New Design: Sweet Little White Flowers (With An Unlikely Beginning)

Pretty White Trailing
 Clematis Flowers Design

Hello there

Yes, I'm back from the land of scheduled posts and holiday, to a something-like-posting-more-normally, pace. 

Yes, there was inspiration aplenty in the Lake District (if you're reading this from outside the UK, that's waaay northwest of London, near to Scotland, and the place most associated with such luminaries as Beatrix Potter and William Wordsworth, if that helps).

Was it inspiring? Absolutely, eg in the pattern above (and the new-look logo and "BoundingSquirrel" labelling, if you're interested/eagle-eyed about such things).

Inspiring then, yes...

But not just in the ways you might imagine...

For example, anyone familiar with the area might assume that my first inspiration back came from the Lake District, came from, oooh, I don't know...A lake, perhaps? :-)

There were plenty to choose from, after all. (The photo below is of a tiny part of Coniston Water, with thanks to The Computer Man for his excellent photography skills).

Photo of Coniston Water

But it seems like the art fairy of inspiration doesn't quite work like that. No, she has much more of a sense of humour.

The real inspiration for that floral design is in this photo:

Wild white daisies and clematis flowers

Yes, people. For some reason, some wild white daisies and clematis-type flowers at the edge of a petrol station forecourt (yes, you read that correctly) were the first inspiration I took from all the beauty that is Cumbria.

No, I can't really understand it, either.

But if it led to things that look as nice as this duvet cover (shown king size, but all are available)...

See the "White Trailing Flowers", design on this
duvet at Spoonflower...

Then who am I to grumble?

I'm more than happy (and humble) enough to be grateful for the inspiration, regardless of its source, and leave the insistence on high-minded inspiration to the Wordsworths of this world.

Thanks ever so much for being here, and for reading down this far.

If you're new here, please do consider signing up for my newsletter.

Have a great week. And, as ever,  there'll be...

More soon.

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*Two* Free May Watercolour Illustrations

Hello there.

Hope you've had a great week. It's that time again, for  an "illustration of the month" freebie.

 Today  I have not one but two free "May" watercolour illustrations for you to use in your posts and projects if you'd like. (With huge thanks to Marion Kimberley-Scott, whose wonderful garden pics and permission to use them as reference, inspired this project).

Free May wreath illustration
Click, right-click or tap
(depending upon your device) to download and use

The first (above) is a more traditional clematis wreath with the word May inside, and the second (see below) spells out May in clematis branches. I couldn't decide which I liked best, so am offering you both of them.

To download either or both of them, just tap, right-click or click (depending upon your device) on the image you'd like, and download it to use, (in any way that works under my angel policy...Which allows for pretty much anything, except selling files as they are, or claiming copyright, which stays with me). Credit is always appreciated, but never required.

Free May-in- Clematis illustration
Click, right-click or tap
(depending upon your device) to download and use

In any event, hope these graphics help and are useful to you.

And if you'd like more pink floral goodness like this, a set of clematis graphics is now up in my Craftsuprint shop.

Update on May 3rd. The very talented Marion Kimberley-Scott has also given me permission to post a couple of pictures she's taken of this design when made up into a full-sized card. With huge thanks to her, here they are. Obviously, they are her pictures and not for download, but you can click through to see more of her marvellous card makes here.

Click or tap here to see more of Marion's skills at work, on this design, and others. As a card designer, I really don't know what I would do without her craft and photography skills. Thank you so much Marion :-).

Hope this helps.

More soon.



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Something Old, Something New

It's been a week for creating and revamping new from the old (even if not very old).

If you remember the clematis illustration from a couple of weeks ago (more info here)...Well it's had two new incarnations this week.

Firstly, as a fabric design entered into Spoonflower's latest challenge.  Thank you to all the people who have already voted for it and put it in their favourites list. (If you like this and you're a Spoonflower member, please do vote for it-voting closes on April 27th 2016).


Next, comes the "new" part. A new version of these motifs forms the basis of a new "Pink Floral Wedding" Stationery set, available here.

Pink Floral Wedding Set
by BoundingSquirrel

So that wraps up this week. It feels good to have properly used some of the very many designs from the illustration challenge at last! See you soon.

New Digital Watercolour: Whimsical Pink Clematis

This is a new digital watercolour painting of a clematis flower. I actually took one of the reference photos for it nearly five years ago...and can only now even begin to feel I'm doing it justice.

Back then, the best I could do was some arty processing of the photo.

These days, this is a proper stroke-by-stroke digital watercolour (with the graphics pen and ArtRage 4, as you might guess.)

And if you weren't expecting a post after the end of the challenge on Friday...well...I *did* take a couple of days off. And I still won't necessarily post every day. But I missed this so much, just had to get back to it.

Enjoy!

Digital Painting Process Overview *Video*: Clematis

Time for something a bit different today. Quite a few people have asked me what digital painting is about, or how they might begin it.

In an attempt to start answering these questions, I've made a process video (a new, new, and slightly scary idea for me!) of the latest digital painting.

Please bear in mind that this is a "1000ft overview", and that if you like and ask for more of this kind of thing, I can go into more detail in other videos.
Also please bear in mind, this is meant for people who haven't encountered digital painting before.


And with all that said, I present...the video. Enjoy!

 
PS. You can find the necklace highlighted in the video here.

A Digitally Creative Experiment

I'm setting up an experiment  to answer two simple questions. Is it possible to earn a living as a digital creative 100% online, and if so, how? If you love writing, creating digital art, sounds, video, or other gizmos, but are wondering how the heck any of this enormous fun can give out to the world *and* support a decent lifestyle for its creator, then please follow this blog.

Why online? There are many reasons, which I'm bound to share over the course of time. First up is our plan to move. This is no mean feat in London. And it's funny how greater online income suddenly makes a lot of  sense when your home base needs to change.

My promise to you with this experiment, though,  is that I will hold nothing back, good or bad, inner or outer. Everything that happens will be here, recorded as faithfully and honestly as possible.

Spotted this pink clematis flower in the neighbourhood this week and feel a bit like it...Frayed at the edges after the last few months, but still ready to put some verve into the world.

Why now?

If you've been following BoundingSquirrel for any length of time you'll know that digital art came as a shock to me.

But in truth,  I'd been putting out other creative ideas (albeit timidly) for years. I'd even kept my old name long after I was married, because of the book and meditations I'd created. Running a coaching and meditation business for 14 years was fabulous, and I got great feedback. During that time though, creativity (plus time with my patient husband, The Computer Man who also keeps my digital life running) got squeezed.


So the economic clouds have a silver lining. It's the perfect time for each of us to use *all* of our talents to the max, and to share anything that works with everyone who may need it.


So, most of all, I'm writing this because something in my gut tells me that digital creativity is the way forward for many of us. The internet is the ultimate environmentally friendly equal-access meeting place and marketplace. So let's get this party started! Please leave me a comment-tell me what you think about digital creativity and whether (or not) you think this crazy idea will work.