Pattern Play

There is nothing I love more than playing around with patterns. It's something I absolutely ADORE that I don't do enough of unfortunately. Time stands still when I make these I could go on & on for hours.

I had an hour to play around with today & ended up putting this together.

The plan is that these will be used in the future for something.

Working on lately

I am really trying to make an effort to actually sit & create something each week this year. Whether it be something I decide to sell or not it doesn't matter. It's about keeping some drawing momentum happening in my life. Last year I kind of lost that consistency when I was distracted with other things, except of course when I was doing my art courses where I was forced which was brilliant, yet challenging.

Out with the sketch pad I had mothers day in mind. Lots of flowers & special words. I like this pieces as it's so loose & unstructured.

Adding some colour.

And because I just can't help myself I had to create another colour way.

After I drew both of these I have to admit I had let them sit for a little while, feeling unsure what to do with them. Then the obvious choice came to me.

Heat bags.

Both designs are available in my shop here & are filled with divine organically dried lavender & rice.

Great at the moment as cold packs, place across you head& grab some zen time.

Surface design inspiration

With the summer scorching towards 40'C here in Melbourne, it's been hard to stay cool & keep focused. I am getting out some orders in a very leisurely fashion, it's just too hot to rush. I am also deep in finding inspiration & anything beautiful to reignite the creative juices.

Have a look at these divine patterns to creative some creative sparks.

Sources 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I am feeling quite drawn to abstract almost a tribal feel. It's a little different for me thats for sure, but it's great to think outside the typical design box.

MATS - final week 5 & my feelings on finishing

I have finally finished part B of MATS over a week ago, & just haven't got around to posting my final assignment.

The assignment was party paper goods, have a think about all of the paper goods we use, napkins, paper plates, paper cups, straws, paper buntings, got the idea? It was a great subject matter to finish on, & something I really think I would enjoy working on in the future. The style & influence to design was Ukrainian & Bavarian Folk Art. I just love this style. I never knew I would enjoy drawing it so much, I found it very easy to relate to, & it came naturally. I love the traditional colours some deep dark & completely different to what I am used to, other bright & vibrant which is just what I love.

Here is some style influences to see the direction I had to head towards.

1  2  3  4 

I had to draw a paper plate, napkin & paper cup. 

After sketching up a few ideas, here is my final design, & the one I submitted for review.

I had so much fun drawing this & felt really happy with the end result. I have never really used a colour palette like this before, dark plum ordinarily isn't the first colour I'd choose. However I felt it worked well with the colours co-ordindated. 

I am so happy & proud of myself for taking part in both MATS part A & B classes. It was hard work, & I was stretched to my limits some weeks. I loved how Lilla pushed me out of my comfort zone. I would definitely recommend the course to anybody wanting to pursue a career in freelance art & licensing. I learnt information & insider tips, I would never have found out on my own had it not been for her. It was also an emotional journey, lots of ups & downs, there were some amazing artists in the class, & I admit to feeling completely paralysed. Even sometimes too scared to even submit my work, as that nasty person in my head would start comparing myself to others. It's a hideous feeling. Some weeks were a little on the rough side & made me feel quite anxious. Lilla was great as she made it so clear to never compare, & that everyone's style of art is needed somewhere. So true but I still freaked myself out!!

The only negative about the course was that I never got any feedback on what was right or wrong with my work. Each week Lilla would select about 10 artists, out of the 500 of us, & talk about why she loved those pieces. Unfortunately mine were never picked. Thats not my worry, although each week when I realised I wasn't selected I did have a heavy heart of disappointment. But I would have loved to have known why. What could I have done better? How could I have made it better? Was it OK? It would have been nice to maybe not select artists once they have been chosen, as it was very repetitive as to the chosen artists each week. High fives to them all they deserved it, but I am just speaking from a constructive criticism perspective.

The journey hasn't put me off in anyway, in fact the opposite. After 10 lessons, I have 10 new pieces of art for my folio. Happy!! I look froward to the quiet time over Christmas to start building my folio & also utilising all of the amazing tips I learnt in coming artwork. 

It was a great journey.

MATS week 4 - editorial

I haven't had a chance to post my week 4 submission for MATS. I kind of struggled with this one a bit, only due to lack of time, I normally  put my 120% into it. Christmas orders have kept me a little crazy at the moment. No complaining, I am so happy :)

So editorial something you'd find in a magazine, newspaper, on a map etc. The best part of this assignment was the opportunity to create some hand lettering. A favourite past time of mine.

The brief was to create a map, or an identity of your city, where you live. Coming from Melbourne I picked the most iconic places that came to my mind straight away. Again, Lilla managed to throw me out of my comfort zone as usual. I mean take a look, does it look like a piece of art that I would normally create? No way hozay!! But it did give me an opportunity to stretch myself, see how I felt, ask myself if I loved it, & once again see what I could do & where it would take me.

So here it is, bright bold & very Melbourne.

Creating editorial art would be amazing, but I would hope to potentially gain work in areas that would be a little more in my comfort zone.

Assignment 3 MATS - Scrapbooking

Oh geez can I say week 3 of the MATS course was one I was particularly looking forward to. I need to admit I have NEVER had a go at scrap booking in my life, the whole thing just doesn't interest me. However the beautiful paper, trims, embellishments definitely makes me oooh & arrrs. Some of these things are exquisite, & what some pros at this task can create is amazing in itself.

This week, Lilla asks us to create a scrap booking page you would buy to decorate your photos. The icons we had to concentrate on were vintage cameras & typewriters. Once again it was a subject matter I have never ever drawn in my life. I was a bit slow to start feeling a little stumped, so I didn't really look at it much until the Friday before the Sunday it was due. Besides the fact I have been incredibly busy with Christmas orders (YAY), didn't help.

I googled vintage camera & typewriters & it was beautiful seeing all of the models that were familiar to me, & also ones that were well beyond my years. Such incredible & intricate pieces of equipment. After searching I can definitely see the appeal & why one would keep & collect them. I then had a look around at some samples of scrap booking paper layouts, & lets just say the availability is incredible, & endless.

I kept most of my work hand drawn this week, then scanning them into photo shop & jazzing it all up in illustrator.

So here it is, "Capture the Moment".

Can you see how much fun I had? Drawing cameras, pencils, washi tape, pins, clips, icons that could be stuck over photos, cards where you could write personal notes. Fun Fun Fun!!

I can see why people get obsessed over the art of scrap booking, not that I'll be starting any time soon though.

Assignment 2 - MATS - Baby Apparel

This week I have been running a bit behind with lots going on. Work, the kids, blah blah I could bore you but I won't. I didn't get a chance to show you my initial sketches for my second week MATS assignment.

This week was all about baby apparel....squeal!! I was pretty excited as it's ME ME ME. I have been really looking forward to this area. I love doing baby & kids designs, as I am sure you already know, so I found the brief a lot of fun, & took me back to my works days when I designed kids & baby wear. However a really new topic....CAMPING!!

A subject matter I have never really tackled, & not being much of a camper myself, I had to work really hard to make sure the icons I added were relevant.

Above is my submission. My illustration on the right, & on the left how I could utilise the icons into some apparel.  I wanted to keep the sweet cutesy feel, & thought I'd design it for girls. Only because most camping themes tend to be more boy like. Besides the fact I could draw pink bunnies made me really happy.

I really got into this theme & found it a lot of fun. It was a subject that had so much potential to go into so many different directions. Fun fun fun!!

Week three's area of design we are tackling is scrap booking. I am really eager to get into that, although I don't scrap book myself, there has been many a times I have oooohed & ahhhhed over the beautiful papers & embellishments I have seen. It should be interesting.

Assignment week 1 completed (Part B of MATS)

Assignment week 1 (Part B of MATS) was successfully completed.

The brief was winter holiday candy & ornaments, which you can see my initial sketches & how I was feeling here. After lots of drawing, redrawing, then not feeling happy, so I redrew again I finally came up with two concepts I was happy with. We are always asked to draw 2, which is such a great idea as it's amazing how one always pops out at you more. 

This is what I submitted. I was really happy with the final result, I managed to get five of the icons I originally drew into the illustration, plus some additional Christmas lights. I am still loving the hand drawn lettering, can you tell?

Here is my second submission. I was equally as happy here & enjoyed creating it. It was actually the first drawing I had created. When I was re reading the brief I noticed that the submission had to be vertical, silly me did it horizontally!! It was no biggy if I had decided to submit this I would have rearranged it.

While reading in the online MATS forum, I learnt something new & so obvious, but had never noticed this before. One of the other students queried why did we have to create a vertical card. Being surrounded by 500 other artists, it's pretty likely someone will have an answer to share. One of the students, who had licensed cards to Hallmark, had told us it's all about the consumers eye. 

When the card is vertical, there is more 'drawing', for us shoppers to see, & be attracted to. The majority of the artwork should be in the 2 top thirds of the design for this reason. Horizontal cards kind of lose there visibility as they look lower amongst hundreds of other cards on the shelf. Wow how obvious!! Lets think about it, when you shop for a card you automatically scan the top area of a card to see what pops out, & attracts you. So simple I was completely unaware. 

I LOVE learning something new.

Back for part B - Lilla Rogers course Make Art That Sells

Monday night was the first class of Lilla Rogers course Make Art That Sells, Part B. I completed Part A in June this year, & it was the best course I have ever done. Also the most challenging. It opened my eyes a lot to how my work needed to improve, how to make it improve, & how to do it. I have learnt about following my own style & trusting some artistic intuition. Since then I have been working really hard & starting to rediscover my style.

For Part B of this course, my confidence has gown & I am feeling a lot more assured in what I have to do. There is still an incredible amount I need to learn, but it won't feel like such a shock to the system. It's amazing how one person has to only say one thing & it sticks in your mind. Lilla taught us the "people buy your joy, & that there is room for everyone's art in the market place". She is so dead right & when I feel doubt I always think of those words.

Anyway as already mentioned I have returned & we have been given a brief. The brief is for paper goods. Think cards, gift wrap, invitations, note pads, stickers & the list can go on.

The last day or so I have been sketching away, the topic, winter holiday candy & ornaments. I love drawing anything that is Christmas themed, designing my current Christmas range was a blast. Having to recreate something new is fabulous. Here is what I have been sketching so far.

I can't wait to find out what the main assignment is tonight.

I get butterflies thinking about it.

farm inspired fun

Playing with repeat patterns, SO MUCH FUN!!

A bit of farm inspired fun.

Oink piggy on  forks

Nine piece farm fun collection.

Lovely windmill, some fallen apples & a blue bird.

Hot Air Ballon Floating Patterns

Playing around with prints again.

This time some hot air balloons floating around in the sky, & butterflies fluttering really close.

I love playing around with coordinates, I could definitely see this design in bed linen & of course a quilt.

The butterfly designs would be gorgeous in a dress for a little girl.

This was all derived from this current design in my shop.

Have a great Monday.

Nautical patterns

It's been a busy week & to be very honest with you, I can not believe Friday is here already. What I would do to be able to make time stand still!! Between working incredibly hard behind the scenes to learn as much as possible from my course, maintaining customer orders, working on new designs for release, & my kids having sniffles this week, I have decided to add something else to the mix.

I need to start building my pattern repeat collection up if I am to every grab hold of my elusive surface design dream. I sat here doodling ideas of what to create & then it dawned on me. Yep right under my nose. I have hundreds of cushion designs, why not develop each one into a collection of pattern repeats. It will be a great way to present my work, & show how it coordinates with my current product. This doesn't mean I wont be working on new designs also!!

I can see this in a quilt for a little boy, it's bright & lots of fun. I love the yellow in it, it's so happy, & it co ordinates perfectly with products shown available which are available in my shop.

Have a great Friday.

MATS - Week 2 assignment - Flower Pods

Oh dear my course is consuming me at the moment, which is a worry as I have a tonne of other work to have completed. BUT I LOVE IT!! I just can't stop or get enough of it.

Trying to use my time management successfully, I manage to finish my second assignment early. My eldest has been home for the last 2 days with a cold, so I have kept him inside, warm & entertained on the couch with DVD's, a some new ipad games. After 2 days of antibiotics he is well & truly on them mend. Where I was heading with that was, that fortunately for me it has allowed me solid drawing time & I managed to get quite a bit done.

My assignment was to draw flower pods & design them on a plate for the home decor category. I loved this assignment as I love flowers, & best part I could incorporate some other favourite icons being birds & butterflies. This week didn't feel as challenging like last weeks did, I was my closer to my comfort zone. I did however utilise a different colour palette  It's a combination I wouldn't normally consider when design for children's accessories.

I am still yet to decide which plate I would like to submit for the assignment  My gut is telling me the bottom left.

Not sure yet, what do you think?

MATS - Week one assignment

I have finished week one of my MATS course with Lilla Rogers. This week I was pushed a bit out of my comfort zone from an icon design perspective. We were given a brief & had to use the vintage Pyrex dishes & mushroom we had sketched a few days before. A retro kitchen theme is subject matter I would not ordinarily decide to draw.

It was fun, I enjoyed creating something new, & I am happy with the final result. Looking back however after submitting it, I would certainly make some changes. This is normal behaviour for me & many creative types, always wanting to tweak. Instead of going into what I think is wrong I want to move on to my new challenge that's has been release.

This week I am drawing flowers pods, & I know I am going to enjoy it.

Off to school with Lilla Rogers

As of Monday June 3rd, I will be starting a 5 week course with Lilla Rogers. It is called "Make Art That Sells", & I simply could be more excited. If you don't know Lilla Rogers is one of the best agencies that represent artists all around the world. Sooooooo exciting!!!!!

I have been wanting to do this course for a while, now but was a bit tight on the old purse, so once I knew I was selling Quirky and Quaint, I knew straight away this was a gift for myself. A gift that will make me happy, push my limits, & something that will finally put me on the right path regarding this surface industry I am so in love with.

I have been looking at all of the other students work, who are also taking part & I am in absolute awe. Gob smacking awe!! One artist in particular is Josephine Kimberling, who I have been a fan of for a while, I can't believe I will be in the same class as her. Her work is incredible.

Lilla has been very clear that this is a self development course, not a competition in any form but a road of discovery, & learning so many things. Phew!! But I have to admit I am feeling quite anxious, as naturally you compare yourself to others, & I am having those inner demons & doubts about what I do. I don't have an amazing website yet with folders dedicated to a folio yet, I have the work but not online anywhere, so that's something I must get on to. Just need to find a DIY package that has the fundamentals I think I need.

Today my mind is swimming with excitement, nerves,  & silly self doubts that I have to make sure don't cripple me. Here I go, wish me luck, & I will be excited to share my work as I chug along.

Have a lovely weekend.

Birds, inspiring surface design

It's finally Friday!! It's been a busy week so todays post is a quickie.

I am starting a course on Monday so my posting may be a bit delayed, but I will fill you in on that over the weekend.

Some lovely inspiring Bird prints I have recently pinned. There is something so lovely about a bird print, it covers so many categories from paper to textiles, from the young to the mature. Colours are always abundant & can be so simple or incredibly complex.

sources : image 1  image 2  image 3  image 4  image 5  image 6

I love the colour, and variations amongst many of the birds.
It's nice to always see them applied to textiles.

Artist Love - Helen Dardik

I wanted to share with you one of my favourite surface design artists.

Helen Dardik.....I have been a fan of her work for a while now & I LOVE to follow her blog. Her work inspires me, it is a style I love, bold & bright, & is so unique. I admire everything she does, & like me, she generally draws most of her art digitally.

She seems to have it all from my perspective, a fab career, is represented by the amazing Lilla Rogers (would be a dream for me), & has had many licensing contracts. I am sure there are many, many long hours that are worked, especially as she is a mum of 3 kiddies.

How fab is her work?

Love it.

Superhero weekend

Hello.......I had such a big weekend, I have to kind of admit I am glad it's over, I am feeling a tad exhausted. On Saturday was my little mans 5th birthday, it was a Superhero theme & all of his friends came dressed up, it was absolutely spectacular. I am collating some  fab images to share with you hopefully tomorrow. Sunday we all know was mother's day, it was also Hudson's actual birthday, so I had immediate family over to celebrate. I think I have also eaten WAY too much cake!

I have been working a couple of new prints completely inspired by Hudson & his love for superheros. I love how he is so captivated by super powers, & how he is hoping to have some one day.

I have some fun ideas in mind for these, I love the colours they are so bright & bold.

Have a super power Monday.

Playing with the live trace tool

After all the years I have been drawing with Adobe Illustrator, I have just learnt a brand new tool. LIVE TRACE. I knew it was in there but hadn't really needed it before, & was a little unsure of it. I tend to draw straight into the computer. I think that happens because of year working in the fashion industry & having to complete everything "yesterday", I never had time to really sketch by hand first. It's also how I learnt, so its a habit that has stayed with me. It hasn't done me any harm, but it's so refreshing to have learnt something new & giving me an opportunity to explore new avenues. Since having completed my online course, I have been making a conscious effort to try & draw by hand a bit more, it gives my work a new look. It's the same style but has a more flowing & organic perspective. I am liking it. I do think it's more labour intensive, but that's a lovely new feeling to have, it feel more personal & has a bit more depth.

With summer on the horizon in the northern hemisphere, I have been seeing some lovely paisley influences which had me sketching away. This is a work in progress, I am not sure where it's going yet, but my main goal was to start perfect using the live trace tool. My first attempt was a little dismal, as when I used the function it didn't separate all of the draw in into separate pieces. As I was dropping in colour, several shapes were becoming the one colour. When I had a look closer I notice that some of my join lines amongst the shapes weren't completely closed. Bummer, back to the drawing board! Mind you this happened a couple of times. So I went over them again with a felt tip pen that made everything thicker. After that I was off & running, dropping in colour everywhere.



I am happy with the final result, & I love how the outside lines to each shape are in some cases a little rough, & not completely smooth, like I would normally create in a vector drawing. The pen lines were deleted completed giving it a cleaner look. I am not 100% sure what I will do with it just yet, I have an idea so I will just have to see how that eventuates.

I am looking forward to more experimenting.