Good news is "Owl" news

I have just recieved an e-mail from Spoonflower informing me that my Laughing Owls design has made it into the Top Ten in this weeks contest. I don't know what position or how many votes it got... but it is good news worth sharing with you all immediately!
The above photograph is printed on "real" fabric... sighhh.
 
BIG, BIG SMILES. xx

Imprint Collection

What a week... I think I have about 8 deadlines and all for the 30th June, roll on July that's what I say.

Apart from real work I also have Module 2 of The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design to contend with... and if I'm honest it's the thing I would most like to be doing! Such is life.

Well, I have managed to design a couple of collections and post them on Flickr above is a peep at some of the designs that I have created.

Bye.... back to work.

Soap and Paper Factory

Soap and Paper Factory based in New York is owned and run 3 very talented people. They create natural beautiful handmade products for your home and body. Each product is designed from "sketch to production line" that means the packaging too!

I chose one of their product lines which was designed for Anthropolgie. I used this collection of products to complete a "Deconstructing Collection" exercise for Module 2 of The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design. You can see my deconstruction here on Flickr. 

The packaging is wonderful and uses some fabulous surface pattern, see above. However I also fell totally in love with their work philosophy and their motto "Natural, Beautiful, Recyclable, and Reusable". Catch up on their website here.

Fig Dreams in Lilac (by ME!!!!)

 

Ohhh... what a lovely day!  

My work has been shown on Rachael Taylor's lovely blog. It has been featured as part of the Module 1 showcase of The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design. Go take a look HERE. 

Speacial thanks to Rachael for the feature and congratulations to everyone who has had their work showcased so far. Big BIG smiles :)

ho ho ho, ha ha ha, he he he!

My entry for the latest Spoonflower Competetion is a tribute to the poor old "Laughing Owl" which I'm afraid to say is now extinct. My little owls are having a giggle and you can see it on their tummys, ho ho ho, ha ha ha, he he he! I suppose this is stretching the theme of extinct animals a bit far... but I had a go. However, I am very intrigued by the backgroud I designed, so I will be developing some coordinate designs using these leaf motifs, without the owls of course... watch this space!

You can see the repeat on Spoonflower and details of the owls tummies on Flickr.

Gazania experiment

Still a little in love with "live trace" in Illustrator I have scanned in some sketches that I did of some Gazanias and tried creating some patterns with them. I have experimented with layering the images and have used different scales. The designs are more placement prints than repeat patterns, although it would be very easy to turn them into a repeat at a later date. The designs can also be seen on FLICKR.

I have noticed that I have some lovely new members. Thanks girls, most appreciated, I will be over to your blogs quite soon :)

IKEA inspiration

I am quite lucky to have an IKEA very close to where I live in Turin. It is a most inspiring place for design and pattern, it also sometimes inspires my purse but thats another story!

My favourite area is obviously where all the lovely fabrics are stashed and I wander round taking in all the fab colours and latest designs. I "try" to resist buying more fabrics to add to my unfinished projects list but I don't always succeed. I took about 70 photographs while I was there but my favourites are these taken whilst having a coffee with my friend Helen. The blinds made with this lovely blobby "lava lamps" fabric were against the light and became transparent, adding depth and more shapes to the already lovely design.

I have also put the photographs on FLICKR so I can pin them on PINTEREST. (I have finally joined PINTEREST and this will be the first image that I pin... when I find out how it all works!)

Plum Orchard

Plum Orchard

Apple Orchard

Apricot Orchard

I have returned to Spoonflower (because I have a little more time on my hands) and have entered my Plum Orchard design in the Geometric Shapes Competition which was also palette restricted. Having only two colours I thought it would be a difficult design to create. The purple reminded me of plums so my design started from there. I have kept my shapes simple, my scale big and my colours flat. It has a lovely repeat which creates an orchard. I have added two other colour palettes, Apple Orchard and Apricot Orchard... there could be lots more!