Wild West Pattern

Yeehaw! A new Western pattern. I've always liked Southwestern colors,warm salmons and siennas, cool blues and turqs. This is a slightly updated palette, using an icy blue ground with pale green that I like to call "glow worm". Giddyup!

mani pedi pillows

Pillows were super major at the Atlanta gift show last July. Like all fun trends its important to keep things updated and fresh. Prints were huge, oversized single icons, sea life, naturalist, almost scientific drawings of flowers, animals and birds. When something is good people catch on quickly and the market often becomes saturated with copycat products. This year I'm feeling shaped pillows with embellishments coming on-hence my mani and pedi pillows. Everyone loves a fresh mani and pedi embellished with classy rhinestones. (maybe even personalized with initials?) I need to make a few prototypes and enlist the help of my talented friend from juliaramseyknitwear.com I think these might also make fun winter gloves and socks!!

Fawn pattern / Flower Pattern

New pattern using a fawn, pigeon, frog, snake and pheasant. I keep meaning to design for summer 2012, but it just comes out kind of everyday. Colors are fun though. I was really sticking the palette you seen in this last pattern with just the flowers, but I thought the forest animals needed a little unexpected punch.

old becomes new & Bob the muse

I told you I would use that old palette. I think its really fresh and I don't know that I would have just been able to pluck those colors out of a pantone book, though I did get them from my old painting-so maybe I would have. In case you didn't gather I am a real sucker for color. It is the single most important element of design as far as I'm concerned (assuming were talking about two dimensional art) I recall choosing colors as a past time when I was younger. I loved the 99 crayola crayons with the sharpener in the back! I liked to sort them into groups that complemented each other, loads of fun. I'm also a sucker for names of colors. I like the sound of tangerine over orange, lavender instead of light purple, I like prussian blue and azure, malachite, burnt sienna, topaz, amber...I would love to name colors for makeup or clothes. I like the sound of Lake (very L.L. Bean) If I could name a lipstick it might be jam&toast or something cute!

An old painting from my RISD days

I unearthed this scan of a painting I did my junior year at RISD. Its a lot of layers of gesso, wax, pen, and paint. This is how I worked for the longest time! Often I didn't really have anything in mind when I began. I trained traditionally as an illustrator, beginning in high school learning to draw with Isabelle Torroella a form fashion designer with Christian Dior. In college I took loads of figure drawing classes, painting and printmaking and later years of sculpture with Susan Luery, a contemporary sculptor and instructor at the South Shore Art Center in Cohasset, MA. It wasn't until well after I graduated that I began using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop and it wasn't until I started designing product for Dennis East that I truly learned how to use the software. Really it is my traditional training as an illustrator and fine artist that informs all of my work and I am most appreciative of this. I'll probably create some patterns now using this color palette. it's nice to sometimes look back at things and become inspired all over again, instead of feeling embarrassed about old work which is often the case.

Patterns and Illustration

The Daydream Pattern with pink ground
The Daydream Pattern with canary yellow ground ground
Bird Still Life on canary yellow ground
The Swimmers, ( evolved from the Daydream)

The Daydream

This morning I awoke early with images and colors dancing in my head. It was blustery and still a little dark out but I was eager to get started. Donning my winter slippers and with french roast in hand I began the Daydream. When a color palette is working one fun idea can give way to lots more and doodles evolve into finished pieces and patterns. The first image created was the still life bird perched on top of a cage. A flower, some spectacles and a steaming cup of coffee completed the still life. The daydream element evolved from the tree, I think...I imagined a girl falling into a deep sleep under the tree. Anyways, I'm definitely enjoying this color palette and the use of the white. More to come for sure.

Halloween is coming

Illustration created for Coultercurated.com

It is October first, the beginning of Halloween Season and one of my all time favorite months! These are the days that I like to ride my bike through the old cemeteries near my house and look at the creepy old Puritan headstones. I think I may base some Halloween Art around the carved angels and skulls. Much more Halloween to come, including costume ideas...