I’ve been asked a lot of questions about my photography and here’s the scoop. All of the photos on my blog are shot with my iPhone. I often use an app called CameraBag that recreates the magic of film without all the chemicals needed to manually use and develop film. There aren’t any settings or choices for each filter, you just decide which vintage camera you’d like to use, some of my favourites are the instant camera (that I used for this Polaroid of vintage graffiti), as well as the Lomo (in action in these over-saturated photos) and Holga (that I used to put a dark and moody edge on some of my summer photography). But sometimes I don’t use any additional software at all. Just raw iPhone photography, iPhoneography.

Tulips at night

Last night I thought this bunch of tulips might wilt before I got round to taking some photos of it, so I took a few pictures with the camera in my iPhone, although it was almost midnight and the camera doesn’t have a flash. Tulips are an early sign of spring for me, even if you have to buy them at the store because the ground is still deep with snow and it’ll be months before they blossom here! I find these tulips so inspiring, but with all the excitement over Apple’s new iPad and the administration and economy that I handle at the end of each month I’m way too busy to do much more than capture them on film.

Blurred tulips

I really like the rough quality that the low-quality camera of a mobile device can bring out! And the immediacy. There’s something very appealing to me in this blurred photo of tulips. Perhaps it’s the almost painterly quality… Normally I wouldn’t post this photo, but seeing as I’m talking about photography, and some of the unexpected beauty of the imperfections of lo-fi photography, I did.

I absolutely refuse to spend time in Photoshop editing photos. If I’m going to be creating using my computer as a tool, I’d prefer to work on my own art. There’s something endlessly satisfying about the simplicity of lo-fi photography, trusting the moment, seeing what happens. Finding moments of serendipity. It’s a liberating contrast to the sometimes laborious methods involved in designing icons and the endless and complicated options and settings available in the tools of my trade, Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

I first got an iPhone because I was designing icons for the platform and I needed to see what they actually looked like in their own environment. At the time, I’d never guessed what a huge inspiration the iPhone turned out to be for me! A digital playground and a canvas to experiment with and to capture ideas with the built in camera, notes and voice memos. It’s become the place where my creative process often begins. But my favourite source of creativity on my iPhone is finger painting with Brushes! More about that another day!

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!

So how has it worked out?

Well, sometimes I’ve cheated. Especially when I worked on the watercolour studies of trees, that lead to the image “Blue Branches”. I spent a lot longer than 15 minutes on these studies, but each time I started working on them, I thought to myself that “I only need to put in quarter of an hour”, and perhaps that got me going long enough to get absorbed and into a state of flow…

It’s been a joy for me to document my creative process and to show it to my visitors. I feel that the creative work I do, even in small blocks of time, was made visible through this project, and it was empowering to see that even when time was short, I had indeed been developing my creative ideas.

I also felt it was very rewarding to prioritise my personal creativity in this way. No, cooking or playing with children or picking a fabric for a sofa did not count although I think all these things are creative activities.

Turning this project into something I blogged about, rather than simply doing on my own, did have an influence on the outcome. On one hand, blogging about it took time too, to add to the actual Creative Minutes. On the other hand, it made me accountable, and helped me stay on track. And it made me feel less shy about showing my unfinished work to the world, the creative process.

It’s been fun to share this process here on my blog, but I think that if I continued blogging about it daily, I would risk that it turning into being “for show and not for blow” so I’m thinking of continuing my Creative Minutes in an offline journal in the future, just to keep for myself. Actually, perhaps I’ll blog about it again, but not on a permanent basis.

My blogging activities are winding down now and I’ll be focusing on completing work that needs to be finished before the holidays, redecorating the studio, migrating to brand new iMacs as well as sending a winter holiday letter to members of Club Marmalade Moon, releasing two winter wonderland wallpapers, and preparing for Christmas. I can’t wait to start the New Year making something with the pattern that emerged in The Full Cold Moon! Wait, did I say something about slowing down?

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!

How can I stay in touch and focused on something I enjoy so much, with ease and joy, without it becoming a challenge or a pressure and without setting the stakes so high that I set myself up to fail? How can I make my creative process an organic part of my life, so I keep my momentum, even when there doesn’t seem to be any time?

What if I could spend quarter of an hour every day on my personal creativity? Or even ten or five minutes? It would keep my creative process going, and my projects would continue to grow, even when I’m too busy to spend long chunks of time with them!

Here’s the idea for Creative Minutes:

• Start off by finding activities that evolve creative projects and that can be done in 5, 10 or 15 minute blocks, without putting your creativity on hold.
• Next, fit them into daily life, from Monday to Friday, leaving the weekends (or two different days) free for other activities.

Creative Minutes

I know I’m not the only person who has trouble finding time for creativity, perhaps this idea is something we could work on together? Maybe you’ve got a book on the back burner? Artwork or poetry in a drawer? Neglected craft projects, an instrument or camera on the top shelf? Feel free to join in. Share your ideas in the comments or write about your Creative Minutes on your blog. Finding methods to advance your creative dreams in micro-bites. Wouldn’t it be fun to share ideas on how to find ways to live with our creative dreams every day?

I’ve made four square banners for Creative Minutes that I’ll be using for the project. Feel free to use them too if you like! Happy creating!

Pink heart

I’m just about about emerging to the surface after having spent six weeks In The Fish Bowl: Life As An Artist Online with Marisa Haedike of Creative Thursday, holding onto this quote by the Persian poet and philosopher Jalal ad-Din Rumi: “Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.”

It’s been six dynamic, inspiring & empowering weeks, charged with a combination of expert know-how and a passion for doing what you love to do. Organically connecting everything from pricing, to blogging and marketing with being connected to your vision and following your heart.

Thank you Marisa, for your focus on being true to your self, and thank you all of you amazing and inspiring artists who participated in the course!

Black boots and Italian basketweave scarf.

Autumn. Boots and scarf and hat and gloves. Shiny street, wet from the rain, sometimes black with a little purple or blue.

My head is still spinning from this week’s adventure with natural media software, Painter 11. The way the paints interact with each other and the canvas, the texture and detail is mind blowing! Exploring the brushes, markers, chalk, pastels, watercolor and oil, just to mention a few, and if this isn’t enough you can make your own brushes with the RealBristle tool. You can control the width of brush strokes by the tilt of your pen, just like when you use a real, traditional brush! It’s amazing… You can decide to leave a layer of digital watercolor in wet mode, so that it’s still wet when you continue, whether you continue working on your painting a month or a day later! It’s like having access to all the natural media you can imagine, without having to take it out of storage, wash the brushes or deal with the toxins, mess and expenses! There’s a free demo of Painter that you can download to give it a trial run.

This weekend I’m looking forward to visiting the blogs of fellow artists in The Fish Bowl. Seeing Julie and Julia at the beautiful cinema Skandia, designed by Gunnar Asplund in 1923. Creating a reading corner with a grey sheepskin Lamino armchair in the living room and washing the kitchen floor.

I hope you have a wonderful and restful weekend!

Red leaves and berries.

Apples, satsumas and rose hips.

Today is one of those autumn days that’s as crisp as an apple. I’ve been playing around with my camera and water colours, drawn to a bold and fiery colour palette, textures and contrast. Quite different from last week’s romantic, dreamy Full Harvest Moon Dreamboard and Montage.

I’m planning a new collection in the series of Luminous Folder Icons, inspired by autumn and Halloween. This time in hot, spicy shades of orange and cayenne, perhaps adding some earth tones with cinnamon, umber, ochre, and sienna.

And best of all, finally satsumas are in season! Zesty, sweet and tangy taste of sunshine, with that light spray of satsuma oil as you peel them.

A beautiful gift from online friend Anna of Beyond 56 Days.

Dreamboard. Full Harvest Moon. October 2009.

A Dreamboard for the Full Harvest Moon. Layers of transformation, expanding creative expressions, painting, photography, writing, type… The past, the present. And finding a focus for the future.

I was standing in the museum of a castle ruin, reading fascinating (no I’m not being sarcastic) and informative text on those typical museum boards, when suddenly the graffiti on the wall behind the board caught my attention. Or rather came forward to me, like a wave of text, like light, layers and layers of graffiti carved onto the stone wall. And I started to photograph the graffiti, going from room to room, floor to floor, captivated by it, following its light, and forgetting everything else… The earliest date I found was 1609, and the most recent was 2009. It was like a living memorial to all those people. I imagined each person writing their name on the wall, carving glorious moments of stolen kisses, or writing a “here I am, I exist” in the middle of an everyday experience… I wondered if people ever recalled, later on, the moment when they crafted that graffiti…

When I returned from my journey to Öland, my best friend wanted to see my photos from my trip, but I mostly have loads of photos of this graffiti from the castle… One of the images, the one below, was the starting point for this collage, and was meant to be the focal point, and yet it didn’t make it in! Somehow it just got to be too much.

Here is a desktop wallpaper and an October desktop calendar version of my Harvest Moon dreamscape.

Centuries of layered graffiti on the wall of a castle ruin.