Showing posts with label cornflowers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cornflowers. Show all posts

Thursday, 3 August 2023

Guess Where We Found Cornflowers...

Image is a digital line and wash watercolour illustration of bright blue cornflowers, surrounded by digital watercolour splashes.
"Happy Blue Cornflowers," by Clare Walker



Hello there, and hope all is well for you.

And yes, as you'll most likely have guessed, this post is all ,about how the cornflower illustration above came to be.


The inspiration

They were inspired by these  beauties...


Photo shows a bumble bee in the middle of a blue cornflower, surrounded by other (slightly weather-beaten) cornflowers.
Photo of Cornflowers and Bee by Jim Fernbank

(And though The Computer Man's photo is wonderful as always (thanks Jim!) even this doesn't really do justice to how bright these flowers were (despite having been a little beaten around by the rain)).

So naturally, I set about giving them all that extra vibrancy in art-and-digital-land. After all, one of the reasons I paint and design is to highlight all that is brightest, happiest and best in the world at large, and nature especially.

The really surprising thing...

The really surprising thing though, is where we found both the large and happy clump of cornflowers, and the selection of (equally happy sounding) bumble bees...

 Next to a bucolic cornfield? No.

By a quiet country lane? Great guess, but, no again.

These flowers were right next to our local covered reservoir, intertwined with the very sturdy metal bars that keep people from tampering with said reservoir...As you can see from this photo (thanks again, Jim)...


Photo shows a big clump of cornflowers intertwining with a netal fence, behind which are the bricks of a covered reservoir.
Photo by Jim Fernbank


Yes, people do usually go up there for a view of the London skyline. But so mesmerised and surprised  was I by the cornflowers instead, that I've generated more art as a result than I can talk about in one blog post.

So the second instalment will be next week (though there is a  downloadable background here, and even a card design if you want to see what became of the illustration at the top of this post right this minute...)


Which just goes to show...

Which goes to show that if you keep an open mind, it really is possible to find inspiration literally anywhere.

And on that note, will leave you to your day, but will be back next week to show you more.

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

More soon.

Friday, 26 November 2021

Daisies and Cornflowers: Design, Discounts and a Freebie...


Free Daisies and Cornflowers Background paper
Just tap, click or right-click to download this free Daisies and Cornflowers Background Paper


How are you doing? Deals are a great thing, but it can all feel a bit overwhelming when your inbox is stuffed with them, as mine is when writing this Black Friday.

So if all you need is a handy and cheerful floral background (that you can use in either direction) please feel free to download and use this, with no sign-ups or anything, as usual.

If you still have that shopping vibe (and boy, do I salute your stamina if so :-) ), then this is also available in lots of lovely items at Redbubble (who have some lovely "CYBER5" discounts at the moment, though I genuinely don't know for how long) on fabric at Zazzle (their codes look like today only, but don't quote me on that) and at Craftsuprint (where a 20% designer discount on all my downloadable printables lasts until the end of Monday Nov 29th 2021).

And whether you shop 'til you drop or just curl up and be cosy, have a lovely weekend.

More soon.


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