The Toucan Returns...

Please vote for this design if you use Spoonflower 

Hello there

One day, I promise I'll design something that doesn't involve our toucan friend. This isn't that day.

Note, if you're in a hurry, the upshot here is: if you use Spoonflower.com please vote for my Lilies, Toucans and Bird of Paradise tropical floral design in the latest Spoonflower competition.

Site visitors are welcome to vote too, I think. It's just that the process may be easier for those familiar with it already.

And yes...

The theme of the competition is "hot house flowers". So, I diligently drew all my lilies, found little-used (!) bird of paradise motifs on my hard drive, and spent a whole afternoon on banana and other types of palm leaf.

A peek at some of the "work whilst it was in progress,"
for this tropical floral project.

Then I noticed that the more fulsome instructions for designers said, "Consider including tropical animals."

So obviously, our extrovert toucan friend from a few weeks ago was a shoe-in for a spot of tweaking and inclusion.

And whether or not this design wins amongst the many other simply amazing ones (if you're reading this during the competition window, you'll have a lush and exotic time just looking at all the gorgeous entries, I promise).

The new "maximalist", style in the air at the moment might not be to everyone's taste, but I'm loving the colours, the richness and the joy of it.

Plus...

Even if you're reading this way after the competition (which closes around May 5th 2026, I believe), this is a surprisingly livable design, even at scale, despite all those bright and tropical colours. Eg, if we had stairs, I think I'd enjoy seeing the design beside them.

Find this design on wallpaper at Spoonflower

Finally...

Whether or not you vote in this, thanks so much for reading down this far, and for being here. It means the world.

The next newsletter is more likely to come out around the beginning of May. But there will be...

More soon.

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Lots of Blossoming, and a Sale...

It's Time to Blossom...

Hello there

Despite everything going on in the world, here, we're lucky enough to be experiencing all the joy, and the feeling of unstoppable blossoming, that the spring brings with it. So, I just had to capture that in a digital watercolour in Krita (the result of which is above).

Not even just blossom...

It isn't just blossom. During my time off, there were sooo many parks and gardens that suddenly seemed full of flowers, sunshine and hope, as if the world had gone from grey to colour in just days.

Here's a selection of the gorgeous spring inspiration that we (well, OK, mostly The Computer Man) managed to photograph since I was last writing to you...(I love the sleeping duck, too...)

Hope you can feel some spring from these photos...

And it even goes even further...

There's also been joy and blossoming of a different kind here, as a family member has received so much benefit from this course for adults who stammer that they participated in a live story-telling event this week, in front of 150 people.

(And yes, you're right. This is waaaay off-topic for an art blog. But I very much wanted to give a shout-out to such an important resource, in the hope that it can benefit others as well). 

Last but not least, there's a sale...

Firmly back in the world of illustration again, I'm delighted to let you know that there's a sale on all my items at Redbubble from April 16th-20th 2026. How that works in practice and different time-zones etc is up to Redbubble, So if you're reading this close to the time it's written, now's the time to visit my shop.

Personally, I'm eyeing up more stickers (they're so useful for sending to others to make cards etc a bit more special) such as  last week's toucan, my ever-popular, "bear-hug" design, and of course, this week's encouraging cherry blossom...

It's Time to Blossom Sticker
Click or tap here to buy on Redbubble

And with that said (thank you so much for reading down this far, and for being here). I shall leave you to your week. May it blossom for you too, in whatever way will give you the things you most love.

More soon.

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The Tale of an Encouraging Toucan...

Want to encourage yourself
(or someone else) with this toucan?
Tap or click here...

Hello there

And as ever, I hope you're well and flourishing in these crazy times.

Here, I had so many " Spring wildflower" intentions for you. And this post is the tale of how they got overtaken, by a toucan.

He (and he is a he, because, as I found out, they seem to have have brighter beaks and feet than the females), came flapping into my mind, full of life and joy, about a week ago.

Apart from checking online how many toes toucans have, and their beak size relative to their bodies (answer: huge) this image is pretty much that which I "saw" in my mind's eye from that first evening...Which definitely doesn't always happen. :-).


At first...

At first, I thought this was an entirely private thing, great for sending a boost to a friend. then, as this bird absolutely wouldn't leave my mind, on he went onto some products to inspire and cheer.

Here he is on a fridge magnet...

Being great on a greeting card...

And absolutely rocking it
on a tote bag...

But when he still wouldn't leave my thoughts, I modified this image, and a new toucan pattern was born. So if you're up for happy toucans on, for example, a mug, or cushion/throw pillow, here they are.

Happy toucans on multiple mugs...

And yes, this is how much a toucan throw-pillow

or cushion can brighten up a space...

So...

So, adorable cute and joyous though he undoubtedly is, this is one toucan that clearly wants to multiply, and bring as much joy to people as he can. If he floats your boat, please make him happy too, and grab some toucan joy here.

Finally...

As you can imagine, the "problem" of having an unexpectedly happy toucan is an absolutely excellent one to have. But if you're craving considerably smaller birdy/ easter type designs, if you tap or click here, you should find a selection of all my previous offerings on that theme.

I'm not sure whether they'll be a post next week-it's more likely to be the week after.

(Update on April 9th: Yes, the next post will be on or around April 16th. But if you need even more toucan joy until then, this toucan has joined friends and made his way onto fabric...

Happy Toucan Fabric,
available on Spoonflower.Com

But in any event, and whether or whatever you're celebrating or not at the moment, I wish you lots of joy (whether toucan-related or not) and send you huge love and thanks for being here.

More soon.

P.S To get details of new posts by email, please join the newsletter here. Many thanks.

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New Idea: Customise My Spring Floral Design...

Customisable spring floral wrapping paper.
Click or tap here to see it at Zazzle.

Hello there, and hope all is well with you.

This week, I'm both keeping a promise I made last week, and showing you something new.

To keep the promise first, the floral wrapping paper/giftwrap you see above with its uses from presents to crafts and more in the photo collage above, is the first design to have come from all that watercolour work-in-progress last week.

If you love the new design just the way it is, you can find it here, as normal.

This time though, *you* can change it...

The stand out thing  and new thing about the way I've designed this is that, if you want to, you can change it, right in the Zazzle editor.

So, if you'd rather have, for example,  a more dramatic background...

Here's how the design might look with a
 blue-mauve background added...

Or just a subtle pale grey one instead of white...

A potential pale grey background
has been added in this mock-up...

You can.

You can even alter the colour and effect of the pattern itself, turning it, for instance, into a greyscale, more  monochrome design, if you want...

Colour is completely taken away here
to show how the design might look in greyscale.

How is all this possible?

All the magic can happen so easily because of the Zazzle site's amazingly flexible new design editor. I'm happy to record a full tutorial on this if you'd like. For now though, please know that the basic steps are:

1. Visit the product page.

The editing button on the product page...

2. Click on the edit button (circled in green in the picture above).

3. For changing the background, you're working with the background layer...

A view of the editing screen showing
how to find the background layer.

4. And for changing the effects, you'll click the main image artboard, to bring up the effects menu (again, circled in green below). The effects tool then gives you all the ways in which you can change colour tones and effects.

Image showing the main artboard in the design 
screen, and the location of the effects button.

5. Save your changes and checkout as normal.

It's long been a dream of mine to give you more ways in which you can customise my designs and make them your own.  So this is, at last, at least a small way that I've been able to start achieving that. I hope you enjoy this, and that it's helpful.

Finally

Finally, a huge thank you for reading down this far, and to those who have re-subscribed after all the newsletter problems, a huge shoutout and thanks too. It means a lot.

As you can probably tell (eg a version of the original, more fun and upbeat logo and "look and feel" has been reinstated :-) ), changes are still afoot, and maybe for some time. 

But on the tech side (ie me and the Computer Man) are getting there. Thank you so much for bearing with it all.

Have a  wonderful week, whatever you're up to.

Thanks and love-more soon.

Clare

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Hyacinths and Vases in Watercolour-Work-In-Progress

Work-in-progress ink and watercolour hyacinth flowers and vases

Hello there.

Hope you're well in these crazy times. Am just dropping in to show you a colourful work-in-progress peek of the  images I've drawn and painted so far for a new collection. And yes, they're hand drawn and water-coloured. (For those who like to know, I used Sakura micron black pens, and a combination of Innktense and my new Viviva watercolours, on hot pressed watercolour paper).

I'd hoped to have the collection (and indeed, all the site changes) ready this week. But in the scale of things, these are such minor issues that I count myself totally lucky instead to be able to work on lovely things...and ask you to tune in next week, to see everything that they've become and are becoming...

In the meantime, thanks so much for being here, and enjoy the colours, the flowers, and another breath of spring.

More soon.

Love,

Clare

PS. If you are still receiving this blog on follow-it 1) Huge apologies, as I genuinely thought it had already been switched off (I have messaged follow-it in an attempt to sort this out), and 2) Please sign up instead to the new-look newsletter if you wish to keep receiving posts. Many thanks!

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