Blog Hop After Glow!

I had such fun taking part in the blog hop (see previous post). A huge thanks to Mary Tanana of Groovity Designs for organising it. I had lots of lovely comments and positive feedback about my designs and continued to design using "Radiant Orchid" (Pantone's colour of the year). As I said before I love this colour and my designs have turned out to be quite the antidote to a grey January (as I type it is raining, cold and dull outside).

First of all I used it for a design that I entered into Spoonflower's weekly contest (based on the Great Barrier Reef). This is called Big Fish, Little Fish and I'm going to make it available to buy very soon

This spurred me on to design a few more prints based around this theme:

I was also inspired by some of the comments and seeing other blogs, to turn them into swimwear ideas so created some mock-ups. I think they work really well!

Finally I added some of these to my Society 6 shop. They now offer clocks and mugs and I liked how my designs look on these products.

So I have had fun basking in the afterglow of the blog hop and it has given me a dose of virtual sunshine. However I have also been making and designing other things but more of that in another post!

Tropical Fusion Blog Hop!

Hi everyone! I expect you are having fun hopping from blog to blog! Hopefully you have just arrived from Sherry London's fabulous post (Digital Repeats) or you maybe one of my regular readers. If you are unsure about all this it's a collaboration between 40 wonderful international designers inspired by Pantone's colour of the year, "Radiant Orchid" with the theme Tropical Fusion (if you want to start from the beginning click on the link to the right!)

This has been a really fun challenge. I love this colour and the designs I have come up with have really banished those January blues as they are so Summery. I have used bold shapes and colours and focused on tropical foliage, leaves and fruit.  As you can see I always start with drawing and my shapes are quite simple. I was really inspired by these leaf shapes and you can see how I developed these below.

 

My resulting collection is called "Heatwave".

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I think these designs would work really well in fashion as well as for the home. Below are some mock-ups I created using my designs. They would give a bold splash of colour to any room with the ultra-fashionable "Radiant Orchid" shining through (you are going to see that colour everywhere!)

Now I hope that you will continue to hop onto the amazing Jessica Wilde's blog (Jessica Wilde). Jessica is a freelance surface print designer based in the U.K. who draws her inspiration from her love of photography to capture florals, wildlife and textures. Enjoy!

January News

Well, January has started with a whizz so far! both in terms of designing and with "real life" (as I call it!). As I am still in the baby stages of building up my business I am having to take paid work as and when I can. So for the first two weeks of January I have been working as a TA with Year 2s at a Primary School. It has been great and it's good to earn but it means my designing is squeezed into less hours. At the same time I have been designing for a very exciting blog hop that I am taking part in between 18th and 21st January.

I am thrilled to be working alongside so many talented designers! All our designs will highlight Pantone's Colour of the Year, Radiant Orchid and based on the theme of Tropical Fusion. So lots of sunny and bright ideas to brush away a dull and grey January. The starting blog can be found at Mary Tanana's site http://groovitydesigns.com/. Mary is a wonderful designer whose work is an inspiration. From there you can then just follow the trail.

You Are My Love Bunny!

I have also managed to add some printables to my Etsy store. These are A4 digital downloads that you can print at home and frame or get printed more professionally. I have added a Valentines illustration as well!

Alongside all of this I have been designing for some "live briefs" set during Module 3 of the Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design and entering competitions. Always trying to keep my options open!!!

See you at the blog hop...