Entry the world of Lisa Congdon

A lovely San Francisco based Illustrator, called Lisa Congdon whose work I stumbled across a few weeks ago. I love her playful drawings and bright patterns. She did a project last year called 365 days of hand written typography, which as the title suggests involved a piece of hand written typography beautifully drawn everyday! I really need to start my own "365" project, any suggestions readers? I know this should have been started on 1st Jan but I always feel a few steps behind in these decisions! It's the thought/intention which counts! Anyway do stop by Lisa's blog as her stuff is really great! Despite the non stop rain, roadworks outside my flat, I'm wishing you all a very happy monday! Enjoy!

Floral

Happy Weekend! Here's a little photo of some lovely flowers I treated myself to a few weeks ago which finally opened this week. They've certainly cheered up my chilled weekend.

Coffee Cup Doodle

So I decided to take a break from chatting about other people's lovely work and post a very quick (but fun) doodle I did last night. Here's to more evening doodles! Happy Monday everyone!

Sandra Dieckmann

Hi everyone,
Monday again! Phew! So the Illustrator I want to talk about tonight is a lady called Sandra Dieckmann. She's an amazing Illustrator whose work captures folk tales and fantasy worlds. I love the way she captures the animals in her drawings. They have so much character and detail/pattern. She's just great!

Drop Cap // Penguin Classics // Jessica Hische

Hi everyone,

The week has once again run away with me. How did we get to wednesday already? Jeez!

Anyway I thought I'd show you guys some brilliant book covers (my hobby/passion). These classic Penguin books were designed by Daily Drop Caps Blogger, Jessica Hische with Art Direction from Penguin's Paul Buckley. She'll redesign 26 classic hard back books for Penguin.

Her now terribly famous Drop Caps blog was started to keep her motivated whilst shifting from the world of the day job to that of a freelancer. I love that the blog has brought her clients and dubbed her "drops caps girl". It has made her name and it was just started as a bit of fun. I think her work is beautiful and her story is an inspiration to me. So enjoy and go explore her world!

A is for Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

B is for Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

C is for Willa Cather's My Antonia

D is for Charles Dickens' Great Expectations

E is for George Eliot's Middlemarch

A thought on a Monday

Hi everyone,

So tonight, I thought I'd share some beautiful work from my very favourite and most importantly Scottish Illustrator. I just feel an affinity with Johanna Basford because she set one of my favourite Illustration projects when I was in my second year of University, just after she had graduated from the same University, the very great DOJ . It was a project that stood out because it was fun and exciting. We simply had to chose a theme and fill an ink blot with Illustrations. I guess because she'd recently graduated and she was really passionate, either way the project really clicked with me. I guess I've been fortune enough to watch her success flourish. She's put in the hard graft and made a career as a freelance Illustrator who still lives in Scotland. I love the detail in her inky drawings and her selective palette. I also really like that she puts hand drawn Illustrations before pixels, which in this digital age is sometimes a challenge. Her work is a wonderland of different characters. I just think it's important when so many people give up on art after art school, to have people like Johanna to look up to. I've not stuck with freelancing as I found it just too hard. I wasn't organised before graduation to make enough contacts to launch myself into the freelance world. But I love my "grown up job" and learning from other designers is what my craft needs right now. Anyway Johanna is currently taking a break from her successful freelance career, and doing a sabbatical to refresh her mind and re-inspire her work. I can't wait to go back to Fife in the summer and visit her first exhibition at the DCA. She also has books in the pipeline which I can't wait to add to my bookshelf. So really what I'm admitting is that I'm a geek and big fan of Johanna but not her publicist so all opinions are my own here.

I hope you like her work too.

Happy Monday people!

Ferm-Living

So I stumbled upon this wonderful Danish shop called Ferm-Living through a Scandinavian blog I read aptly named Nordic Design . I fell instantly in love with their soft pastel colour palettes, simple retro patterns, and of course their Danish style. I am also a big fan of organisation (lame I know but it makes me happy) so anything that allows me to create order within chic fixtures, is a winner with me. The woman I have to thank for this beautiful company is a lady called Trine Anderson, who founded Ferm-Living in 2005, with her first wallpaper collection being launched in Feb 2006. I love that despite the company's huge success it is still based today in Denmark.  I would desperately love to fill my entire home with everything from their catalogue but for now pictures will have to keep me happy! I highly recommend a pursue one lunch hour of their catalogue too.