Forest & Sea is 6!

Six years ago today I started this blog! I've learnt so much along the way by joining in with online contests, making my designs available for sale and finally last year opening a shop. Thanks so much if you've been reading about it and commenting here, it's really made a huge difference to me. I'm so glad Forest & Sea is going strong six years on and that I'm still learning and enjoying it every day!

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

block printed nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

Waterlight

The Galápagos Sea Lions I sketched from a nature documentary a few years ago have had a bit of work done! I've redrafted the fish and given them all a bit of watery light:

Scatter!

Scatter! details.

The shop has already been updated with this new version here!

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Surf

Click for details in larger image.

'Surf' in Indigo; tweaked after proofing and in the shop!

Surf in Indigo detail.

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Walrus

I think this is probably the most gorgeous bit of nature footage I've seen:

 

From this film.

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Antidote for wintery symptoms.

Icy drizzle, low clouds and grey skies - all the symptoms of an oncoming winter! Here's an antidote I've been working on this week for this contest:

Lagoon details: threadfin butterflyfish, flame angelfish and sergeant major fish.

Lagoon details: anthias, clownfish and flame angelfish.

See other t-shirt designs and vote here or read about how I made the water texture here!

Lagoon on a Riviera Tee

Lagoon on a Riviera Tee - the pattern is from One-Yard Wonders.

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Sumerian Triangles

I liked the look of the stamped triangles in my last design and thought they deserved one all on their own:

Sumerian Triangles

They remind me a lot of the marks made in cuneiform so the pattern's named after the people who invented it.

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Ocean 2012

I found out about Ocean 2012 through this stunning animation from Uli Henrik Streckenbach - have a look!

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Lagoon

Lagoon



Lagoon details - click to view larger.

I love the versatility of vector graphics. For anyone who's looking to upgrade their software, I'm currently using Xara Pro 7 (update Nov 12: I've upgraded this to Xara Pro X which you can read about here!) which is a fraction of the price of the Adobe stuff and has a really usable interface. Apart from the layering and flexible editing of shapes that vectors offer, using the texture fills is addictive and they can be absolutely anything. The water in my design above for example, is made up of layers using a photo I took of sunlight reflecting off a bowl and I'm really pleased with how that's turned out!

You can see all the other 'fluid' illustrations here! 15% of proceeds from Lagoon go to the Coral Triangle Initiative!

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

One!

Forest & Sea is one year old today - hurray!

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Java Sea

Illustration Friday: Soaked

Java Sea I

Java Sea II

This inter-island area of the Pacific was flooded at the end of the last ice age and now its warm, shallow waters support an estimated three thousand species of marine life. I'll admit, I often sketch from the telly, mainly nature and travel programs, and these drawings were taken from film of the rich volcanic waters off Krakatau (Globe Trekker on the Travel Channel).

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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!

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

Sea Dragon

Look what I won! A full resolution pdf copy of Naomi Orana's Sea Dragon:

 

I just love the patterned fish! And look at the style in which she announced the winner of her giveaway:

To see more of her beautiful paintings visit her blog 1 day or have a good old rummage in her Etsy shop!

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

Illustration Friday: Surrender

Summer Returns

The swallows will have to surrender to their instinct to fly north for the summer. I'm looking forward to that, it's freezing here! You can have a look at all the other Surrender illustrations here!

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

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware