Print and Pattern Feature Again!

I was wondering what all the extra hits on my blog were about and it dawned on me that maybe Bowie Style at Print and Pattern - http://printpattern.blogspot.it - had posted the pics of my fabrics that I sent recently - and she had!!  I'm so thrilled every time I see my work on the Print and Pattern Blog.  Thank you Bowie Style!!!

Lilla Roger's Global Talent Search Entry

I wasn't going to post this!  I felt so nervous about it I felt ill every time I looked at it - but I've been scouring the internet for all the other entries and finally thought I should join the party and show what I came up with!
If you didn't already know, Lilla Rogers Studio recently launched their Global Talent Search and I imagine that every aspiring designer in the universe will have entered - hoping to be the design world's 'Next Big Thing'.
The prize will be 2 years representation by Lilla  - a massively exciting prospect as she's probably the most significant and well-known art agent in the world, representing extraordinarily talented designers.  Through Lilla, their artwork is becoming so well-known, being brought into our lives daily by influential, design-led retailers such as Paperchase, that it's affecting design trends worldwide and is beginning to visually define an era.
In the first round, entrants were asked to create a journal cover as if Paperchase were the client, basing the imagery on old-fashioned playgrounds.
I immediately thought a mid-century illustrative style would work and I wanted to attempt to include children  - but specifically as a pattern element.  I wanted it to be joyful with a dynamic composition, featuring lots of primary -coloured elements (that Peptobismol pink wasn't plastered on everything when I was  kid) but I also wanted to incorporate a vintage, faded feel to the palette.
In the end I chose a grey background because I thought it gave a contemporary feel to the vintage elements.  The minute I'd submitted it I decided I wasn't sure if it flattened everything and had a major panic - but the deed was done.  Sometimes I think I over-think things!
Thursday is D- Day - when we find out who's in the top 50.  They're the lucky ones that get to enter the next round!  Gulp.

A Sketch A Day - The Mum Series.

Mum reclining.

Mum barbecuing.

Mum reclining again - by a pool.

Mum picking flowers.

Mum shelling pine nuts.

You thought I hadn't done it didn't you!!!  But I did - one drawing (at least) everyday.  My Mum was visiting and she's always been a willing model for me so we ended up with the Mum series.  There were others but she made me promise not to post them - ha ha!!!  She's not super keen on that last one either but we collected the pine nuts from local pine cones so I think it's worth preserving the memory on here.

A Sketch a Day - Isadora

A Sketch a Day - Plumbago

Studio in The Garden!

Inspired by my desire to sketch the flowers in the garden, I set myself up a studio there.  The Plumbago and Bougainvillea are in full bloom and it looked so pretty I thought I'd post it here.

A Sketch A Day - Leo Sleeping.

Yesterday I made myself 2 web charts - one showed all the stuff I'd like to do daily (but don't) and the other was all the stuff I'd like to do weekly (but don't).  I'll post them as my next entry.  There are no big surprises - it runs along the lines of eat less, work more.

However, one of the things I'd like to do daily is draw...with a pencil...on paper!  I don't do it anymore.  I made the switch to computers over a decade ago, started drawing with a pen and tablet straight onto the screen and almost completely abandoned art materials at work.   I use Illustrator for most of my designs and I love the clean, graphic imagery it produces but at the moment I'm scrabbling for techniques to loosen up my artwork. 

My paintings used to be very free and heavily textured and I'd like to incorporate that quality in my designs.  So I decided to start drawing again.  And I'm going to continue - everyday. 

Here are yesterday's sketches of my little boy sleeping. They took about 15 mins and it was an absolute pleasure to do them.  

I'm going to try to post my sketches everyday  - and see where they take me!