These birches grow in the park behind the bus stop. It looks like the branches are sugar-coated! Although it was dark I had to pull out my camera. The photos are in colour but the landscape is in black and white. Monochrome. This scene makes me think of woodblock printing, linocuts, engraving and etching. And again, I’m inspired to create patterns for fabrics.

Scottish Fold

And now there are more kittens in the litter. Pleased to introduce this marmalade tabby, an illustration of a  Scottish Fold.

Expanding, meeting new friends, participating in group projects and finding inspiration. Closing in to focus on personal projects and deep connections with both online and offline friends and loved ones. And to swing back and forth between expanding and finding focus. Last year was an expanding year for me, this year I intend to be focused and yet open.

This extraordinarily snowy winter we’ve been giving different kinds of snow names. Feather snow, icing sugar, ice mist, castor sugar, sea salt flakes, snowball snow, movie snow… It’s been playful and imaginative.

I enjoy studying thoughts and ideas, the origin of words, to broaden my knowledge and explore the background. This winter I found out that it’s it’s a popular urban legend that the Inuit or Eskimo have an unusually large number of words for snow. And here I’d been saying “did you know that the Inuit have lots of words for snow!”…

Tags: black and white, cat, cute, Cute as a Button, fabric, focus, Inspiration, kawaii, monochrome, Photography, snow, textile, trees, winter

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?

Tags: art, cat, cooking, creative process, cute, Cute as a Button, design, ease, fabric, focus, Photography, snow, textile, trees, winter

Back home with a cup of tea and a slice of apricot and nut bread after a day in this beautiful winter wonderland landscape.

Frozen Apples

The birds must be having a good year as there still are apples on this apple tree! Frozen apples. And finally a few photos of the Christmas tree at my local shopping centre before I get dinner going.

Tags: snow, trees, winter

Dreamboard. Full Cold Moon. December 2009.

Something astonishing happened while I was creating this dreamboard. Three nights in a row, I heard a bird sing just as I was watching the moon. That’s something quite unusual at this time of year, to hear a bird sing at all, and particularly at night… So I realised that a bird had to be part of this dreamboard, and I created a bird that is red and alone, so the bird would stand out as clearly as the birdsong I had heard.

I’m asking December to bring me a peaceful and white winter. Time to recharge. To appreciate the beauty around me and bring it into my home. I see effortless, playful minimalism and strength in this dreamboard too. And music.

This is the third dreamboard I’ve made and the first one that actually has the moon in it. Here you can see some images from the creative process behind The Full Cold Moon.

My previous dreamboards have been about exploring creative expressions and giving my creativity wings, but when I look at this dreamboard I see a winter holiday card and a pattern for textiles. I’d like to make curtains like this! I’m not sure how I could make it a repeating pattern vertically, but I’ll see what I can do to put this idea into print. This is a creative dream I’d like to bring into my new year!

I love the intuitive process that these dreamboards bring out! It’s so exciting and powerful! Thank you Jamie for hosting the Full Moon Dreamboard Circle!

Tags: birds, dreamboard, dreams, full moon, making wishes, snow, trees, winter

December. Walnuts, swedes, cranberries, turnips, pomegranates and passionfruit.

This year the Winter Solstice occurs on December 21. This is the shortest day or longest night of the year and I think it’s fascinating that although the interpretation of Winter Solstice has varied from culture to culture, most cultures in the world and throughout the times, celebrated it as a turning point and have held a recognition of rebirth, involving holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations around this time. And still do.

Blue Branches is inspired by my longing for light during the dark winter months. The crisp blue quality that is specific to blue winter’s skies in the north and the beautiful twilight blue hour or l’heure bleue, with its intense blues. I’ve been documenting the process of how this image was created in my Creative Minutes project.

This desktop picture is a perfect match for the collection of Luminous Blue Folder Icons and as usual the download includes fullscreen, widescreen and iPhone versions, both with and without a desktop calendar for December.

Save this wallpaper to your computer.

Tags: blue, Blue Branches, collage, desktop calendar, desktop wallpaper, nature, sky, trees, watercolours, winter