It is difficult to draw a free-form design without a preconceived image. I started the pattern below with just a couple of ideas in my mind: curves that open up to the edge of the page; wavy curves.

The raw pattern sketched in pencil enclosed many areas of varying size. However, for the most part, no one loop held more weight than another, until I started adding color. The tinting of one area suggested the tone for the adjacent area. Meta shapes (consisting of more than one of the penciled areas) began to develop.

Since one of my pre-sketching ideas was about waves, I noticed that some of the aggregation of shapes reminded me of sea creatures and submarines.

Patchwork
12″x9″ 140# Cold Pressed Watercolor Block

This ‘free-form’ study contains patterns (note the Harlequinesque diamond shapes) but also has unintended representational imagery. Is it truly ‘free form’?