complicated.

This time I share how to draw a small scale isometric grid on which you can build up this pattern (and use as the basis for many other pattern that all use the same underlying structure.)

If you’re wanting to skip that step, then I’ve a downloadable dot grid page that you’ll find below that you can use as the first stage of this project. Join us in the second video if that’s the case!

In the second video, I show how to use the grid to trace the templates for two versions of this pattern. In the third video, I make the final painting of one of the patterns on watercolour paper.

There are printable and traceable outlines for both patterns I cover in the video tutorials if you want to get straight to painting.

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Tagged Hexagonal Patterns Isometric Patterns Tiling Patterns

Southwell Carving

A Monthly Pattern | July 2026

This month I’ve recreated a design found carved into a wooden screen at Southwell Minster in Nottinghamshire. I visited a few months ago and gathered lots of inspiration from around the building. I went there on a mission to find the stained glass design included by Owen Jones in his Handbook of Decoration, and I did find it (and made a video in the process).

The minster is most famous for its lifelike leaf decorations carved into the stonework of the medieval chapter house, and I have included photos from around the cathedral in a gallery below.

This carving though was found in a screen that separates the choir stalls from the aisle. I liked the strong geometric structure combined with leafy and botanic elements and thought that after last month’s pattern also being a six-fold design with botanic curls, this would be a good follow-on project, plus it gives me the chance to do something different when painting; namely reproducing the 3d elements in watercolour by adding layers of colour.

You’ll find downloads below for the underlying structure of this design which you can use as a starting point, plus the full outline as a traceable or print and paint file. For Pattern Lovers this month, you’ll find two videos; one for constructing the design, the second for painting.

I hope you enjoy painting this one!

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Tagged 3D Patterns Biomorphic Patterns Hexagonal Patterns

Six Pointed Decorative Stars

A Monthly Pattern | June 2026

This pattern is one of a number that feature what I think of as a circle of squares. You get different types of pattern depending on how many squares you include in your design, and you could adapt the instructions for this pattern to make other circles with different numbers of squares depending on how many segments you divide your initial circle into.

This six pointed star and the biomorphic decorations came from a pattern resource book I’ve referred to a few times. It’s Franz Sales Meyer’s ‘A Handbook of Ornament’ and it’s available at the Internet Archive. This design is on page 255, plate 156.

Following the reference back one stage further, Meyer refers to this as a pattern documented by Emile Prisse d’Avennes as an 18th Century ceiling painting. Looking for this pattern in Emile Prisse D’Avennes’ work led me to spend a good few hours looking through his documentation of the art of Cairo and though I didn’t find this particular pattern, I was incredibly inspired by the precision and attention to detail in the lithographies he produced. (You’ll need an account to ‘borrow’ this book from the internet archive library.)

Members should find downloadable outlines for the structure of this pattern (as drawn in video 1 this month), and a full outline with all the detail for tracing or print and painting.

This month I’ve split the project into 3 videos. The first is how to draw the underlying structure and pencil in the biomorphic designs. The second shares the process for inking the outline from your sketch. The third is painting this project in watercolour.

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Tagged Biomorphic Patterns Hexagonal Patterns Islamic Geometric Patterns

Woven Octagonal Stars

A Monthly Pattern | May 2026

This month’s pattern is a repeating pattern of eight pointed stars, decorated to look like two interwoven squares.

The inspiration for this pattern was this page of parquet flooring designs from Franz Sales Meyer’s Handbook of Ornament:

All of these would make a great starting point for a pattern and it would be an interesting exercise to draft them all. I particularly like No. 8, perhaps that could be a future month’s pattern! No. 10 has similarities with January 2025‘s hexagonal border so you could use that construction as a starting point if you were interested in trying it.

Outlines for this pattern are available for all members below and your drawing and painting video tutorials, along with all the supplies I’ve used for this project, can be found in the Pattern Lovers members section.

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Tagged Square Grid Patterns Tiling Patterns

Italian Floor Tiling

A Monthly Pattern | April 2026

This pattern is one of two in F. M. Hessemer’s 1842 pattern resource which includes designs from Italy and from the Islamic world. This is attributed to a pattern of tiles a church floor from Florence, so I’ve painted it using the same palette of colours as used in the book which resemble different colours of marble tiles and used the qualities of watercolour to bring out that sense of them being stone. (I do like the colour illustrations in this book)

I do love analysing and recreating patterns and this one was no different! It may be more straightforward in terms of being made up of simpler shapes than recent patterns in the library, but it’s very rewarding to draw and paint.

If you’re a Community tier member, check below for your monthly downloadable files so that you can paint this pattern.

For Pattern Makers, you’ll find two videos this month; a ‘drawing’ video where I share the process of making the pattern using ruler, pencil and compasses. The second video is a painting video where I share my watercolour process. You’ll also see my supply list for this project including all the colours I used.

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Tagged Square Grid Patterns Tiling Patterns

Tiling Patterns Inspired by MC Escher

A Monthly Pattern | March 2026

For this month’s videos (and there are three!) I’ve ben working on some patterns inspired by dutch artist M.C. Escher. He was very interested in tiling patterns and turned his tiles into birds, beasts and people.

In the first video for Pattern Lovers this month, I share my deconstruction of one of Escher’s famous patterns – of reptiles covering a page. I show how you can take a regular shape and turn it into an irregular one that still tiles and fills a plane without gaps.

The second video shares two patterns I’ve made using this technique: one the image of birds that you can see in the preview images, and another of daffodils.

The third video is the process of painting those birds, which I did in this case using Neocolour ii water soluble crayons on watercolour paper.

If you’re a Community tier member, check below for your monthly downloadable files. You’ll find a basic hexagon you can use as a starting point, traceable outlines of the bird and flower motifs I created in the second video and a whole page of repeating birds made as a print and paint download.

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Tagged Hexagonal Patterns Tiling Patterns

Lindisfarne Maze Pattern

A Monthly Pattern | February 2026

This month I’ve been looking at Celtic patterns again. There’s a whole class of patterns I’ve not drawn before and those are key patterns. Often these take the form of triangular shapes that interlock, but some key patterns have a diamond form, and this is one of them.

In the video this month I mention watching a video about key patterns where it’s mentioned that these diamond shaped patterns are a sub-category of key patterns and the artist in the video (Michael Carrol) chooses to refer to them as maze patterns – which makes a lot of sense to me!

This pattern comes from the Lindisfarne Gospels (Visit this link to see a full scan of the gospels from the British Library, and put image 429 in the box at the top to go direct to the page where you’ll find this pattern). It features four times in rectangular panels on the page known as f 210v.

Actually, this pattern is found in three of the four panels, and the lower left is slightly different – but it’s like a game of ‘spot the difference’ working that out!

If you’re a Community tier member, check below for your monthly downloadable files to print and paint this pattern. You’ll find the full pattern outline there, plus a version with just the grid lines so that you can make your own take of this pattern.

For Pattern Makers, you’ll find two videos this month. I decided to split the process into a ‘drawing’ video where I share the process of making the pattern using ruler, pencil and compasses. The second video is a painting video where I share my watercolour process. You’ll also find my supply list.

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Tagged Celtic Patterns

Field of Trefoil Knots

A Monthly Pattern | January 2026

This month I’ve been playing with trefoil knots – or triquetra knots. This pattern was inspired by a page of diaper patterns made using interlocking circles in “The Anatomy of Pattern” by Lewis F Day. A diaper pattern is a name for patterns that are generally used as backgrounds for making plain areas more interesting. They’re often small and simple and repeatable.

If you’re a Community tier member, check below for your monthly downloadable files so that you can paint this pattern. You’ll also find a link to the forum where you can share your work with us, ask any questions and get support.

For Pattern Makers, you’ll find this month’s video. It’s one video for both drawing and painting this month. I decided to paint with acrylic ink rather than watercolour for a change, though the techniques you’d use are virtually identical. The difference (as you’ll see from my video!) is that once it’s down it’s permanent – so I couldn’t lift out a mistaken drop that fell in the wrong place!! You’ll also see my supply list for this project including all the colours I used.

There is no pattern makers live session this month. If you’re a subscriber to the pattern makers tier, you’ll have had an email from me explaining that I’m pausing this tier for now and your subscriptions have been altered accordingly.