Designer Feature: Lesley Todd

This morning we welcome Lesley Todd to the blog, I've always admired her work and she has some beautiful patterns to show you all today, but first a little about her.

She started out as a graphic designer but felt restricted in what she created, when her husband bought her a Wacom tablet everything seemed to click into place and her love of art finally collided with design.

She is inspired by a lot of different things, from vintage travel posters (you can see this in her work below!) to mid century designers like Lucienne Day to going for walks with her dog in the countryside.  She even has a board above her desk covered in post-it notes of inspiration and ideas, which is such a great idea! Then you can just pick out something if your having an 'off' day.

She loves to collect hand made craft pieces of art and has built up a lovely collection over the past 10 years, she has pieces by Diana Fayt, Janet Bell, Geninne Zlatkis, Tom Frost, Chris Neale, Angie Lewin and Sasha Harding.  She loves to spot artists and makers who are just starting out, then she can watch their careers really take off, they inspire her everyday to work really hard so maybe one day she will be the one creating something amazing.  Although I feel she is well on her way with her designs!

She has a beautiful style with a mixture of delicate and vibrant colour palettes, but all are well thought out and work perfectly. I love that she uses mutiple motifs to make her repeats more complex so you have to work to see the repeating tile.  I can definitely see these designs working on a number of products and hope to see her in many shops in the future!

You can find Lesley on Facebook and Twitter here.

Please do leave a comment =)

Greetings Cards going to print soon!

I've updated my portfolio on my website to include some of my greetings card designs, which is what I am sharing with you today.

I'm hoping to get some products printed so am tweeking my designs and getting them ready to send to the printers.  Here are a few I am thinking about getting printed, are there any you like and would work well as greetings cards?

Louise Harding in the Spotlight

This weeks fellow surface designer feature is Louise Harding, she is a little shy and just starting out so feels she isn't very good at promoting her work.  The thing is she doesn't need to be! Her work speaks for itself, she has a wonderful graphic style and I love her use of texture in her work.  This was something I always wanted to try and put into my work so it is lovely to see her do this so well. He colour palettes are a joy to look at, feminine, earthy tones, which work perfectly with the grainy textures in her work.  Truly beautiful!

What inspires you and why do you do what you do?
'Art was my first love, nature my second.  When I was younger I found a Yew tree in St James Church close to my house and made it into a den, I would sit up in the branches on the 'owl seat' where I would draw and eat copious amounts of cola bottles.  When I sit down to create a new design I remember that time, the peace, the sounds, the smell of the bark and leaves.  I try to recreate that feeling in my work today'

She now does a lot of her drawing in the bath tub instead of up in the trees! Sounds pretty perfect place to draw, although I'm sure I would end up dropping my work into the water =)

Please leave some comments to let Louise know how lovely her work is! You can find more of Louise's designs at her website here.

Breathtaking Photography by Lincoln Harrison

I came across this photographer quite a while ago and meant to show you all his work sooner, these photographs are long exposures of star trails in the sky.  Some of these photos can take up to 15 hours to take, I imagine a lot of patience is needed to achieve these glorious shots and they are definitely worth the wait.  You can find more of his work on his website here, his seascape and landscape photos are equally as amazing so check them out too!

=)

Beautifully delicate illustrations

I recently found these lovely illustrations and couldn't wait any longer to share them with you.  Kirsty Baynham is the illustrator behind these beautiful drawings.  She has such a delicate, intricate style which incorporates beautiful patterns, geometric aspects and tiny flowers.  I love her use of colour too, leaving plenty of white space works well in these illustrations and only makes them even more dainty and intriguing to look at.

You can find her Etsy shop here and her website is definitely worth having a look at, it is enchanting!

Feature: Tiffany Designs

This week I have another of my surface pattern classmates from Rachael Taylor and Beth Nicholls 'The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design' to introduce to you.  Tiffany Designs.  Tiffany Designs has always loved art, from an early age, as all us creatives seemed to have!  Her style is very unpredictable because she enjoys designing in many different styles, which is lovely to see.  Her work has also been featured on the Print and Pattern blog too!

I love her use of bright vivid colours and shapes, they would be perfect for stationary and homewares to brighten up your home!

Some interesting Etsy finds

The other day I found some lovely patterned wrapping paper left at work, so being the squirrel I am I horded it for my sketchbook of inspiration and it compelled me to find some other unique wrapping papers.  If you have some birthdays coming up then why not buy some beautifully original gift wrap from some independent designers and help support them!

Sam Osborne

Summersville

May Day Studio

Miki.o Design

Yours it the Earth

Toodles Noodles

Urban Bird & Co