2020 Patterns

So, I'm determined to get on top of life this year! Here are all the new patterns that I've created so far in 2020.

You Mean the World to Me- Blue Polkadot Planet Pattern

Another 2019 surface design. We live on such an amazing little blue planet!

Badger pattern

Another piece of surface design for my portfolio.

Mortgage free pattern

Another surface design for a line of dresses that I'm sewing.

The idea behind the project is cynical optimism.

Working on a fabric pattern

The these of this one is 'housing' or 'dream home'; it will be called the 'mortgage free' pattern.

Blow away- Sycamore seed pattern/ surface design

A new sycamore seed pattern- I haven't decided on a colour yet.

Fitness- Spoonflower challenge

This is my latest surface design- the theme this week is 'fitness', which I've also been trying to master these past few months- I've lost almost two stone, and I feel much better for it.

Freud

The father of psychoanalysis. He was an interesting figure right up until his death.

Watercolour!

I've been looking into eventually finally joining SOFA (the Society of Feline Artists). First I need to create a larger cat portfolio using traditional media. Water colour is my weapon of choice, so here we are. It's a start!

She decides

I created this illustration for She Decides day. Family planning is an important step to saving our planet. Women tend to make better choices when they're more educated and free from patriarchal dominance.

Henry VIII

I've also been working on some more historical figures for my portfolio- this is Henry Tudor, I've been creating more textures to add into my work.

Top Marx- a Karl Marx pun

I've been putting aside more greetings cards into my portfolio whenever I think of more puns. This is a congratulatory card design for the leftie

Octopus and squid- first pattern of 2019

This is my first pattern of 2019! I'd been thinking about this one for a while- octopuses are surprisingly colourful.

Blobby Positivity

I've been brainstorming greeting card/ gift ideas- blobfish seem quite popular at the moment. They have a sort of 'it's so ugly it's cute' appeal to them. I've been going with this, and trying to merge it with ideas of 'body positivity'. You can't force someone to be attracted to you, but if they are, then good for you- no-one should feel bad for how they look, we should all just strive to be healthier.

Illustration Friday- Bumblebee

I made this using a honey comb texture- a lady on the street keeps bees and I scanned some of their wax. This is more of an experimental study than anything else. I've got a more stylised submission in mind- if I have time to develop it before this week is up I'll post that too.

The earth

Throughout the past few weeks we've been experiencing a devastating heat wave in the United Kingdom and across Europe. Climate change is very real, and caused by humans- in part we are living longer, generally more resource intensive lives, but another huge factor that doesn't get nearly enough air-time, due to its taboo nature is human overpopulation. Alarm bells start to ring- nobody likes to be told that their choices could be considered in any way unethical, or harmful to the very people that they choose to bring into the world- but I find this question impossible to ignore. I come from a large Catholic family (23 cousins!) I love them dearly, but what's done is done, and we have to look forward to the future and consider our impact on the earth- not using so much plastic, consuming less meat, not taking a transatlantic holiday every year, and choosing to have a small family.

In this image, a new born infant is covered with the same cracks that the earth is, and is crying out for it.

Illustration Friday- Icon

So, last week's topic of 'icon' is still running- I thought I'd create a Buddha illustration for the sake of catharsis. I loved seeing Buddhas of all styles and sizes when we visited temples in Japan. Maybe it's because I'm a bit too used to Catholic iconography, but I do prefer Eastern religions- in general, they SEEM more peaceful (note I say 'seem' because just about all religions have a horrible dark side).

Illustration Friday- Icon

This was a picture that I created quite some time ago, but I thought that it would be relevant to last week's topic, as Corbyn is seen by many as an icon of hope that we'll move towards a fairer society.

My Garden of Hedgehog- Colour Collective and Illustration Friday 27/04/18- Transformation.

A concept that I had been doodling for a while now. I originally imagined the spines being trees, but decided to draw them as flowers in a hedgehog garden for this week’s colour collective. It’s not very refined, I may edit it some more at a later date.

Flower

This is a flower that started to grow in my mum's garden during the 7 months she's been in care. They just sprung up one day, out of the cracks in the garden path. I know that it's some kind of weed, but I don't know what it's called.