A week of intensive pattern making again! I studied how William Morris made his pattern repeats and used one of his methods to create the floral pattern above in two colourways. Then I moved on to learning how best to draw in Procreate (I usually employ a cut and collage technique, but I get tired of the hours of cleaning up wobbly edges, the downside of using that technique digitally). Suddenly, and I really can’t remember how it came about, this mosaic or cloisonné effect drawing began to happen and I loved it. I even made a cat from it for hashtag caturday on Instagram! I will continue working on developing this idea this week, as well as adding to my Redbubble shop.

I am making the patterns really nice and big, so they fit just about all the products on Redbubble. My shop is growing, but there still isn’t enough to make the grand announcement yet. I reckon the second week of March will see it ready to ‘open’. I will, of course, be posting a link around then, so watch this space! It’s very exciting and I am enjoying the process enormously.

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This is a collage of all the flowers and fern drawings I have been making during the week. I am fascinated by pattern-making but haven't really done it since learning how to make a repeat at school, which I loved - but recently I got out the William Morris book for inspiration, and started to think about designing patterns for my Redbubble store items. I need to brush up on my technique and get some practice in by hand, but so far I have learnt how to use the tools in Photoshop to make a simple tiled pattern which I am excited about! There is still a long way to go before I can even get close to the skill and intelligence of a William Morris, but it's a real project and I am enjoying the work. I am going to do Jake Parker's "make 100 somethings" - by pattern no. 100 I should be on my way!

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Following about 10 days of research into licensing artwork, I finally made the decision to open a shop on Redbubble. I have been asked so many times recently if there is somewhere my work can be bought online, I thought it was about time I got on with it. This last week has been a steep learning curve, but very exciting, and it appeals to the graphic designer in me. When I was 14 years old, I used to produce endless designs for decorative letter papers, notebooks, cards and envelopes with the dream of launching my own stationery line, and I'm now nearly 60, so it really is time!

At the moment I am systematically going through my Instagram posts for Folktale Week and Inktober, resizing them and cleaning them up, starting with my own personal favourites and my 'best nine' of 2018. I love the process of redesigning them to suit the different products. Some of the works I leave in the square Instagram format which looks great on throw pillows and art boards, but not so great on the Redbubble greetings card format, so I make different versions to suit. I finished this design yesterday, which is a reworking of my grinning Cheshire cats. I am delighted with how it looks on all the products!
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I have a long way to go before I can officially announce the 'grand opening', but it's a great journey!

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It snowed, and I was inspired to make a forest with kitties staring at the viewer from behind trees as though caught in the act. 
This is the only new work I made this week, because finally I have made the decision to get some of my images out into the world for sale. It has been something I have been looking into since 2013. At first I thought I would open an Etsy shop, which I still might do at some point, but right now I couldn’t handle all the emails and post and packaging associated with a store front as I have neither the time nor space. I am also not keen on laying out money for stock that may not perform well, and I have nowhere to store unsold work.

I have been looking into various platforms for a while, and finally settled for Redbubble which is a print on demand platform. The site has a really laid-back vibe which I like, and I love the products they offer for printing; I am particularly excited about mugs, notebooks, cards and post cards, phone cases, bags and pencil cases as well as art prints and acrylic blocks. It has involved a lot of research and a huge learning curve, as well as getting down to cleaning up artwork for a really crisp, professional finish, and playing about with my images and designs which let’s face it, I love doing but so far it hasn’t yielded much of interest to share either here or on Instagram because everyone has already seen the images.

I understand I won’t make a living through Redbubble, but I am very interested in licensing designs and any extra revenue stream from royalties on sales is very welcome, no matter how small. Besides which, it’s so satisfying to get your work out there and see it on different products! When I was 12 years old my biggest dream was to have my own line of stationery, and I used to sit for hours on end drawing designs for letter papers, envelopes, greetings cards and note books. It’s nice to see not much has changed in 48 years! - except I have graduated to a much larger room in the house, and I enjoy the ‘homework’ associated with what I do these days.

Thanks for visiting, see you next week!