If I Gave You Diamonds and Birds

I did lots of colouring today and made quite a bit of progress :) Please see below for visual confirmation of said progress.

I did make a start on the actual scarf itself but I'm not quite ready to reveal that just yet ;)
Watch this space.............

Diamonds are a Bird's Best Friend

I finally had some spare time this weekend so I decided to spend at least some of it drawing (the rest of my time, in case you're wondering was spent at the beach) ;)

Anyway, I'm hoping these drawings will become part of a new scarf I'm designing. Now I know this is not the first time I've attempted to seduce you with talk of new scarf designs. And no, those designs never quite came to fruition, and for that deception I am truly sorry. But this time it's different! 

I'm preparing for a showcase next month (details to follow later) to display my scarves. So with this is mind it only seems right that I should include at least one new addition to my collection.

I'll have to update sooner rather than later since I don't have much time to prepare so keep your eyes peeled!! 

Summer Animals

I've been neglecting my blog of late. I'd like to say it's been because I've been super busy with work and deadlines etc. but that would not be entirely true!! Mostly I've been busy entertaining a friend who came to visit me in Barbados. You may remember her from one of my previous posts (she's the one who loves herself ;)) Now I don't want you thinking I'm a complete bum so I have compiled some examples of my work for your viewing pleasure.

 
So, yea, back to animal prints! It's all Missoni's fault really. She went and designed a bunch of brightly coloured animal prints for Spring/Summer 2012. I should probably not complain, I actually quite enjoyed putting these together. :)

This week I'm supposed to be creating a set of winter designs that people would wear on vacation. I did ask if that wasn't in fact the same thing as a design for summer (what with said winter designs being brightly coloured) but I was informed that there is apparently a difference. I was not informed what this difference is but I was left to look for inspiration all day. Soooooo here is what a winter vacation to a sunny destination looks like to me........

I love this palette!! Please take a look at the complete collections on Style.com they are gorgeous! Click here for Burberry Prorsum and here for Alberta Ferretti.

Carlos Miele

Blogger is acting strangely this evening. It published a blank post which it now won't let me delete so instead of leaving a contentless post on my blog I'm going to write something.........even though I hadn't planned on updating today. Um......ok, news.......I'm going back to Barbados tomorrow! yipeeeeeee!!!!

I may have more to report later in the week but until then I'm gonna be a bit cheeky and post something I probably shouldn't.

Details of my Carlos Miele inspired dresses! :)

Mark Making- Recreating Carlos Miele

As you may know I have difficulty publishing some of my freelance work due to a lot of legal mumbo jumbo. Consequently I have to be a touch more creative with how I show my fashion prints. Today I had a cunning plan!

Carlos Mieles's Spring Collection is my inspiration this week. Here are some of my favourites,

Reinterpreting these has proved a little trickier than I had first anticipated. It's really easy when using Photoshop to make designs look overly digital and lose the organic sense that comes with hand painted designs.

After several failed attempts to recreate these shapes I finally found something that works! AND it's great fun!!

A little scanning and some Photoshop later I've got my design for the day! Here's a sample......

Thanks for reading!!

Paisley

There's been a change this week with my freelance work ( and also with my bathroom but that's a story for another time) and I'm loving every second of it!! Allow me to explain........

As you may or may not know, I work freelance for a textile agency which produces prints for womenswear based on the latest catwalk trends. For this company I have designed 180 textures and animal prints with the odd geo thrown in. I have been creating said designs by hand. I am not a fan of doing things by hand. I am not a patient person! The whole process has caused me much frustration for some time now.

This week I celebrated a victory, when after much pleading and bum kissing the company head finally gave in and allowed me to submit some digital designs! That's 1-0 in the battle of hand-made vs digital and 1-0 in the battle of me vs the design studio! get in!!

Anyway, here is my design inspiration for the week,

I am quite fond of Jonathan Saunders and of this collection but would never have been able to even think about tackling something this detailed by hand (at this point I refer you back to my aforementioned impatience). Needless to say I've had an excellent week recreating these designs without so much as a glance at a pot of dye!

Some stupid legal nonsense prohibits me from posting whole designs on the internet but I can post pieces (actually I don't know if I can but I'm going to). So without further babbling.........

Thanks for reading :)

What to do, what to do??

I'm having a bit of a melt-down this week. It's not necessarily a bad thing (my life isn't falling apart you'll be pleased to know). I've just had a bit of a sensory overload. I'm really excited about this next set of designs and typically my enthusiasm has lead to confusion.........

Basically I've been trying to figure out which direction to take said designs. I started out the same way I usually would; research and drawing followed by more research. Then drawing. But somehow I managed to get lost.

See the problem isn't a lack of material to work from or even a lack of ideas. The problem is a complete lack of focus! All the images I've pulled for inspiration are gorgeous and I just can't seem to narrow it down! I can't pick a style or a mood or even a colour palette. To be honest I always have trouble picking a colour palette. Actually that's a lie. I don't have any problems picking a colour palette. The trouble is sticking to it! I love colours and I'd rather not exclude any of them from my designs!

Luckily I know my weaknesses all too well and have decided on a plan of action to combat them! A mood board!

If you're accustomed to creating mood boards you might be thinking that this one isn't actually all that helpful. You're right. It isn't really. While I was compiling it I realised that my indecisiveness might actually be a good thing! I might be able to find a way to merge all these things together into one super, awe inspiring design which all other designs will cower at the feet of. Either that or I'll create some kind of abstract floral monster that will have an eye-melting effect on whoever should gaze upon it. Either way, it won't be boring!

Wish me luck :)