Illustration Crush - Sandra Dieckmann

Today I am completely in love with the illustration work of Sandra Dieckmann, from London, UK.

To be honest, I am so inspired I feel it bubbling away within me... looking at Sandra's work fills me with hope and excitement for my future! It's hard to say exactly why this is. It may be something to do with the wildness of her work, the lovely use of colour and light and dark, the intensity of the details that make you want to look further and further into the work. Or maybe it's simply the way it makes you feel as though you too are a part of this beautiful wild natural world.

What do you think?

You can see more of Sandra's beautiful work in her Etsy store and if you want more, look up her website or follow her on twitter. I, for one, cannot wait to see more work from this very talented artist.

Now I'm torn between wanting to pick up my pen and draw something amazing myself and the desire to head for the hills wearing a big woolly scarf and go native! Unfortunately, I think neither is on the cards today as my printer is buzzing away printing prints (as a printer does) and I have an awful lot of packaging to do to restock my store, then we are off to the Suzuki Night Market in Melbourne. Still, I'm sure I can find a few minutes for some drawing... it would be a shame to waste this bubbly feeling!!

Don't forget to enter my competition to win a collective noun print of your choosing! See my previous blog post here for details!

Jen x

A Band of Belted Galloways and a little contest!

It's been a long time coming but last week I finally did a new design in my collective noun series! And to celebrate we're going to have a little giveaway! See below for details...

It sold well at the two markets I attended last week which was exciting - it's always fun when you sell the first on of a new print! As I've never blogged about my obsession with collective nouns I thought I'd pop a few more of my designs up here for you to check out. They can all be bought from my store over here!

What's your favourite collective noun? Any suggestions as to what animals I should draw next in this series?
Just to make this more fun, the person who comes up with my favourite suggestion will get a free copy of the new print (once I've drawn it of course!) along with one of my Mystery Card Bundles! To enter, put your suggestions in the comments below and I'll be picking my favourite at the end of the week. Spread the word folks... this could be fun!

Note: The collection currently includes owls, giraffes, turtles, jellyfish, finches, peacocks, penguins, zebras, snails, whales, platypuses, swans and of course, belted galloways! So don't suggest these ones if you want to win!

Thanks everyone! Looking forward to your suggestions!

Illustration Crush - Janice

Today's illustration crush is on UK illustrator Janice. Inspired by architecture, both in the UK and abroad, Janice's work is filled with lovely details of city scenes that you could almost step right into.

I'm loving what I've labelled 'city art' lately - interesting as I'm really far more a country girl than a city dweller, despite my current location here in Melbourne. I guess there is something beautiful about cities, and illustrators such as Janice really bring that out. In many of her drawings, she focuses on something small and lovely, like an old bakery, in the midst of the big city, reminding us that there is beauty everywhere, even when it's hard to find.

On the other hand, however, prints such as Lonely Metropolis show the loneliness one can feel in a city where there are a million things vying for your attention but none of it is actually real. Looking through Janice's work, you see both the beautiful and the lonely sides of a city. And I like that a lot as it's how I feel about living in a big city myself.

I love the olden days sky scraper print below as it reminds me of how you see really cool stuff in cities if you remember to look up every now and then! The Melbourne CBD is full of such buildings, as is Hobart, Tasmania, where I used to live, even though they're not so tall down there.

Janice has an Etsy store where she sell her work as well as a lovely blog where she shares her latest work and inspirations. 

Now I'm off to pack the van for our market stall at Suzuki Night Market later tonight... it's going to be a balmy evening here in Melbourne. Have a lovely day wherever you are!

Jen x

Lithuanian Books - best thrifting find ever!

Ok, so the title may be a touch misleading as there was no real thrifting involved. These books were found by chance in a box labelled free books just outside the ladies room at the Lithuanian Club in North Melbourne. But, I am completely in love with them and cannot believe my luck to have stumbled upon them as I did. The market was pretty quiet so I spent the day happily pouring over these gorgeous illustrations. I'm simply loving the old, vintage style illustrations, the smell of the paper, the old stains, rips and tears of well loved books. Here's just a few of my favourite pages and covers.

Hope you enjoy! What's your latest prize find?

Feel the love - designing for weddings!

Designing wedding stationery is a whole design field in itself - there are so many options out there that finding something unique that reflects your personalities without spending a fortune or going overboard can be a challenge. For my own wedding last year, I designed all our paperwork and printed it out here at home. It was simple and cheap, and featured artwork and a poignant quote from one of our favourites, the fascinating Vincent Van Gogh. It was perfect for us.

So, I was pretty chuffed when two of my favourite people (whom I so innocently introduced to each other two years ago!) asked me to design their wedding invitations!

The invitation brief sounded something like this (allow me to paraphrase) - "A postcard, like a movie poster, featuring us as superheros, but not too silly, still romantic, but definitely fun...". This was the result - no superheros, although that's debatable I suppose! The main thing is, they loved it!

As a wedding gift, I decided to make them a wedding board - I first did this for friends who were getting married in Japan as the wedding board is an important Japanese tradition. For Eloise and Simon though, I just made one up and framed it as a gift. I really enjoyed putting together the wedding board for these guys... it's got me thinking how I'd love to do more! Might be a new project for Red Parka in the pipeline!

Photo by Jamie Durrant

Eloise and Simon have given me permission to share a few of my shots from the day as well. It was such a gorgeous day, full of love, friends, laughter, joy..... Simon and Eloise got married in the same park that Wade and I were married in last March, so it was extra romantic for us! The whole wedding was lovely, from the style of the dress (handmade by Lorinda, one of Eloise's bridesmaid!) to the handmade table settings. I loved the bright coloured touches to this wedding - the red beads, shoes and tie, the brightly mismatched bridesmaid dresses, the handmade jars and decorations on each table... all in all a stylish, unique and handmade wedding that reflected these two beautiful personalities perfectly! 

Thanks Eloise and Simon for allowing me to share - I hope you enjoyed this sneak peak at a beautiful, romantic day!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Jen x

Illustration Crush - Sadly Harmless

Good morning folks!

Today I have a real treat for you all - Sadly Harmless (or Sally Harless!) is an American illustrator with such a quirky style I fell in love immediately when I saw it... and seriously, who could not be enchanted by knitting narwhals, star-gazing giraffes or tall ship sailing foxes?

Having studied printmaking, Sally now uses mostly ink and watercolour in her work these days. And her fascination with the animal world is clear to see in her work. Add a big dollop of fantasy and you have the result - whimsical, gorgeous, lovely artworks that quite simply cannot help but make you smile!

In Sally's own words, her work "fuses images reminiscent of children's book illustrations with the struggles of adjusting to adulthood". She writes on her website that her characters deal with issues of depression, solitude, longing and self-consciousness, all of which are familiar struggles for most people at some point in their lives. However, despite the struggles of her characters, Sally's drawings are beautiful and somewhat wistful - they make you smile in a way that is very real. Because let's face it, life can be a struggle and it is full of sadness, yet faced with humility, kindness and innocent eyes, it is a very beautiful thing.

I love the way Sally creates aesthetically pleasing work which despite it's simplicity, has astounding depth. Sally has a website and blog as well as her Etsy store where you can keep up with her creations.

Have a lovely day everyone! I'm off to set up the wardrobe in our bedroom today - finally, a whole month after moving into our new house, we'll be able to put our clothes away properly! It's probably a good time for a sort as well as I'm attempting to slowly declutter my life and get back to basics... I'm sure, like most people, I have dozens of items in my wardrobe I never wear - time for a clear out!

Jen x

Illustration Crush - Corella Design

Today's illustration crush is on North Carolina artist Donna McKenzie who runs Corella Design. I discovered Donna via the Epheriell Designs blog in a great post about calendars (read it here!) and fell in love with her quirky woodland creatures.

Despite it being the middle of an Australian summer here, today is freakishly cold - we have the heater on for the first time in months, there's hail bouncing off the window sill and i'm wearing my hoodie in front of the computer. So what better time to indulge in a little animals-wearing-woollies artistic appreciation!

Wolves Love Winter Hats by Corella Design

I really love the way Donna swaps pencil sketching for digital colour between the animal and it's clothes... these are so cute with a touch of wildness to them - a whole set of them would look great down the hallway I think! It would make a great children's book too!

Beavers Love Mittens by Corella Design

As an Australian, I think I share a love of these northern hemisphere critters with many of my compatriots - they remind me of all the stories we read as kids, like Wind in the Willows and Brer Rabbit. Beavers, badgers, bears and wolves... it's the stuff of fairy tales for small Australian children. I know Australia doesn't have the same literary depth as the north due to our young age, but I wonder if there's a similar fascination with koalas, kangaroos and platypuses overseas? Did Dot and the Kangaroo make it to America? It was one of my favourite as a little tacker.

Bears Love Flannel Shirts by Corella Design

Rabbit Loves Scarves by Corella Design

Polar Bears Love Flannel Shirts by Corella Design

There is so much more to see of Donna's lovely work on her Etsy page, so if you like this little snippet, please go and check it out. Thanks for being this week's illustration crush Donna!

Happy Wednesday folks - hope you are keeping warm wherever you are! As for me, I'm about to head into the city for the night market in the howling wind. Not fun. At least they have good coffee there to keep me going!

Jen x

12 ideas for an awesome 2012!

Last year I did a 12 by 12 list (as instigated by Oh hello friend, you are loved). I didn't get many of the things on my list done as the time leading up to Christmas and New Year was so crazy in Red Parka world. However, I thought I'd revisit it now, in the new year of 2012, and make another list (I LOVE lists!) of 12 awesome things I want to do this year. So here we go...

2012 - The Year of Awesome!

1. Adopt a puppy!! 
(Slightly cheating as we just did this last week!) I have never had a dog and a visit to the Save-A-Dog Scheme in Melbourne brought beautiful Benny into our lives! So looking forward to a year of bonding, playing, walking and chilling with our beautiful boy.

2. Go to America!
Wade and I are planning to visit our friends in America. Life is short and we love these people so instead of delaying for the 'right' time or the financial stars to align (as I suspect they never will!) we are just going to go! So excited for a little overseas adventure with my love! Kansas and Alabama here we come!!

3. Develop (and stick to!) a new work schedule.
I'm a chaotic workaholic. It's true. So in this year of awesome, I plan to sort out my studio space for optimum productivity, set myself 'work' time and 'relax' times to try and limit how my work spills over into every minute of my day. It's hard for me because I do love what I do. And I'm constantly thinking about it. So I plan to do my best this year to increase my productivity during work hours so I can relax more the rest of the time.

4. Build our websites.
Wade and I have 4 websites between us (not including this blog!). In 2012 I plan to work on each of these to improve and grow each one and to get them at a more productive level. Three of these are stores (two active at the moment, Red Parka and Gang of Elk, one more to come). One of our underlying goals for this year is to reduce our income reliance on markets, which means increasing the income through our online stores.

5. Get fit and lose weight!
It had to be in there - since meeting each other, Wade and I have both put on weight. Yes, we are happy - very happy! However, it's time to stop the trend in its tracks before it gets out of hand! Now we have Benny, walking him everyday will help. I also plan to cook more often and learn some new nutritious tricks in the kitchen (I'm so far from a domestic goddess but I have high hopes for my future!). On my 12 by 12 list I had start swing dancing classes... this never happened due to our busy schedule but this year it just might!

6. Produce a new collection of works for Red Parka Designs.
My drawing has been quite neglected of late as life has taken over. One of my major goals for 2012 is to spend more time drawing and developing my craft. By the end of the year, I hope to have a whole new series of works for sale, a new range of cards and to produce my first calendar!

7. Raise $5000 for charity.
Our new business, Gang of Elk, has been built partly to raise money for the charities we wish to support. Through this means (and others) my goal for 2012 is to raise $5000. Giving is a big part of my life and something I really enjoy so setting a tangible and ambitious goal for our giving is kind of exciting!

8. Do a trade show.
I have done plenty of art and design markets but I have never done a real trade show. This is the year! We are aiming to have a stand at the Life InStyle show in Melbourne in August and hopefully substantially grow the wholesale side of Red Parka through that.

9. Spend more time with my husband, simply enjoying life.
As I said, I'm a bit of a workaholic (just ask Wade!) But I want to make more time this year for simply being. Cooking nice meals together, having coffees by the beach, long walks with the pup in beautiful places, museum dates, reading to each other in the bath, celebrating and appreciating all the 'moments' in life. It took me 33 years to find the love of my life and I want to enjoy and appreciate our time on this earth together!

10. See more art.
For an artist, I rarely get out there and look at art. I spend hours looking at art on the internet, which is great, but this year I want to visit more galleries, admire more architecture and read more book about the artists I enjoy. I wouldn't mind going to movies every now and then either!

11. Develop my crafty-ness.
Not my slyness (although I was born in the year of the snake!) but my ability to do good old fashioned (and not so old) craft. I want to knit, crochet, cook, sew, paste, paint and build things. I may even buy tools.

12. Grow this blog into something really cool!
Ok, I'll admit I already think it's cool. Which is why I'm here doing it! But I'd love my blog to grow in readership, output and influence. Despite my shyness in real life, I want the whole world to read what I write and appreciate the art, both mine and others, that I showcase here! The blogosphere is such a great place for introverts like me - brings out our inner extrovert!!

So there's my 12 ideas for making 2012 awesome! If anyone else wants to make a list too please share - I'd love to see what other people's big ideas for 2012 are!

Happy New Year folks!

Jen x