Top row (left to right) my lino print scrapbook, botanical line art preliminary sketches, lino print inspiration scrapbook.Middle row: large flower doodles in coloured pencil, my watercolour paints (W&N), small sketchbook I take on walks.Bottom row: current sketchbook with daisy / flower ideas, & brief look at flamingos! Woodland line art scene. Save
I used one of my own fabric designs – Gum Doodle Teal, in a lightweight cotton fabric to make a simple tablet cover. I selected cotton wadding for the padding and white cotton fabric for the lining, then I simply laid out the layers of fabric in order on a flat surface, placed the tablet on top, drew around it … Read More
I took a recent watercolour sketch and turned it into a wood block ready for printing within an hour.This was an exercise in using technology to retain creative spontaneity – I usually use the computer to neaten and ‘vectorise’ my initial artwork, creating digital image files that I can use for pattern making, but in this case, I made a … Read More
I’ve added a new design to my Gum shadows range of fabrics. For this pattern I used a half drop pattern repeat. This is a really useful pattern repeat technique if your initial design appears too regimented in a regular linear design repeat format. This particular design is based upon gum tree leaf silhouettes. I began the design process with … Read More
Continuing with my botanic pattern designs, I have recently been designing some patterns specifically for printing on fabric. Designing for large scale printing: fabric, wallpaper, wrapping paper etc. usually involves creating a pattern repeat. In this post I’ll detail the process I followed to turn my original field sketches of gum trees into an abstract print pattern series I call … Read More
I’ve been developing a collection of surface pattern designs with a botanic theme. My process begins with watercolour sketches and observations in the field. From these sketches I create a set of patterns that would work well in a variety of mediums, including lino relief print. When considering designing for lino printing, I often find myself looking at the outlines … Read More