iPhone Photography: crayfish color palette

This colour palette based on a photo I snapped at our annual crayfish party this weekend. Late summer brings out fiery reds, hot oranges and darker blue skies. Colour is one of the things that inspire me deeply. Colour sensations can light me up, illuminate me with joy.

Six links for colour inspiration

• Want to make your own colour palette? Jewelry designer Brandi has made an excellent tutorial for how to make a color palette, and is hosting a Color Palette Blog Walk where you can share your color palettes.
• In The Mod. Color Analytics: A Study of Color Palettes. Explores the color palettes and hidden relationships of (in)famous paintings.
• Tips for choosing color combinations for your palette. By illustrator Veerle Pieters.
• Color + Design Blog by COLOURlovers. Lots of colour ideas and thoughts here! Don’t miss Color Inspiration from the Masters of Painting.
• kris’s color stripes. Kristina shares her striped palettes to celebrate her biggest passion of all – color.
• Colorstrology. Find out what your birthday colour is. A fun Pantone production. My birthday colour is a shade of purple (no surprise)! What’s yours?

iPhone Photography: Roses outside the studio

Clinging onto summer. Although life has picked up speed, I’m trying to hold on to pockets of easy and slow life. Simple cooking. Swims in the lake when the weather permits. Either there’s been a heat wave or else it’s been rainy and chilly, and it’s like summer never quite happened this year. Although, of course it did. Actually, it’s still summer, I’m just being a bit dramatic I suppose…

Despite a wonderful and inspiring journey to Visby during our vacation in June, I wouldn’t say no to another week, or two, of beautiful summer weather to recharge and soak up the sun before autumn begins.

How has your summer been? Are you ready for the promise of change in September, for a fresh start with sharpened pencils and leather boots, or would you rather linger on in sandals, dipping your toes in the warm lake?

iPhone Photography: Simple summer cooking

Icon sketches for "dreaded report"

I’m really struggling with this icon for “Dreaded Report”. Maybe some of the boring, corporate cubicle office culture that I’m trying to infuse this icon with, is rubbing off on me?

So I made some variations, one with a ballpoint pen, one with a graph and one with a skull. And then I can’t make up my mind… Should I put them all in the collection, or leave some out? What do you think? [To be continued... ]

Did you miss the other parts of this series?

• Part One: Designing the Collection of Process Icons: Sketches
• Part Two: Designing the Collection of Process Icons: A Vintage Touch
• Part Three: Designing the Collection of Process Icons: Indicating Time
• Part Four: Designing the Collection of Process Icons: Look and Feel

Olle Nyman: "Utblick, övre gården" 1931, oil on panel

Here are some paintings by artist Olle Nyman from a trip to Duvnäs Gård, Olle Nyman’s house and studio. His house has now been converted into a museum and exhibits a unique artist’s home with beautiful interiors. There’s something so very inspiring about visiting an artist’s home and studio! The collection of books and art, the artist’s paints, the collection of shells, the sketches, broken pottery for his sculptures… work and life in process.

There’s also a wonderful café, bakery and restaurant, Koloni, that serves food made with organic, fair trade products. You find Koloni in a small whitewashed building that started off as Olle Nyman’s sister’s garage. Kajsa was one of the first women in Sweden who got a driving license and she was very interested in cars!

Olle Nyman: "Lunden 1" 1966-68, oil on canvas

Olle Nyman: Roussillon 11, 1948, oil on canvas

Olle Nyman: Köksbordet, 1980, acrylics on panel

Icon design process. From sketch to basic shapes

When I’m happy with the sketches for the icons, I launch Adobe Illustrator and start blocking out the icons, drawing simple, clean vector shapes using my pen tablet. I’m designing the Collection of Process Icons in the same style that was established for the first three collections of desktop icons. In this unique design project, everything from the icon concept to the simple and elegant style is based on feedback from you. The look and feel for Process Icons uses the same set of perspectives with simple, uncluttered shapes that are easy to distinguish and find on your desktop. The style is based around a rich colour palette and elegant, natural textures.

Icon design process. Adding details, colour, shading and light

Once I’ve blocked in the basic shapes, I start adding details and colours, next shading and last highlights. In this example with the alarm clock you’ll notice the same palette of reds as in the icon with the Cookery Book, the same greys as in the Gear icon and the same soft cream as in the Shoebox icon. Using the same style consistently, ensures that all the icons fit together and that you can mix and match the different collections to suit your needs.

And in case you were wondering about the dotted lines across these images, yes they are the watermarks I designed for these icon previews to at least make it more difficult for people who want to steal images. [To be continued... ]

Did you miss the other parts of this series?

• Part One: Designing the Collection of Process Icons: Sketches
• Part Two: Designing the Collection of Process Icons: A Vintage Touch
• Part Three: Designing the Collection of Process Icons: Indicating Time

Today and tomorrow. Icon sketches

These are my sketches for icons that represent things that need to be taken care of “Today” and “Tomorrow”, or “Later”. Many of you have asked for “Today” and “Tomorrow” icons, some of you cooperate on projects where time needs to be specified, others need to schedule work to be published or for deadlines.

While I was working on these icons, I thought “what about adding the dates of a month, wouldn’t that be handy if you really need to indicate time with icons?”

So I made a few sketches to see what it would look like, and I’m thinking of adding a full month of days to the set. What do you think? [To be continued... ]

Calendar with dates. icon sketch

Did you miss the other parts of this series?

• Part One: Designing the Collection of Process Icons: Sketches
• Part Two: Designing the Collection of Process Icons: A Vintage Touch

This time I’ve made experimental desktop art, abstract geometric compositions inspired by leaves. The club special of the season comes with 2 wallpapers and a set of 4 experimental desktop icons.

The wallpaper includes versions for fullscreen and widescreen computers as well as the iPhone and iPad. I’m excited to also include for the first time, a version for the new iPhone 4.

iPad users can use one wallpaper for the home screen and the other for the lock screen to create an elegant effect for the iPad desktop.

Join the club (it’s free!) to make sure you get these summer desktop treats for your desktop, and club members, keep an eye on your inbox!

It’s still summer, but we’re reaching the back to school part. I still can’t help but think of this time as a perfect time for learning something new, connecting with people and starting new projects. Refreshed and rested from the summer.

CREATIVE COURSES

Sister Diane of CraftyPod offers a range of e-books and courses for creative entrepreneurs and has got such a talent for making the technical side of running a creative business, simple and easy to understand. I’ve just signed up for Diane’s new e-course Write, Publish, & Sell Your Crafty E-book. Seeing as I finally got the printer to work, I need to plant the seeds for a new long-term dream!

Author Stephanella Walsh created The Creative Identity eCourse as an offshoot of the live workshops she’s run in Manchester since the beginning of the year. “The online version is an expanded study of the eight constituents of our writing identity. During the course we shall investigate the products and the reasons of our creative endeavours while paying close attention to our fears. I have devised The Creative Identity Map as the starting point of the exploration, with pit-stops at Creative DNA, Creative Yearning and Creative Loss amongst others. The course will include Q&A sessions, podcasts, movie clips, live chat and lots of reading and writing. It begins on 19 September, join us now!”

Get started making beautiful mixed media art projects for your home using salt, sand, paint and charcoal with 4 Mixed Media Art Techniques from Cloth Paper Scissors. Free e-book with amazing paper craft techniques to inspire you to make creative gift tags, postcards and other mixed media art. Both for beginners and veterans.

Includes: “Who Can Resist Magic”,  ”Fusion-Dyed Collage”, “Mixed Media Watercolor Technique” and “Textured Backgrounds for Collage”.

Beginner Drawing Lessons (the first part of three). Written with kids in mind, but perfect for adults, too.

“This series is the result of many sketching sessions with my girls, during which I realized there are a few recurring concepts that I am always reminding them of. For these lessons, I have reduced lots of information into three basic ideas that can be utilized when drawing: Line, Value and Color.” By Amy at Elemental.

CREATIVE PROJECT

The Sketchbook Project – “it’s like a concert tour but with sketchbooks. Anyone – from anywhere in the world – can be a part of the project. To participate and have us send you a sketchbook that will go on tour, start by choosing a theme.”

(A big thank you to Wini who blogs beautifully at art love joy, for the suggestion!)

CONNECTING WITH THE CREATIVE COMMUNITY

If you’re looking for a space to connect with other creatives, sharing the downs and celebrating the ups of your creative life, check out Celebrating Each Step on our Creative Path. Every first Sunday of the month. By Concetta at Glittering Shards.

Did you miss the first roundups of Resources For Creative Entrepreneurs?

• Here’s part one: Resources for Creative Entrepreneurs
• Part two: Resources for Creative Entrepreneurs. About Easy Blogging, Digital Downsizing and Inspiration for Life.

Have you got any useful reads or resources or inspiring projects around being a creative entrepreneur that you’d like to share?

Kate England. mosaic of icons

I love Brandi’s feature Ten Things, her series of mini-interviews that give a quick snapshot of the artists behind the art.

Today she’s published an interview with me, 10 Things About Kate England at brandi girl :: a life inspired by color.  Brandi did such a great job with this display of icons, didn’t she?!

iPhone photography: My desk in the studio. August 2010

Welcome to another day in the studio! Today I’m so excited and relieved to finally have got the printer to work!!!! I daren’t think how much time and money I’ve spent trying to get it to work ever since April! It’s been such a drain. Most of the time I love the independence of running my own creative business, but sometimes doing everything yourself can feel pretty heavy going and especially when you run into a silly technical problem like this one with the printer. Phew… I’m sooooo happy it’s been resolved!!!

Breaking Ice. Detail of art print

Breaking Ice, a painting I made at the end of March, came out beautifully on the heavyweight, matt paper with ultra sharpness that I purchased early on this summer! This paper really brings out the colours and gives the print a gorgeous, sumptuous feel and appearance. Oh, joy! I’m thrilled and nervous to finally be able to put Breaking Ice up for sale in the shop!

iPhone photography: Lunch. Sandwich and orange juice

It can only be downhill from here! At least today. We went for a swim in the lake after lunch. Dinner out tonight to celebrate that the printer finally works!

Leaves and acorns. Sketch and inspiration

Here’s a sketch and some inspiration for a new project I’m working on right now. (See the reflection of my iPhone that I used to snap the photo with, at the bottom of this picture?) Leaves, acorns, greens and simple organic shapes… I’m still playing around, following my intuition, seeing what happens and enjoying trusting the creative process. I’m not sure what I’ll make of it yet, or what it wants to become… Maybe it’ll turn into desktop art because soon it’s time for the Summer Edition of Club Marmalade Moon and something green and organic would be perfect for a summer desktop, wouldn’t it?