I’ve entered my “Family Farm” pattern design in this week’s Spoonflower “Large Birds” Design Challenge! This bird couple surrounded by those little chicks always warms my heart and makes me smile! I hope it does the same for you! Check out the entries at the Voting Page!...Enjoy your day! See below for this design plus some coordinating designs!

Did you know that pineconefish (aka pineapplefish) have light-producing organs on each side of their head, called photophores, that produce a symbiotic bacteria that makes light visible? I didn’t until I started doing a little research for this week’s Spoonflower “Bioluminescence” Design Challenge. So here is my “Pinecone Fish” design entry . Do you think they look like pine cones (or pineapples)? Check out all the entries at the Voting Page!

“GO BANANAS!” This is what I named my entry for this week’s Spoonflower “Line Art Safari Wallpaper” Design Challenge!
And I hope you’re not literally going bananas after a month of staying home...
If you would like to see all the entries, check out the Voting Page!
And this fun design is now available to purchase in my Spoonflower Shop on all kinds of fabrics, wallpaper and home decor!

One of our favourite family recipes of all time is “Pasta Con Mollica di Pane” (or Pasta with Bread Crumbs). It’s a quick, easy, uncomplicated pasta sauce recipe with tomatoes, anchovies, garlic and parsley, sprinkled with toasted breadcrumbs and it is YUMMY! We make it all the time! I originally created an illustrated recipe for this dish and posted it to the They Draw and Cook website where it was noticed and found its way into a 2020 They Draw and Cook Wall Calendar published by Amber Lotus Publishing! I also turned the illustration into this repeat pattern and entered it in this week’s Spoonflower “Noodle Bowl” Design Challenge (I think it makes fun sheets!) Check out the Voting Page here (voting ends April 14) to see all the entries!
HINT: If you want to make this dish yourself (I suggest you do!), check out the illustrated recipe in my Portfolio or at my Illustrator Page on the They Draw and Cook website!

A "folly" is a funny little whimsical building or structure built primarily for decorative purposes...So I thought it would be a good name for a new collection of funny little whimsical art prints I've been working on! These were designed as a triptych, and wouldn't they be wonderful altogether on a wall?! Would really love to hear what you think about these, since it's a bit of a departure for me but definitely something I will do more of! Stay tuned!

When I'm working in my studio I often get distracted by little movements in the bushes outside my windows, usually caused by cute little gorgeous birds...So this new design is me trying to capture them in pattern! If you would like to follow along with more of my recent work, I invite you to check out my Instagram! 

Do you love pugs? I know that people who love pugs REALLY LOVE pugs, so my new “I Love Pugs” pattern design is for you! I’ve entered this one in this week’s Spoonflower “Dog Days” Design Challenge! Link  here to the Voting Page! 

This is the beginning of a brand new pattern design collection featuring gorgeous birds and flowers in luscious, warm colours. My inspirations for this collection were: Indian textiles, a bird figurine souvenir I picked up in Japan, and food (yup, photos of limes, red peppers and mushrooms posted in The Colour Gang for this month’s food styling inspiration theme started off the colour palette!) You never know where inspiration will come from...
​These first designs are now available to license (more from this new collection coming soon!)

Victoria Johnson's excellent 5-week course "Create Collections" finished today. I really recommend this course if you are a surface pattern designer who wants to create gorgeous pattern collections (who of us doesn't?) for fabrics, home decor, etc. It is well-paced and really teaches how to focus and think about every step that goes into creating a collection: colour palettes, designing placement prints, understanding secondary and coordinate patterns. If you are interested in learning more about Victoria's courses, check out Victoria Johnson Create Explore! Meanwhile, here is a peek at the collection I designed during the course!

I decided to enter my "Pink Flamingos" pattern design in this week's Spoonflower "Paint By Numbers" Design Challenge because it reminds me of all those black velvet paintings...remember those? You can link to the Voting Page here to see all the entries!