Hello, my dear friend,

I hope the new year has found you well and that you are enjoying every moment, big or small.

The weather has mostly been mild this past month, but we did have a few days of snow, which in my part of the world is quite rare! I find snow wonderful, and even if it doesn’t last long, creates traffic jams, and turns into slushy mud when it eventually melts, I find it all worth it for that blanket of white that covers everything in soft, pure glitter.

Currently, I am mostly dreaming and planning what we’ll do in our garden once spring is here. The magnolia tree had already formed its buds as winter started. It won’t be much longer until it flowers, and I’ll make another magnolia pattern!

I have three patterns to show you this month, and I’ll start with my favorite.

Horses! I love the look in their eyes, especially the darkest brown horse. I always strive to create some subtle interaction among the characters in my patterns, and also an interaction with the viewer. The dark brown horse is looking at the viewer with an expression that is a mix of chagrin and surprise, which is mostly the result of a happy little accident.

This pattern is available as a wallpaper, if you get my newsletter in your inbox.

Before this one, I had made another pattern with chickens in the leading role.

My husband’s comment was that one would not want to mess with the chicken looking straight at you (with her beak closed). That was before I added eyebrows. Eyebrows are important, even in chickens!

This final pattern features summer flowers.

Soon it will be warm enough for me to go outside and draw leaves and flowers directly from observation.

Here are a couple of process pictures from the making of these patterns:

Once I choose a subject, I usually do several observational sketches on the iPad or on paper that I can use as references when I start drawing the pattern. I generally choose the color scheme at this stage as well. The color scheme often drives the pattern, although it sometimes changes more or less dramatically along the way. For example, the last flower pattern was originally meant for a dark background, but I completely changed it to a very light one. I also adjusted the colors of some flowers when I realized that the red flowers formed too strong a linear structure. In the light-background version, which I consider my final for now, the colors are less grouped and more evenly spaced, creating, in my opinion, more balance and breathing space.

I drew the same flower pattern on my computer using my Wacom tablet, out of pure frustration. The Wacom tablet I have is one where you draw on the tablet but look at the computer screen, so it requires a bit more setup time and doesn’t feel as natural as drawing directly on a screen. But exporting, opening, and managing files on the iPad is such a clumsy, friction-filled process that it was a fair trade-off.

You can find all my patterns through Spoonflower and Redbubble.

I’ve been looking for a suitable product to showcase my patterns and ordered a test bag featuring my Secret Garden pattern. I wanted something I could customize a bit further, and this bag seemed perfect. I’ll be testing it over the next few weeks to see how it holds up.