the A word

I'm quite a fan of Autumn really. I don't do well in hot hot heat and the autumnal temperatures are much more up my street. That, and as a kid I always loved the time of year when we went back to school after the summer holidays. I suspect this was in no small part down to the fact that I could have a new school bag, pencil tin and stationery. I'm still a stationery nerd now.
We took our little lady (who has just had her second birthday! I mean, how?) to the library this morning and on the way we collected a huge orange leaf and a fallen conker still in it's shell. There's no denying it, it's definitely coming.

These autumnal influences are seeping into my work too, albeit quite unconsciously.

Lilla Rogers Global Talent Search 2014

The semi finalists have been announced for Lilla Rogers Global Talent Search.
I'm a teensy bit disappointed not to have made it through. Only 5% of those who entered did, and there is some fantastic work and crazy talent amongst those who didn't so I really need to try and not be too hard on myself about this. I am pleased with my entry, and have another piece for my portfolio.

The process of doing this has not only helped helped me grow my style and technical skill but also my ability to assess my own work and push myself to look at all the small things and to see how I can improve them. This is a journey. Onwards and upwards.
You can view the entire gallery of entrants here and see the top 50 semi finalists here

animal print

I'm not going to lie, I wasn't loving the MIID summer school brief this time around, which was for a design featuring animal prints. Animal prints are not really my thing so I've given it my own twist and added a floral into the mix to make it more me, and maybe something that someone who's not into animal prints might consider buying. I've used 3 of the 6 suggested colours here, with tints and transparencies to add a bit more depth to the design. A challenge, but a good one!

little terrarium

It's been a busy few weeks.
I entered Lilla Rogers Global Talent Search so have been working away on the first brief for that. There are 999 entrants, 50 of which will be selected to go onto the second round. The talent is phenomenal and competition is stiff. I'm keeping everything crossed that I get into round 2. 
I'll share my final design next week, but in the meantime here is a pattern I created alongside the final design, which is for a wall art piece based on the theme of a little terrarium

Watermelon-y

I'm taking part in the MIID summer school. One of the briefs was to produce a pattern suitable for swimwear, which has a tropical/vintage/retro/geometic vibe.
I've been seeing a lot of watermelon imagery and icons around of late and they seem quite fun and summery so I've used watermelons as a basis for my patterns.
It looks like fruit is creeping into a lot of my design work at the moment!