Well it took a while of just messing around with shapes and piddling in the program (struggling with artist block) to figure out where to start with this. I decided on an olive shape to start and created an oval pattern and a separate pattern for the pit. Since today was pi day (I work at a company that writes statistical software and there are a lot of math enthusiasts employed there) I thought I would also make a pattern with a suggested “pie slit” shape

Once the pattern elements were defined and I had some options to work with, I created a new document and filled it in with a nice warm red color (both with the idea of pie filling, and also because the weather is so nice and warm and I’m ready for spring break to get here. I then created a new layer, filled it middle gray and then created a layer effect with a pattern overlay and added the pie slits pattern I made.  It was a nice start but definitely needed more to be interesting so I added second new layer, filled it in gray then copied the effects from the first layer. I then went in and changed the pattern to the olive, and also added a gradient of oranges and yellows to add to the warm color scheme I started and played around with the mode until I got something I liked.

I then copied the second layer to make a third layer and I changed the pattern to the olive pit, then tweaked the mode, changed the gradient on this layer to a violet, orange and modified its mode and opacity, and boom! My take on a pattern about Pi day, martinis, and spring break.

It’s possible my brain is a little scattered right now, but I like the final look.