Butterfly, Flutter by

The other day I was sitting on the patio trying to figure out what to draw. First I tried drawing the hops but they were too detailed and I got frustrated trying to be precise. Then I noticed the white butterflies dancing around the flower bed—the kind that almost look like they must be drunk the way they flip flop around. I started sketching butterflies with stylized patterns. I liked the play on words of 'butterfly' and 'flutter by' and used the text in the background, kind of like a wallpaper effect. I added some scanned papers because the flat colors seemed, well—too flat. :)

I thought it might be interesting to see my original sketch so I'm including that as well. 

Georgetown Garden Walk: Sunday July 12th

Friends and fans of the Georgetown Garden Walk have been chomping at the bit to see this year's poster so without any further ado, here it is! This is the first year that the poster will be screenprinted in a limited edition of 200, making them a nice keepsake for the event. The files went off to the printer this week and hopefully will start popping up around the neighborhood in the next few weeks, so keep your eyes peeled and mark your calendars for Sunday, July 12th 10 to 5.

As I mentioned earlier in my blog, this year it was a collaborative effort between Jay and me which was a lot of fun. We brainstormed on the concept and wondered just what flowers would look like if they were Georgetown hipsters—voila! 

For more information about the Garden Walk contact Jon Dove at 206.763.9595. Free maps of the garden locations are available on the day of the walk at the Bank of America parking lot, 1112 S. Bailey Street.

Playing with Patterns

If you know me, you know that I'm a total pattern junkie. Can't get enough of them—florals, geometric, traditional, mod, hand drawn, etc. I love them all. (Well, ok maybe not leopard or zebra unless they're on the animals themselves.) A while back I came across this tutorial for making a repeating pattern by Julia Rothman (love her work!) and I've been meaning to give it a try. She made it so easy to understand how repeating patterns are made—a ha, that's how they do it.

So I took elements of this drawing I made and created some patterns from it, playing with different color combinations—so much fun! I would love to screenprint these on giftwrap. :)

As always, you can click on the image for a closer look...

The Living is Easy...

Recently there has been a strange phenomenon here in Seattle—sunshine and warm weather! It's quite rare to have such good weather weekend after weekend here this time of year. Usually summer doesn't really hit until after July 4th and it's not even June! Trying not to jinx myself here, but I'm hoping it will stick around until, hmmmmm, how about October? That would make up for the terrible winter and spring we endured.

So here's a new illustration for you inspired by the sunshine. Enjoy. :)

Georgetown Garden Walk Sneak Peek

I've been busy working on big project—a 36 page magazine for the Museum of Science in Boston—which just went off to the printer. I love that stage of a project. Now I just sit tight and wait for proofs from the printer before it hits the press and ink meets paper.

In the meantime my sweetie and I have been cooking up the design for Georgetown Garden Walk materials. This is the 6th year that one of us has done it: he did it three times, I did it twice and this year it's a collaborative effort. And if I do say so myself this is the best one yet! We've retired the chicken and gone in a fun new direction. So mark your calendars for Sunday July 12th and hope for sunny skies!

Here's a tiny sneak peek to tide you over...