This bookshelf design is available in two different colorways. Pink and Orange (I can't ever seem to get enough pink and orange in my life):
And Blue and Fuschia (another of my favorite color combinations):
Each wallpaper comes in three different sizes: 1900 x 1200, 1600 x 1200 and 1024 x 768.
Click on the images above or the link in the sidebar to reach the download page. I hope you enjoy! I'll be adding some more styles very soon so check back. Happy Weekend!
]]>First, you should know that I work almost exclusively in Adobe Illustrator. I've raved about this program before, but I'm telling you, it is my best friend. So all of the work I am sharing here is done in Illustrator. If you are familiar with the program then you will understand the steps that I take. If you do not use the program then some of this may be a bit confusing as it is not meant to be a tutorial, just an example of what one can do.
Many of my designs are well planned and highly thought-out. Many come from sketches and are formed much in the way that Jan showed on her post. Others come about from playing around and experimenting in Illustrator and that is what I'm sharing here. It is exciting for me to come up with a pattern that I never would have thought of in my head but purely came about as a result of relaxing and allowing myself to explore and play.
For this pattern, I used the Star Tool (not sure if that is the official name, but it is one of the shape options in Illustrator) to create an 8-point star (1) and then I rounded the corners slightly (2). I then saved the star with the rounded corners as an Art Brush. I used the Circle Tool to draw a circle (3) and then applied the new Art Brush to the outline of the circle (4). The result was an unexpected shape, a shape I probably would not have dreamed up.
Next, I copied, pasted and flipped the new design (5). I copied, pasted in front, then rotated the design 90 degrees to create the shape you see figure 6. Then I grouped the new shape, went to Effect-Pathfinder-Exclude and was given the shape you see in figure 7.
I copied, rotated and aligned the objects to come up with the images you see below (8 & 9) These are steps I take to round out and complete the design and give it more depth and interest.
Sometimes keeping it simple is best, but for this I wanted to show you how I add more (usually dots) to enhance the design.
Now that I have added and aligned my elements (10 & 11), I am ready to add some color (12):
And this is the pattern that comes from that design:
Here is another example of what can be done using the same original shape.
Figure 13 is the shape I ended up with in step 7. I rotated the image and then picked out the top of the image to use in creating a new motif (14). I copied, pasted and flipped to get image 15. Then it became a matter of copying, pasting, rotating and inserting (and adding dots!) until I ended up at image 18.
I applied some color:
And here is another pattern:
I could go on and on as the possiblities are endless. It is fun to see all of the patterns that can come out of one simple shape. Here are four more simple patterns that I quickly created to demonstrate:
This is just one of the ways I arrive at designs and it should be noted that these are all simple repeats. Coming up with tossed or scattered patterns is another fun process in and of itself. Any shape you choose to start with will lead you to numerous options and unlimited patterns. It is fun, easy and I love seeing the results because they are never anything that I would've thought of and tried to create. And I'm left with some nice patterns that I may or may not add to my portfolio. I consider a lot of these as exercises, but many of them end up as keepers.
I hope you enjoyed seeing this. This was certainly a fun post to write. If you try this process, please let me know as I'd love to see what you come up with!
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So kind of you to feature my work, Fiona! Thank you!
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If you are not familiar with New American Paintings, you should definitely check it out. They have six regional contests a year and the 40 winners from each region have their paintings published in a gorgeous magazine. Check out their website to see more. I entered the contest for the first time in 2005 and my work was chosen. I've entered every year since without any luck, but this year my paintings were chosen again! I'm really excited about it! They have a great readership of art enthusiasts, galleries, collectors and the like so it will be nice to get my work in front of so many people.
My first exposure in the magazine led to a great connection which facilitated getting my artwork in the Mirage and several other Las Vegas casinos. They've gotten me lots of work over the last five years. I hope to meet new people and make some more connections once this newest issue comes out in June! I haven't been in an art show since 2003 and I don't have a gallery so I'm hoping this will lead to something!
I had to send in six paintings and three will be published. These are three of the six that I sent in. I can't wait to see which ones they choose!
I hope you guys are having a great weekend! Now it is back to work on the new fabric collection!
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I've provided a link to the book in my sidebar for your convenience. The book is in pdf form and is incredibly well written and beautifully designed. I enjoyed every page, every word and every photo in the book and even though I am working on my fourth fabric collection I learned SO much! Lizzy has a wonderful voice and the book is encouraging, inspiring and informative. I hope that all of you who have ever wondered about designing fabric will purchase her book.
I contacted Lizzy recently with a question about signing and numbering my gocco prints and she wrote me back with a detailed explanation that more than answered my question. She is tremendously knowledgable about all aspects of design and generously shares her knowledge. I hope you all enjoy the book as much as I did. I know I will be referring to it repeatedly for both technical knowledge and inspiration!
]]>I've been spending a lot of time on my licensing porfolio lately and I've also been working on a new fabric collection. But since I can't share either of those things with you right now I thought I'd share this painting.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
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Click here to read my interview with Mary Beth from True Up. I love all of the interviews they do and I am so happy to be a part of this series! I answer Mary Beth's questions about how I got started in design, my design process and the inspiration for California Dreamin' (among other things). I hope you enjoy it! True Up, an awesome blog about all things fabric-related, has been so supportive of me from my very first post about my first fabric line. Thank you, Kim and Mary Beth! And thanks to all of their readers who are stopping by!]]>
They have some really awesome new designs this year- I'm so happy to have a design in the collection! Here's a link to the new bottles: www.sigg.com
If you spot this one in stores or on line, please let me know! My samples should arrive soon, but I can't wait to see it in person!
]]>Debbie of LaTeeDa Kids: Debbie made these adorable clothes from the Picnic Parade line!
Carrie of Sommer Designs: Carrie made these awesome dishtowels along with wonderful matching aprons which I LOVE but have yet to show you! I'm actually happy to have a few more things tucked away to share with you soon!
Jennifer Ladd: Jennifer made these handbags and they made a HUGE impression! We featured them in our print ad and I heard lots of great feedback about them!
While looking for someone in Memphis to help me out with some sewing, I discovered that Elizabeth of DeNovo Style lives right around the corner from me. She makes the most beautiful coats and she was kind enough to sew these super-cute dresses for me!
For California Dreamin, I worked with the amazing Valentine Westphal, who made these much-loved doll dresses. She was an absolute dream to work with!
Ashley of Film in the Fridge created these wonderful quilts that thrilled everyone who saw them at market (and on her fabulous blog)! I think these quilts were the main attraction at my schoolhouse in Houston. I was so happy to have them- I love the way they show off the entire collection.
Hillary of Designing Happy made some gorgeous Cynthia Rowley dresses for me (to be shown soon!) as well as some other really cool projects, of which she sent me these great photos!
Dana of House of Roux also made a dress for me from one of the Cynthia Rowley patterns and it turned out beautifully! I owe you guys pictures of all of these dresses--I got wrapped up in preparations for my Houston schoolhouse right after these were made so I have yet to properly photograph them- but trust me, they are amazing and will certainly turn into my uniform for the summer!
A big thank you to my mom and my aunt for all of their hard work! Thanks to Myrinda from Fabric Hound and Ruth of Sew Love Fabric who both stepped in and helped me out at my Pittsburgh schoolhouse. I don't think I would have made it through the schoolhouse without them!
Speaking of schoolhouses, thanks to everyone who attended and smiled at me while I did my show and tell!
Is this starting to read like an acceptance speech?? Sorry about that- I just have a lot of people to thank because it was a wonderful, wonderful year! A special thanks to everyone at Free Spirit and to everyone who has supported these fabrics by buying them, selling them, blogging about them, making things with them and sending me nice notes about them! You guys are the best!!
One last big thank you to all of the other designers out there who have been so supportive- I love our conversations! And a special thank you to Park City Girl for, with all you have going on, taking the time to comment on almost every single post I wrote last year! You are a true inspiration to me!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of you! I know I owe a few of you some emails––2010 is going to be the year of efficient emailing!!
Finally, thanks to my husband for EVERYTHING!!!!!
I hope you are all having a great 2010!!
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I'm going to have to make my first tutorial be on something simpler than these ornaments. These steps were easy to learn when sitting by my mom and following along, but when it came to writing them all down I was a little overwhelmed. Not to worry, however, because there are some great tutorials already out there written by people who can explain this a lot better than I can! Here are three of the best ones I've found:
http://crafterwithoutacat.blogspot.com/2009/08/ornament-tutorial.html
http://www.make-stuff.com/projects/quiltball.html
http://quilting.about.com/od/holidayquiltpatterns/ss/folded-fabric-star.htm
The only difference in my ornaments and the ones shown in these tutorials is that most of these start on each end of the styrofoam ball, work toward the middle, then put ribbon around the center seam. I like to work from the bottom all the way to the top so that more of the fabric is highlighted.
I hope you are having a great week!
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And this one uses a combination of Picnic Parade and California Dreamin' fabrics:
These were tons of fun to make! I love getting in touch with my crafty side!
]]>I'm starting to get in my groove over here on the new blog/website. The Squarespace format is new to me, however, so this transition has not been entirely smooth. In an effort to make a password-protected area for clients the other day, I accidentally made the entire site password-protected for several hours. My apologies to those I locked out and my thanks to those of you who have alerted me to potential problems. Your feedback is extremely helpful, especially in these initial stages of building this site!
I've written quite a bit about the practical reasons that led me to put all of my work on one website, but the decision was also very personal and it gets into an area that I think many of us might struggle with as artists. In the beginning of my art career I felt like I was leading something of a double life. I've always loved to draw, paint, design––you name it, if it is art-related, I love to do it. For years I tried to separate and categorize my art, however, because I had some very typical artist insecurities about sharing the different types of work with different audiences. I feared that the fine art world wouldn't take me seriously if they saw my happy flowery surface designs and I feared that the design world wouldn't accept the paintings and drawings I do (which are quite different from my designs). I probably wasn't giving people enough credit, but I'd been encouraged to keep these art styles separate. I had even been told that I shouldn't link to my painting website from my surface design website because my paintings might "scare off" potential licensees.
Then I started blogging. In the beginning the plan was to solely focus on my design work. But in an effort to have more to blog about I began sharing my paintings and drawings. A funny thing happened. No one was the least bit "scared". Or if they were, they didn't type "yikes" in the comment box and run away. Everyone was very supportive. Some of the nicest comments about my paintings would come from friends who originally found me through my fabric. You guys were big contributors in helping me shed my old way of thinking and in encouraging me to share all of the different things I was working on.
One of the biggest pushes toward getting this new site up and running came from something I read on the Lilla Rogers Studio blog. Regarding the signing of Lisa Congdon (Love!), Lilla wrote, "What a variety of work she has. Here's how it works: really good artists have lots of styles and media because they have so much talent and a delicious greed to try everything. Then, over time, the styles often morph together to become one's own distinctive style." That perspective was one I had not heard before and one I wish I'd heard much earlier in my career. It really struck a chord with me. It is such a different way of thinking than what I had previously been told. And hearing it phrased so beautifully from a talented, respected art source was awesome! It was a great reminder that as artists we should feel free to try as many different things as we want and have faith that it will all come together in the end!
When I think about it, trying to separate the artwork was kind of silly in the first place––anyone who searched for me on the internet was bound to see the various works. And I think the different art worlds are more accepting of each other than perhaps they once were. So, what about you, the other artists and creatives who read this blog? Have any of you felt the need to separate your different styles and media? Do you feel comfortable sharing all of the work that you do? I always hear talk about finding your own unique style but what is often left out of that conversation is that in order to find your own style you have to play around, experiment and try lots of different things! I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!
Alright, back to work for me now. I have some fun design projects to work on this week (and I'll probably squeeze in a little painting, too)! I hope your week is off to a great start!
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Detail:
I can't remember how long this took, but I remember how much I enjoyed painting it. And the painting is a really nice reminder of one of my favorite vacations of all time. I'm happy it found its way to the home of a favorite friend!
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