Twenty Fifteen

The Love, Luck and Happiness calendar for 2015 is now ready and available in the shop here!

................................................................................

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

Twenty Fourteen

I had a chance to finish the new calendar at the weekend and it's now available to order in the spoonflower shop. I added some new bits and changed around some bits and it's definitely my favourite so far. As before, I've used quite a few symbols which signify prosperity, longevity, happiness, harmony and good luck in many eastern cultures:

Love, Luck & Happiness 2014

LLH Details - click for a larger view.

I liked the idea on the spoonflower blog recently to use the gift wrap option as posters so I've made it available on that as well as fabric and wall decal this year. According to the help desk, the satin is heavier than the matte (131 and 98 gsm) but both are sturdy enough for it. 

I hope you like the calendar and that you have a great week whatever you're up to :)

............................................................................................................................................

Update 2014: The new 2015 calendar is available to order here!

................................................................................

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Illustration Friday: Wings

Misty mountains for this week's Illustration Friday. To see all the other 'wings' illustrations, have a look over here :)

................................................................................

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

IF: Tree

Flowering Horse Chestnut

See many beautiful tree illustrations here!

................................................................................

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Moon Gazer

Love, Luck & Happiness Calendar 2013

Hello! The Love, Luck & Happiness calendar has been updated for 2013 if any of you lovely people would like one. Added to the auspicious eastern symbols of last year are a pair of dragonflies (on the left over there) for extra good luck.

(Update Sep '14: you can find the new version for 2015 here!)

................................................................................

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Denim Dinos Repeat

Denim Dinos repeat pattern.

I've adapted the dinosaur print I made last year into a repeat pattern and added a few extra characters for this contest over here.

Details - click for a larger view.

The creatures and plants are all from the Cretaceous. Butterflies are rare in rock fossils but these amber pieces from the Dominican Republic have shown that they're much older than once thought and could have coexisted with T.Rex!

Have a great weekend whatever you're up to :)

................................................................................

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Midyear Calendar: Love, Luck and Happiness

Midyear Calendar: Love, Luck & Happiness

I can't believe midsummer is almost here (we definitely haven't had the weather for it the last few days)! To celebrate anyway, I've made a midyear calendar which runs from July 2012 to June 2013. It's based on this one I did for the beginning of the year featuring symbols used in many eastern cultures to bring prosperity, longevity, happiness, harmony and good luck; so if you fancy a bit of zen in tea towel form, you can find it here on a linen cotton blend!

Calendar detail with different colours for 2012 and 13 :)

Details - click to view larger.

............................................................................................................................................

Update 2014: The new 2015 calendar is available to order here!

................................................................................

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Medieval Woodcuts

I've got a bit behind with posting here! I'm hoping to do a few catch up posts soon but here's what's been keeping me busy this week:

Inspiration: Woodcut images from early printed works.

Medieval Woodcut Toile for this contest.

Toile Details - click for larger view.

I was thinking of adding a stamp-y, block print-y kind of texture to give it more of a woodcut feel but, in the end, the clear indigo looked better on a large repeat. It's definitely something to come back to though - it looks great on the individual elements!

Have a great weekend blog friends, I hope you'll be doing something you love!

............................................................................................................................................

Update: This pattern won the contest! It's available to order on fabric, wallpaper and gift wrap here!

................................................................................

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

2012: Love, Luck & Happiness!

Calendar 2012: Love, Luck & Happiness

Calendar Details - click to zoom.

I finished this calendar just in time for this! It turns out my helper, although brilliant in her field, isn't so good with vector graphics. Much of this design is made up of symbols used in some eastern cultures to signify prosperity, longevity, happiness, harmony and good luck - let's hope they work!

If you'd like to invite some auspicious symbolism into your life next year, why not pick up this calendar on a linen-cotton blend here for just $14 (£8.70/€10.20) You could hang it, make a cushion out of it or just use it to dry the dishes :)

Update October 2013:
Read about the new 2014 calendar here!

................................................................................

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Taoyuan, Taiwan!

Google Street View is such a great tool but it never occurred to me to paint from it before I found this ingenious contest.

Taoyuan County, Taiwan. Click for larger image.

I came across some amazing views and finally chose this one; it's the Dahan River Valley in Taoyuan County, Taiwan. What cinched it for me was the cloud fall over the mountains (top left) and terraced fields (left bank). The Chinese characters say Taiwan.

Have a look at some amazing entries and leave a comment for your favourites right here!

_________________________________________________

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

Illustration Friday: Bottled and Journey

The first thing that crossed my mind when I read last week's subject was our summer holiday a few years ago in Alcúdia Bay. I would have loved to have bottled some of that Mediterranean Sea breeze to bring home with us; we had such a brilliant time that year.

I was too late to enter this painting for 'bottled' but I think it's just as good for this week's theme:

Badia d'Alcúdia

Click on details for larger image.

Have a great weekend!

_________________________________________________

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

Denim Dinos

This is a print I made this week for my brand new nephew using my newly discovered and very addictive toy: vector graphics. The dinosaurs and landscape have a denim, corduroy or linen texture. His name goes on the flags and his date of birth goes on the Plesiosaurs backs (where the asterisks are).

Denim Dinos

 Click on details for larger image.

Print with matting.

_________________________________________________

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

Equinox

Flowering Horse Chestnut

Springtime for the northern hemisphere: flowers, longer days, sunshine and a new year in many cultures. Love it.

_________________________________________________

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

Illustration Friday: Reverse...

...deforestation.

Click to view larger.

My painting is based on the rainforests of Madagascar, fourth largest island in the world and sometimes referred to as the ‘eighth continent’ for its unique and diverse wildlife. Only an estimated 10% of Madagascar’s original forests remain.

The following links are some brilliant ongoing projects for reforestation around the globe. Have a look!

• Eden Reforestation have planted 10 million trees.
• The WWF are working on reforestation and the restoration of degraded forests.

There are loads more out there and I'll update this list as I find them. Anyone got any favourites?

Added on the 15th February:

• The Plant a Billion Trees campaign is an initiative by The Nature Conservancy to restore Brazil's Atlantic Forest. Long isolated from its more famous cousin the Amazon, the Atlantic Forest is unusual in that it comprises a wide range of forest types and habitats. For this reason it is remarkably biodiverse and supports many highly endangered species.
  The aim of the campaign is to reforest 2.5 million acres and connect more than 12 million acres of existing, fragmented habitat with new forest corridors. One Dollar plants one tree!

Added on the 18th March:

• David Attenborough's recent series on Madagascar featured Feedback Madagascar an organisation working on a number of projects which include the Wild Silk Forest Appeal. They aim to plant 30 000 trees to support the local wild silk industry and so encourage protection of the endemic tapia forest. And for those concerned about animal rights, unlike the cultivated silk industry, the cocoons for wild silk are collected after the moth has emerged.

_________________________________________________

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware