July 2026
Hello, my dear friend,
This past month I've followed my curiosity into the brief of a design challenge. I revived and finished a collection I'd started some years ago but never published, made a few playful patterns, and quite a few more greeting cards. Let's start with the Toy Store collection:
I do love these playful characters in bright colors!
This is one of the gift bags I designed. I guess it would suit children best, but I certainly wouldn't mind getting one myself!
This pattern is an experiment in gouache, done directly in Affinity. I also like these slightly more muted colors.
I also played around with drawing the flowers first in Procreate, then assembling the pattern in Affinity. If you look closely, you can maybe see that the texture on these is lovely. However, the Procreate file ended up close to 100 MB. Since I can't have all my files be that large, I won't be following this path.
I even made a pattern of a dog skating, inspired, of course, by my own doggo, Luther.
I also designed a Christmas pattern featuring some graphic globes to go with it. These colors are really up my alley!
I was telling you I also made greeting cards!
There are some for engagements, anniversaries, a hand-lettered one, and of course, one featuring Luther! Do you like them?
I also painted a bit with physical watercolors, just for fun.
This is how my workspace looks at the moment, but it changes ever so often.
The garden is also doing well, despite the drought. I laid mulch (grass clippings) at the roots of the tomato plants, and it seems to have helped a lot with keeping the moisture in — and with curbing the enthusiasm of the weeds, which don't suffer much from lack of water. We've been lucky enough to harvest some of these cherry tomatoes almost every day for a few weeks now!
Before I say goodbye for now, here's a picture of me about to enjoy a big ice cream!
I wish you a nice rest of the summer, with some needed rain and many ice creams!
Ema
Find all my patterns and illustrations below:
As an illustrator and pattern designer, I believe in the power of imagery to bring joy.
My work centers on hand-painted repeating patterns, inspired by the fantasy and magical realism stories I love to read.
I work in both traditional and digital mediums.
Long walks with my little dog are one of my favorite pastimes.
If you're interested in collaborating on a project, feel free to reach out and ask about my availability.
