Forsythia

Showy and vibrant Forsythia, or golden bells, is a native to Asia. Erupting with abundant, bright golden yellow flowers on bare, leafless stems ushering in spring. These desktop backgrounds were inspired by Japanese art and patterns as well as yellow.

Forsythia comes in two versions so you can either take your pick or use them for a set up with dual monitors. As usual, available both for fullscreen, widescreen and iPhone/iPod Touch.

Save this wallpaper to your computer.

The Color of Love

I made this design with hearts inspired by a quote of Marc Chagall.

“In our life there is a single color, as on an artist’s palette, which provides the meaning of life and art. It is the color of love.”

For Valentine’s Day. For the love of art and life. For finding that colour in your heart, and painting with it.

Save this wallpaper to your computer.

Concentrate

Concentrate

Concentrate is a simple and intuitive application that helps you eliminate distractions so that you can focus.

Concentrate lets you create Activities, which are groups of actions that help you focus on a task. For example, you may want to create an Art activity that quits social networks, launches your favourite software for creating art and changes your desktop to an image that makes you feel creative. If you like you can set a time for the activity.

Activities in Concentrate

Here you can see the different activities I’ve created with Concentrate.

There are activities for blogging, writing, art, economy, general focus, but also an activity that turns on social networks and my RSS-feed.

For a visually oriented person it’s wonderful to automatically switch desktop wallpaper to indicate that you’re moving into a different space. I love how it makes me feel like there are several spaces in the same digital environment, and as though I’m moving from one space to another when I switch between activities.

Below you can see my desktop dressed up with its regular wallpaper as well as the solid black I like to use when I focus on art and design.

This is software for the Mac. There’s a free demo of Concentrate and the application sells for $29 with a money-back guarantee if you’re not satisfied.

Desktop for play and desktop for focus.

ColorSchemer Studio 2

ColorSchemer Studio 2

When you create art using digital tools, you use the colour wheel with its endless possibilities for selecting colours. I like to limit my palette when I start working on a piece and pick a group of colours as a starting-point. This is where ColorSchemer Studio 2 enters the scene.

ColorSchemer Studio 2 is a professional colour-matching application that helps you build beautiful colour schemes with speed and ease. It can help you identify colour harmonies, create unique palettes based on photos or images, find related colours, mix colours to create a gradient blend and work with RGB and CMYK colours in a colour-managed environment. But it doesn’t stop there.

With ColorSchemer Studio 2 you can preview colours on a variety of layouts, view colours through colourblind eyes and analyze contrast, readability, and accessibility!

This is an incredible tool for handling colour, again this is software for the Mac there is both a version for the Mac and for Windows and although the price-tag might be steep for a hobby I think it’s well worth it for professional art and design work. ColorSchemer Studio 2 costs $49.99 and there’s a free trial available.

One Small Change

Lastly, in February I’ll be making One Small Change to make my digital life more sustainable. I’ve already got my laptop set to be optimised for high energy savings, but I tend to leave it on and charging over night, so I can just flip the lid open in the morning and read my e-mail over my morning coffee. Of course it’s ridiculous to leave it on charging at night! So, no more of that.

Seashell, stones and a plug

It’s like someone powdered the trees with icing sugar. Or dipped them in a bag of sugar. Or poured a bag of flour over the landscape. Or something like that… And it’s breathtakingly beautiful!

Turkish Angora

My main focus for January is to create my first design for fabrics based on the Full Cold Moon. I’m so enthusiastic about the whole project and I’ve got such a terrific feeling about it! I’d got the fabric samples and colour chart just before Christmas and only need to transfer the design to a curtain format and adjust the colours so they work for printing on textile before I can have the first sample printed. I don’t know about “only”, but still, I’m so close to being there, and so I was very surprised to find resistance within me! What am I afraid of? The technical process that I need to learn? Getting the curtain dimensions wrong? Is it about putting this project out in the world? Is it about completion and what to do next? About the possibility of failure? Or success? I don’t know. All I know is that these ultra cute cats emerged, at this very time of the process.

They’re terribly cute, kawaii, as sweet as sugar, and really not what I consider “my style”! And yet here they are. I thought about it. Then I decided to just let them come. They’re fun and playful and perhaps they appear with ease because I have no big dreams or strong emotions attached to them?! So I’ve been making more friends for the first cat. A family. A collection of cat breeds. They could be a collection of icons or they could be a set of prints or illustrations in a children’s book. Cute as a Button. That’s it, that can be the name for this cute crew!

I’ve been spending more time offline, unplugged. Batching my internet activities three times a week. It’s bliss. Now if I only got round to sorting out my mailbox too!

And I’m looking for a good recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon for my birthday dinner. I’ll be serving it either with potato puree or Potatoes Boulangères and a green salad. Not sure what the desert or starter will be yet. I’m thinking of trying Delia Smith’s recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon but I’m interested to hear if anyone has any other recommendations?

Bombay

During the weekend, this cute little character appeared out of nowhere.

It’s funny how things can happen unexpectedly! When I look at the illustration I can see how it’s inspired by kawaii and characters in Japanese packaging design, but at the time I had quite different plans for my weekend and this cat seemed to appear of his own accord.

Birman

I started making a few friends for him, but I can’t think of a good name for the series yet. Does anyone have any ideas?

I thought these cats might make nice prints and later on this week I’ll do some testing to see how they come out on paper.

Well, now I think it’s time to curl up with a book and a cup of hot chocolate to wind down from all the excitement these cute cats brought me!

A Bed of Roses. Collage.

New Year’s Eve will be lit by a Blue Moon and the moonlight will welcome the new year, 2010. Obviously, this only happens once in a blue moon!

As I prepared my dreamboard for the Full Moon Circle, I thought a lot about this. The Blue Moon shining as fireworks go off and the new year rings in. The passage between the first and second decade of this century.

Then I thought about the word I’ve chosen to guide me through the New Year. My word is “ease”. I thought of clouds and minimalism. But in the end my research of the word and its origin lead me to the synonym “bed of roses”, and that was irresistible! So here it is, passionate, romantic ease!

I just sent out the winter issue of limited edition desktop goodies exclusively for members of Club Marmalade Moon. This time I made an assortment of festive ribboned holiday gifts in the same style as the collections of Productive Icons.

Five presents in silver, green, red, white and gold to put your desktop in the holiday spirit. These icons come in very handy if you’re giving someone a digital present. I also adapted the holiday gift design into a desktop wallpaper.

Not quite sure how to customize your digital environment? Check out the Help Desk where there are tutorials both for Windows and Mac. It’s easy and quick! Then join the Club for limited edition desktop art. What are you waiting for?  It’s fun and free!

Happy Holidays! Merry Desktop!

Desktop Holiday Gifts

Snowy Night. Winter landscape with full Blue Moon.

If something happens “once in a blue moon” it happens very rarely, but it does happen and I see this idiom as an expression for a miracle. I love the phrase!

This month there actually will be a Blue Moon on December 31, New Year’s Eve. How magical this sounds! But, what is a Blue Moon?

Traditionally, the Farmers’ Almanac referred to the Blue Moon as an extra full moon that occurred in a season. A season normally had three full moons. If a season had four full moons, then the third of the four full moons was known as a blue moon. According to modern folklore, a Blue Moon is the second full moon in a calendar month and it’s this kind of modern Blue Moon that we’ll see this month.

Here’s a desktop wallpaper to put you in the mood for the Full Blue Moon. Snowy Night, a desktop picture with a magical, moonlit winter wonderland. Blue and white snow drifts, the full moon and a starry sky.

Save this wallpaper to your computer.

Snowy Day

Here in Sweden, our days grow short and dark this time of year! Sparkling, white snow makes all the difference, it lights the landscape up so! I am happy to present a winter wonderland desktop picture that I made one snowy day last winter and hope to brighten your day and perhaps your night! Or your short day… All depending on where in the world you are!

Snowy Day, is a tranquil, bright winter landscape with drifts of snow and a gleaming sun. A perfect winter wallpaper for a really minimalist, peaceful and uncluttered, snowy desktop look. Bringing some life to your desktop while still helping you stay productive and focus on the task at hand.

Not sure how to customize your desktop? Check out the Help Desk where there are tutorials both for Windows and Mac.

Save this wallpaper to your computer.

The creative process of The Full Cold Moon

Here you can get a peek into the creative process of The Full Cold Moon.

How it started off with the basic composition with bare trees and a full moon. How I added snow and then a bird that got too detailed to fit in with the rest of the image. How I gave the bird flat colours so it would fit in with its surroundings, although I still miss the bird in all its glory!