Sorry about the lack of blog posts lately. I've been super busy designing plus I've had loads of problems with my internet (comes with the territory living in Greece!) I've been working on a bunch of floral repeats at the mo, I've posted a little peak of a sample above.

A friend recently introduced me to pinterest.com. Its an application where you can create your own mood boards. For example you can make a mood board of different textile or of some books you want to read. I guess it's a way of organizing your creative thoughts. I'm quite new to it but i'll let you know how it goes.

Back to the drawing board with a flutter..

I'm back from my lovely holiday at the beautiful island of Lefkada. It was truly amazing we rented a beautiful villa with a pool which was ideal for my two year old daughter to swim around in. The villa was on the side of a mountain overlooking the sea with beautiful views of the coastline and the stunning sunsets. I now feel relaxed and refreshed and ready to work!

I think this design is influenced by the colorful butterflies and fauna I saw in Lefkada, it was actually the first time I ever saw a swallowtail butterfly in the wild. I have a on going love affair with butterflies and flowers, I love to draw them as they are so colorful and fun and pretty commercial too. This design will be part of a set for childrenswear.

Finished repeat

So here is the repeat I started yesterday it's kind of finished although I'm sure I'll make a few tweaks here and there. I love the contrast of the dark brown but I think if I want to make it into a duvet cover I'll have to tone down the background colour a bit. I also think it would make a gorgeous baby pinafore dress with a big red buttons on the straps. Once I have the material and I get round to creating something I'll post a pic.

Tropical birds

So here is the part of the repeat which was created from my previous post 'how I work' This is part of the end result from the original sketch. I filled it with lots more birds and tropical flowers. I hope you like it. Happy Monday everyone!

Icecream Time

Here is a new repeat from my Summer themed designs that I've been working on. I wish the sun would shine here, its dark grey and rainy, I should be used to it coming from the UK but no I still can't bear it, bring on the blue skies, sunshine and lots of yummy icecreams!

Random Scandinavian style repeat..?

Good morning to everyone! Here's a bit of a random repeat I thought I'd show you a peak of. It's one of those designs that have no plan to them I just start randomly drawing in Illustrator and see where it takes me. I think this design reminds me a bit of a Scandinavian design with a retro influence. I thought the combination of greens and pinks was quite interesting. Now I just have to think whether I'll add a bit of texture to it or leave it as a vector...Have a nice week everyone!

Chinese Gardens and Picnics!

I woke up to such a beautiful day today and the best bit is we have a national holiday here in Greece. This can only mean one thing a picnic in the park! We live on the edge of the mountains so there really is some beautiful scenery around us. I know the picture above is a bit dark but it really is inspired by spring and all the blossoms on the trees. I've entitled it Chinese Garden as thats what came to mind when I was designing it. It's a random work in progress but it will probably be made into a repeat.

Floral Essence

Here's a little repeat I started working on this morning. Now all I have to do is make some brush effects in Photoshop. I think the colours would look nice on a bag or on a diary. Happy friday to everyone. I am now going to attempt to make a Thai green curry...fingers crossed I succeed!

Great Design Books!

I was pleased to see two lovely design books I ordered arrive in the post today. The first is called 'Patterns'. Its a great resource book full of all different kinds of patterns from motif, abstract to illustrated. It features designs by the likes of Carolyn Gavin, Catalina Estrada and Rachael taylor. I think its great to add to all design libraries.

The other book I ordered is called 'Digital Textile Design'. Now this is a great resource if you want to brush up on your portfolio skills. It illustrates with screenshots how to create all kinds of repeats using Photoshop and Illustrator. It also goes through all techniques used to create a digital images from drawing straight on the screen to scanning in fabrics. I think I'll find this book especially useful as I've not been a pattern designer for along time. I worked previously as a technical illustratorso its great for me to learn more. I've include a sampler from the book below.

Floral Inspiration!

At the moment I’ve been working on some floral repeats. I was really lacking inspiration so I decided to dig into my photo archives and discovered these lovelies that I took in my parents garden during the summer. I love the vivid pinks and will try to incorporate them into my designs somehow. Looking at these pics just reminds me of summers playing with my little one in the garden and drinking G and T’s (on the few days the sun is out in Britain that is!) Of course the winter is nice and cosy when you can spend evenings in front of the fire eating and drinking but I definitely prefer the Summer in Greece that’s probably why all my mates call me ‘Med girl’!

Patterific

I'm finally back from the baptism! It was a nice week the party was great all my decorations mostly went to plan except the 28 helium balloons which deflated! The baptism was pretty horrific and I'm not sure if I would want my child to go through that again, I'm not particularly religious and see it more as unnecessary torture but we both decided it was the best thing if we are raising a child in Greece. On a positive note it stayed a sunny 35 degrees and we swam loads in the pool and relaxed with G &Ts which more than made up for it.

I thought this morning I would get back to work but I'm still in holiday mode so I decided to browse the net instead. While I was browsing I came across a really pretty website http://www.sabinereinhart.de/

she is a designer from Germany and specializes in seamless vector patterns. I love her designs they are very sophisticated with elements of nature. She runs various sites showcasing her work including Patterific. I've posted some of her work above.

Flutterflies

I think the summer has finally come to Greece. We had a lovely weekend with beautiful sunshine all the flowers are booming and the bees are buzzing, lovely.

Keeping with the mood of flowers and buzzing little insects I've been working on a repeat called Flutterflies.

Butterflies are always popular and they are somehing I just come back to again and again, they look great on cards, wrap, clothes everything. I'm also trying to tone down my colours slightly as I realise bold bright colours aren't popular to everyone.

Right now I'm off for an ice cold drink on my balcony!