I decided to turn my "Geraniums" journal cover design (see my Feb 15 post) into this botanical repeat pattern. To me it looks a bit Art Nouveau which pleases me since I'm a big fan of William Morris. Funny enough, when I did the repeat with the blooms in the original Hot Pink, something was urging me to try it in Deep Red. So I did. And you know what? Although I love the Hot Pink on the journal cover design, I think I prefer the Deep Red in the repeat pattern. It really makes me think of statement wallpaper or big velvet couches...So I decided to enter the Deep Red one in next week's "Moody Florals" Design Challenge on Spoonflower. Voting will be open Feb 28-March 5 2019 3:00 EST. What do you think? Is it "moody"?

I just entered my "Dream" pattern design in this week's Spoonflower "Bohemian Paradise" design challenge! If you have a minute, I would very much appreciate your vote (voting ends Feb 26). Maybe it might take more than a minute because you'll probably get wrapped up in all the amazing designs in the challenge. You can vote for as many as you like and don't need to have an account. Click here to go directly to the Spoonflower Challenge Voting Page!
BTW: I have been uploading a bunch of new pattern designs to My Spoonflower Shop and they should be "Available for Sale" in the next week or two on fabric, giftwrap and wallpaper, and on home decor products at Roostery.com too! Stay tuned!

MATS Bootcamp is a really fun portfolio-building course from Make Art That Sells. I decided to join up back on Cyber Monday and had to wait until February for the class to start. So, the first February assignment was to design a floral-themed journal cover featuring a specified flower, for me it was geraniums. Tell me what you think...Would you be happy writing your thoughts in this journal, I am curious?

I've been playing with my newest pattern designs the last few days, and visualizing them on pillows and fabrics! I think my Far East Collection would look gorgeous on a set of pillows; my Fanciful Collection would be great for quilters or girl's dresses; my newest tropical patterns, including my Botanical Gardens Collection, Celestun and Hibiscus, would cheer up any wardrobe or interior space, and I think my Koyasan Collection would be so calming in any room! What do you think?! Can you envision these designs on other products? Let me know!

​Here is the start of a new pattern design collection that I am going to call "Celestun" because it was influenced by the trip I took a couple years ago to Merida in the Yucatan, Mexico. Nearby is the Celestun Biosphere Reserve where flocks of wild pink flamingos feed on shrimps that live in mangrove forests along the Ria Celestun. 

Check out my previous post for the brand new colour palettes I developed in the Colour Gang for this month's "Cultural Influences" theme, including one I am calling "Neon Nights". Here is the first re-colour of one of the two designs I originally created to submit to the Uppercase Magazine cover contest (it didn't get printed in the magazine, but my other submission did!) The first image is the original design, as submitted to Uppercase. The second one shows how the re-colour based on my "Neon Nights" colour palette really changes it! I love both, but would be very curious to know which you prefer?! As a designer, it is always hard to decide between going bright or more subtle, or a combo of both. Oh, and I think "Flower Burst" would be a great name for this one!

Kew Gardens in London was wonderfully inspiring for me. I took so many photos and managed to make some of the "specimens" I saw into this repeat pattern design (part of a new tropical-themed pattern design collection!) I've also included a few photos that inspired this pattern!
One of Kew's purposes is plant conservation, and it is thought-provoking and alarming that some of the plants in the Palm and Temperate Houses here are the last of their kind and now extinct in the wild; in one case, there are two plants of a specific species growing at Kew and all specimens of this species that now exist in the world are clones of the two plants here.

I just spent 9 days in London visiting an old and good friend, playing tourist, eating great food, drinking beer in pubs, going to fantastic museums, and of course...shopping (well, mostly just drooling, not a lot of buying!) So, for you surface pattern designers out there, I'm sure you've heard of the legendary store Liberty London and their gorgeous and famous fabric designs. Of course, one of the first places I had to check out while in London was Liberty's fabrics floor. Here is just a small sample of all the gorgeous-ness!

A couple of weeks ago in the Colour Gang, the creative challenge was to create a tropical-themed pattern using one of 3 (or all 3!) colour palettes given. The one I decided on was called "Midnight Forest"...featuring dark grounds, exotic forests and their inhabitants. So here is my brand new "Dream" pattern design...can you spot the "inhabitant"?