An exciting start to the week when my first ever sampler from Spoonflower arrived on Monday morning for proofing. I worked in the print industry for a number of years, so I am no stranger to proofing, or finding unexpected results and learning from them.
I ordered proofs for a variety of different patterns to see what works and what doesn't. The printing itself is very good and close to the original, but I could see that I need to buck up my design ideas! The one that worked best of all was the 'vintage tie' design. Patterns which look the strongest on screen printed the least successfully; Yay! Flowers for example, because the close tones and colour harmonies don't show up so well.
After close critical scrutiny I made a check-list for designs for Spoonflower ...

I spent the last few days redesigning my notebooks which feature artworks (rather than repeat patterns) on Redbubble. I wasn't very happy with the hardcover journals in particular, I wasted so much time uploading and tweaking the old designs over and over each time with no success, I decided a radical rethink was required for them which would also work for future designs from the off when uploaded. I also wanted the back covers to be more intrinsic to the design, so I made the decision to free the artworks from the frames I had created previously which were an absolute nightmare to line up on the products on Redbubble, and which I found a bit uptight anyway.
Luckily I keep all my psd files, so it was possible to simply remake the artwork to spread across the spine and flow. I am now very happy with the hardcover journals - they are a lot of fun made this way! I haven't yet changed the spiral notebooks in all cases, but I'll get there in time; it's the kind of work I really have to be in the mood to do.

It occurred to me during the notebooks process that I was able to get artworks onto throw pillows, so I worked a few of those with complementary cushions designed with the brocade border.  I visualised a sofa with a coordinated mixture of both.
However, the larger sized documents required for the products began to prove a bit heavy going on my now ageing iPad Air. Procreate constantly crashed, in spite of offloading all other works to storage files got wearisome, so I have only made about three of these artworks available on cushions so far. I do think they look pretty, though, so it is something I will continue during odd moments. I just feel it's time to move onto something else now before I go crazy!

Thanks for visiting, see you next time ...

I discovered my brother's collection of vintage ties in a plastic bag in the loft of our old family home a little while ago, and one tie really caught my attention. I reckon it's '60s or '70s, just my thing, so I began a drawing in Procreate based on what I could put together from the sliver of fabric which makes up the tie. I drew sections of what I could see and put them together in the image above, with some filler shapes which I tried to keep in harmony with the original.

The next step was to create a repeat pattern, here's the tile.

Then of course there was a lot of fun adding it to my Redbubble account.
I was very happy with the results, it looks properly dandy and cheerful on the backpack (for some reason I am particularly fascinated with those, and the duffle bags, not to mention the socks!)
I took great pains with the pattern tile, creating it in separate layers so I could change the colour for each, rather than just adjusting the colours of the whole tile. It's quite a long process because I do it the 'old fashioned' way in my now quite antiquated version of Procreate. I don't subscribe to Adobe anything any more, which means I don't have Photoshop now, so nothing is automated and the process is just like the hand-made method of cutting the original into four quarters and 'turning inside-out' (that's how I think of it). I repeat the process for each colour separation and it really provides wonderful clear results for every colourway.
Perhaps I'm a bit of a dinosaur, but I prefer this way of working 'by hand', I feel more in touch with the design. I have made six colourways from the original. The advantage of doing it this way is that each colourway emphasises different aspects of the drawing with the use of tone as well as colour, which can't be done working with just a single layer tile. They can look like a completely different design as a result. I'll post some of them here soon!
​Thanks for visiting, see you next time!

Another pattern this week for my Redbubble Store - birds and potted plants gardening, inspired by the fact that I have been doing a lot of gardening recently. I was delighted to launch this one on the full range of 'kids' clothing' as well as home décor, adult apparel, accessories - and of course, socks! I do love the socks.

Warm, sunshine-filled days must have gone to my head last week because I totally forgot to post this! I back-dated it while I was posting next week's, if that makes sense (beginning to feel a bit Time Lord)
Anyway, I took a bit of time out to tidy up my Redbubble Store and design a new pattern - birds and berries, all ready for Autumn. I am loving the way the pattern works on the products and I have discovered I definitely have a thing about socks. Here is last week's pattern on some products, too.

I was so excited when Redbubble launched their face masks I couldn't wait to get my patterns on them! I loved the way they looked, and it occurred to me that stylish shoppers could sport some phenomenal accessorising (phrase courtesy of my friend Tish) with matching face masks and shopping bags! - or socks, or scarves ... etc!

​Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

The children's book illustrations are going well, I'm getting very excited for the time I can finally share them. I also try to add something new to my Redbubble store every day, even if it's just a post card; this week I made this mandala tattoo design and love how it looks on the products.

Thanks for visiting, stay safe, and see you next week

I had imagined I would have lots of time on my hands and get lots of work done in these extraordinary times of lockdown against the spread of coronavirus. It is true that reduced traffic outside brings peace and tranquility, but ironically I have never been more social. People having unexpected time on their hands means much more Face Time calls and get togethers on Zoom, as we bring one another cheer and chat to those who are in isolation. B and I have been more regular than ever dog walking as our 'one-a-day outdoors exercise' walk. Shopping takes so much longer because of social distancing measures in the shops, followed by cleaning down all the purchases when they come into the house. I have actually been forced out to the shops more often than usual; normally we would get two home deliveries a week, but now so many people are working from home that high demand on delivery slots makes it difficult to get one.

I did, however, spend a few days this week on my Redbubble store, continuing to make greetings cards, post cards and pin buttons from my 100 cats project, plus refreshing old patterns and adding a couple of new ones to decorate the products.

Thanks for visiting, keep well, and see you next week! 

Working with the gouache paintings I made last week, I made some butterflies to go with the poppies (top right) and created a new pattern. I am loving this work! Next week I intend to work on the poppies pictured top left. I am uploading them to my Redbubble account, it's always exciting to see them on the products and tweak around with them until they look just perfect.

This week I developed two of the experimental patterns I made previously from my Easter sketchbook. I was delighted with both, but particularly liked the image above for the clarity of its jewel colours offset by the black background. I love how they look on Redbubble's products; for some reason I am usually most interested in the framed prints, pillows and mugs - I guess home decor is my thing!

My shop on Redbubble is growing, there is still a lot to do but I am finding my way around the platform nicely nowadays and I love it. I feel more confident about it now, so here is a collage of four of my designs on pillows. I finally feel brave enough to link the image to my account, so please click if you are interested in taking a look - and you can also explore some of the truly amazing artists producing very cool designs on Redbubble.

Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

I made a return to working with my hands this week, as opposed to digitally!

Procreate on iPad was a miracle during the house move, requiring no space or materials other than a stylus and a charger which enabled me to continue to work and generate new ideas (when there was time). I created some digital work which I find truly wonderful - see last week's post.

At the beginning of this week, however, I was struggling with it. In the end I became aware that I was trying to replicate my freehand drawing methods and it wasn't working for me. I tried every brush and everything the digital brushes could do, but I was going silently mad in the process. I know there are artists out there who effortlessly produce work in Procreate and create their own brushes to suit, and I can't tell the difference between their digital and hand-made works, but I was spending hours - days and hours - and getting frustrated and wasting time producing hellish, ugly, stiff, overwrought works.

In the end I thought that was nuts. My studio is well enough organised now to be able to work by hand and get it into Photoshop. I set up my room so I have a drawing table and a Mac table with a large enough monitor to finish hand drawn and painted work for Redbubble merchandise, so here is what I came up with: a floral watercolour which became a very lovely pattern, a home-made rubber stamps design (ditto), and a cyan line drawing of a spaced-out cat in a garden which I don't know yet what will become.

I will continue to work in Procreate, it is an amazingly powerful tool for iPad and I enjoy using it. I have created many works over the past year, discovering fascinating ideas which I wouldn't have happened without it (see previous posts!). But I have to say it was lovely to get out the pens, pencils and watercolours again, too.

Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

PS I will be linking to my Redbubble shop, it just doesn't have very much content yet!

I have had fun with ferns this week! The design above shows a ferny dither with no repeat pattern in 4 colourways. I made them for one of my Redbubble collections which I have named ‘Granny’s Attic’, and I was delighted with how they looked on the different products. I enjoyed getting my head around the logic of fitting the elements of the design together. 

It gave me the idea that I would really like to design large, delicate ferns in white line to print on black and other deep colours. I have a vision which I particularly fancy on throw and floor pillows. I believe in making things I would like to own myself, and letting the fun happen; I reckon if I like it, I am sure other people will, too.

I worked on fern drawings for a few hours today, playing around with a couple of ideas and trying different treatments. There is still a lot to do to get the design print ready, but I am happy with progress so far. In the mean time, I blogged some images and thoughts on that over at The Weekly on my Heather Eliza website.

​My plan for the coming week is to clean up a few more of my Instagram Folktale Week and Inktober 2019 posts which people have asked for, as well as to keep going with the new fern design. It won’t be long until I can do the ‘press release’ (grand term for telling my friends I have a shop at long last) - but it is such interesting work, I am loving it!
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Thanks for visiting, see you next week!

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!

Thanks for visiting, see you next week!