Hiroshige

'Nihonbashi Bridge on Snow Morning' and 'Mt. Fuji Scene from Satta' both by Andō Hiroshige

'Evening Snow in Kamubara' by Andō Hiroshige and 'Mt. Fuji on Fine Day' by Hokusai Katsushika

Hiroshige Pouch from the 'Evening Snow in Kamubara' postcard.

When I was about 12, a family friend returned from a Tokyo business trip with a huge pile of beautifully printed, thick, mat postcards with old Japanese woodblock art on them. Everyone was allowed to keep a few and above are the ones I chose. They were blu-tacked to my bedroom wall for all of my teenage years and are a bit worse for wear, but as you can see the colours haven't faded. A while ago, I digitally cleaned one of them up and had it printed on some linen-cotton from Spoonflower. For textiles, digital printing is perfect for this kind of thing - it couldn't have turned out better. I've finally made something of it (the last image here) and it's great to have something to use, made by hand, from an image that's always been there.

I hope you have a great weekend. Spoil yourself at least once :)

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

80,000 feet

Have a look at what two students from Canada can do with a lego man, a helium balloon and a couple of cameras:



You'll be pleased to know that he's safe at home after his stratospheric adventure. Read more here and here.

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Festive Freebie!

Thanks to everyone who's visited this blog and for all the kind and encouraging comments about my work this year! I've made a high resolution PDF of the above image for you to download and use as gift labels or cards, or anything you like - click here to download the file (under 'file' on the top right)! Just print onto card or sticker paper and fill in your name or personal message on the blank cloud at the bottom.

I hope you have a brilliant festive season and a very happy new year!

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Evergreens

Thanks so much to all of you who bought a 2012 calendar and journal cover! I really hope you, or whoever you give them to, will enjoy using them next year. This design follows a similar theme, with just the red crowned cranes and pines making up the pattern for this week's Spoonflower contest (evergreens, limited to just four colours). Apparently the clouds are for good fortune and the cranes and pines both symbolise longevity in eastern tradition.

Pine & Crane

Pine & Crane details - click to view larger.

Click here if you'd like to see all the other evergreen designs (and vote!) and if you drop by tomorrow, there'll be a small Christmas freebie from me to you for you to pick up :)

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Update: See the new night and day versions of this design here!

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Illustration Friday: Round

This is the view round about now from Curiosity..

and this will be the view in around about 8 and a half months!

Amazing! 

I made these illustrations digitally with lots of good texture in them - click for a better look. You can also see some other round illustrations here!

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware