Avalanche, Zest and Zen

The latest illustrations for the Ski A-Z book are for the contrasting subjects of Avalanche, Zest and Zen.

Avalanche Essentials

Avalanche Kit Essentials – new page illustration on a serious subject for the Ski A-Z book. This will follow the lighter mood Apres-Ski illustration.

Training for Avalanche scenarios is advisable as part of a tool kit of knowledge and equipment.

Concept inspired by the @actionman_official toy kits that my brother had when we children.

Illustration prompted by the many people who tragically lost their lives in avalanches this season.

Zest

The exhilaration, full body workout, fresh air and stunning scenery makes skiing a fabulous way to switch off from the daily grind, to get new perspective, and to revitalise the spirit.

Ski illustration on a citrus theme for @makeartthatsells Bootcamp, doubling up for the Ski A-Z.

I love the idea of skiing through beautiful citrus flowers that have fallen. Really enjoyed creating this piece.

This is a truly multimedia piece, the mountains are sewn using free motion embroidery techniques (on my trusty Bernina sewing machine) and there’s watercolour and digital work.

Zen

Z for ‘Zen’ in the Ski A-Z book.

Zen mountain meditation to illustrate time to enjoy restorative calm.

I find that after the exhilaration of the day on the mountain there is a quiet satisfying stillness. It’s like the vibration of the body is calmed; and the muscles are relaxed, soft and numb feeling, in a good way, after the dynamism of the sport.

Painted in watercolour, metallic inks, and with diamanté jewels.

I’ll be completing the Ski A-Z book in the coming months, follow to see the project progress to fruition.

Here are the latest posts… thanks so much for being here.

• Extreme Skiing Book Illustrations
  I’m celebrating my work being published in a brand new book by an Extreme Skier in the United States. I was commissioned to create 24 bespoke illustrations for the book. It is wonderful to see my work in print. Illustrations by Kim for new book 30 Years in A White Haze by Dan Egan and Eric Wilbur #30yearsinawhitehaze
• Avalanche, Zest and Zen
  Avalanche, Zest and Zest illustrations for the Ski A-Z book
• Citrus Sport Illustrations – Journal Design Concept
  ‘Joynal’ – a lovely book in which to note and track fun times, and joyful days.
• Ski A-Z Cover Design
  Ski A-Z Book Cover
• The Social Life of Forests – Editorial Illustration
  The Social Life of Forests

Citrus Sport Illustrations – Journal Design Concept

I thoroughly enjoyed my latest project to design a journal concept. I developed the ‘Joynal’ concept – a lovely book in which to note and track fun times, and joyful days.

The Brief

The starting point for the brief was a citrus and candy colour palette which we were then asked to develop into a journal concept. The brief was from Lilla Roger’s Make Art That Sells (MATS) Bootcamp for illustrators. I study with MATS as I can feel progression in my work during the course of a project.

My colour palette design created from the colour prompts provided

My ‘Joynal’ Journal Concept

Here’s my final journal design, inspired by Lilla’s advice to “create a journal you would love to own”. The journal design features fabulous female characters enjoying favourite activities and sports; with the citrus concept running throughout in the form of orange, lime, grapefruit and citrus flower iconography.

I’ve been creating many ski illustrations in recent months, so I’ve been keen to explore illustrating other sports, and this was a great opportunity to do so.

The idea of skiing through fallen citrus blossom is just blissful, and I’m looking forward to getting back to tennis and swimming after this lockdown. Cycling is presently a great escape from the routine of home; the countryside and big open skies are so refreshing.

My Journal Design Concept – Available for License at the time of publishing

The journal pages will be unlined coloured paper which can take some watercolour painting. To accompany the book design is a wipe-clean bookmark concept on which to write intentions, goals, or a bucket list; with a pretty, colour coordinating, tassel. The journal concept includes a dry-wipe glitter pen and citrus heart paperclips.

Things To Spot

Favourite elements to spot are the sea turtle, stingray, embroidered mountains, grapefruit sun lounger, the orange slice bike wheels, and the pink grapefruit heart motif.

How It Was Created

It was fun to explore for the brief, and I was very at home with the colour palette as it has a number of my favourite hues.

Watercolour icons and hand lettering

The illustrations were created in watercolours, free-motion embroidery on textiles that I have previously dyed/printed, and digital drawing in Procreate. Compositions were worked out on rough sketches.

The hand lettered journal and bookmark titles were created in watercolours and are embellished in the lace effect pieces that I created on my trusty Bernina sewing machine.

Additional Citrus Themed Outcomes

During the course of the project I created these two zesty refreshing citrus themed pieces. They remind me of hot sunny days, holidays and beach resorts (UK and overseas).

Citrus Ice Lolly Spot Illustration

Citrus and Candy Cocktail Spot Illustration

Products and Tools

These were those used in the project and which I am happy to recommend:

Kuretake Watercolours, Dr Ph Martin’s Liquid Watercolours, Arches Cold Pressed 300gsm Watercolour Paper, Colourcraft Transfer Paints, Bernina sewing machine, and Procreate app on the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil.

And finally

I really enjoyed the journal brief, citrus prompt and colour palette. Thanks so much for a great brief Lilla. If you’d like to see all the Journal designs created in response to this brief you can see them at this link…

If you’d like bespoke art or illustrations, or to license existing work please email me at inspirebykim@outlook.com

Thanks so much for being here. Please share with friends who’ll enjoy these illustrations.

Have a zesty, zingy day with plenty of what you love

Love and luck

Kim

Latest Projects

• Extreme Skiing Book Illustrations
• Avalanche, Zest and Zen
• Citrus Sport Illustrations – Journal Design Concept
• Ski A-Z Cover Design
• The Social Life of Forests – Editorial Illustration

Extreme Skiing Book Illustrations

I’m celebrating my work being published in a brand new book by an Extreme Skier in the United States. I was commissioned to create 24 bespoke illustrations for the book. It is wonderful to see my work in print. Illustrations by Kim for new book 30 Years in A White Haze by Dan Egan and Eric Wilbur #30yearsinawhitehaze

by Inspire by Kim April 13, 2021April 13, 2021

Avalanche, Zest and Zen

Avalanche, Zest and Zest illustrations for the Ski A-Z book

by Inspire by Kim April 1, 2021April 1, 2021

Ski A-Z Cover Design

Ski A-Z Book Cover

by Inspire by Kim February 24, 2021February 24, 2021

Textile Art – Appliqué Embroidered Illustrations

Home – where we are safe to restore and recharge.

Textile illustration in fabrics that I have dyed, painted and printed. Hand and machine stitch. Appliqué art.

Scroll to see the development of the work right back to dyeing the sun fabric with crocus flowers grown in our garden.

Tulips line the garden and colour and energy radiate from the creative studio at the top of the house.

The images show how the project developed.

#textileart #home #house #design #textileillustration #illustration #sew #embroider #stitch #berninauk #garden #rainbow #creative #artistsofinstagram #sewersofinstagram #sheffield #dye #ink #draw #creativeprocess #lancashireartist

Tiny lavender bouquet brought by bluebird, delivering relaxation and sweet slumbers.

Textile illustration using hand and machine stitch with appliqué.

First sketched as part of the #illustrationworkshop process before being made in paper, then fabric.

Inspired by the lavender at #dawnirelandtextileartist group

Poppy stages embroidery inspired by our morning walk.

Saw this pretty poppy on our walk yesterday morning so I decided that it would be my subject for an appliqué embroidery. It’s not quite finished, a little hand sewing to follow, please pop back to see the completed work.

Created at @dawnirelandtextileartist workshop at #stitchedupandfleeced

Other work which relates to this is:

Fabric Design Highlights

Passion for Textile Flowers

Embroidered Dog Portrait

Creative Apps, Tools and Tips

I thought it may be helpful to share some creative apps, favourite tools and tips for use in visual arts and design.

CamScanner App

A great convenient, ‘on the go’ tool for scanning using your phone and the CamScanner app. You can either take a scan/picture using the app or can import an image to convert that into a scan. The app locates the boundaries of your image and adjusts the light so you can even scan in low light. It’s a huge time saver and has a good memory capacity before it requires any payment. You don’t get bugged by ads. CamScanner is 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 in my opinion.

Screen grab of my CamScanner latest work

iPhone XS

My phone is a key tool in my work, for photographing, drawing, editing. The camera on this phone model takes beautiful images and the ‘portrait’ mode is a useful feature for product shots and photographing work. I like the ‘pano’ feature for creative shots. Couldn’t function without this. Great size, weight and stable when used with a tripod. iPhone XS 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I take a LOT of photos and create new designs on my iPhone

Pixelmator App

How I love Pixelmator. I can’t say how much I use it as it’s seamless in my work. I’m probably across in the app 5 times a day. Layering images, drawing, adding text, creating social media ads, resizing, mocking up ideas, creating repeat patterns. The app is intuitive, making it easy to learn and to use. This is a corker of a creative tool 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Pixelmator App Screen Grab Showing Layers of a Design.

Bernina Sewing Machine

I would never have thought that I could love a sewing machine as much as I do my Bernina. It’s reliable, compact, and with the digital display I know what the machine settings are at a glance. I want to make the marks myself so I’m not interested in sewing machines that take over and do the sewing themselves. Swiss engineering is renowned and my Bernina is a fabulous example of this that runs like clockwork. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Bernina B215 Sewing Machine sewing an ice cream themed fabric that I designed.

YouTube

A learning gateway for everything you might ever want to learn about, where someone always seems to have the answer for using a new product, or technique. I’m going to give YouTube 🌟🌟🌟🌟 as the ads can be annoying, but then again it’s ‘free’. YouTube is about the people who take the time to share their experiences and knowledge. Of course it’s best to watch a few videos for any given subject to be able to gather a few perspectives/ methods.

I’ve always enjoyed making films so I love that I can share my movies and reach people through YouTube. Here’s a link to go to my channel.

Inspire by Kim YouTube Channel screen grab

50 Ways to Draw Your Beautiful Ordinary Life

This book is like a hug of a drawing course. The creators of Flow magazine have done something magical by bringing together exercises from their illustrators to make this big beautiful collection of inspiring, drawing skills inducing delight. Love it with some good TV and a pencil or fine liner. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Flow Magazine.

Collage of the cover and pages of my drawings in the book.

Instagram

The place to see image based posts, as opposed to more wordy content. A window on creative studios, processes and what everyone is working on, it’s such a creative time that we live in. Instagram makes the world shrink to the size of the app and I love how we can connect with kindred creatives and find people with shared interests. And there’s always someone somewhere on Instagram, even in the middle of my night – when the darkness becomes a blank creative canvas for new idea seeds to germinate in my mind. Hoping the ads, which have increased in frequency, don’t takeover, like they appear to have on sister site Facebook 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Inspire by Kim Instagram Screen Grab

Also I have to mention PicCollage, which now allows a mix of still images and videos in collages, and WordPress for my blog.

I hope this proves helpful. Wanted to share these findings and also this is a way of expressing gratitude for this tremendous tech and fabulous phone based functions which are my fundamental tools.

Please stay and see some more posts here.

If you’d like a street these are my favourite ones.

Fabric Design Doll

Fabric Birds

Workshop – Testimonials

Reflecting on 4 Colour Full Years

Fabric Design Project – Window Box Tulips

Now there will always be flowers 🌷 by my window. Started with plain white fabric and hand painted the design before printing it onto the white fabric.

From my initial marker drawing to being in use, my designer draught excluder, here’s the story in a less than 40 seconds video.

Marker sketches

Painted designs ready for pressing into the fabric.

Used passionflower tendrils for wax relief to add texture to the bias binding.

I reused filling from the previous draught excluder, which the fabric had worn through.

I’m delighted with the end result it’s practical and pretty at our juliet balcony.

I like the immediacy of these fabric design techniques. It takes just 30 seconds to transfer the painted design from paper to fabric. I only use the fabric I print, not having to buy patterned fabric by measurement and trying to match up the patterns, with lots left over. I can just work with white fabrics and print the panels to the size and scale for whatever I am making. This can be reusing and repurposing fabric, anything from clothing to pillowcases. The designs are entirely my own and are unique and unrepeatable. This uniqueness and bespoke nature of these techniques is the magic that I’ve found, and that I enjoy sharing through workshop sessions.

Follow my blog to see dates of upcoming workshops or email me if you’re interested in a one to one session inspirebykim@outlook.com

Related posts:

Fabric Design Workshop

Bird and Flower Cushion

Miniature Cheese Plant

Bell Pepper Allergy Campaign

“Symptoms of capsicum allergy result in serious situation like anaphylaxis or mild signs like asthma, abdominal pain, hives, eczema and head ache.”

Free Download – I’ve created an illustrated download for those with Bell Pepper allergies and intolerances. This is for use in restaurants, hotels at home and abroad. Please feel free to print and/or share this with someone that it may help, and to raise awareness of this food allergy. Card size set to 9 x 13cm.

Bell Pepper Allergy Advice Card

Awareness/ Activism

Source: Allergy Symptoms.org

During #inktober I created my first bell pepper allergy illustration. I then saved this on my phone to show when ordering food in restaurants.

Watercolour painted peppers added to the original many language background

Now don’t get me wrong it’s not that I don’t like peppers. I find them deliciously tasty, but it took some years to pinpoint that being doubled over with severe stomach cramps, hot and cold sweats, three days when I couldn’t get out of bed, diahorrea until my system was empty, was due to eating bell peppers.

Bell Pepper Allergy and Intolerance Symptoms – Found through research.

Give me a chilli and I’m happy and fine, but a fragment of bell pepper or a pinch of paprika and I loose the next few hours at least. Until my body has painfully fought the peppers and kicked them back out of my system.

It was suggested to me by a GP that it may be IBS, which is why I believe some people could be thinking and dealing with what they believe is IBS when they might just need to drop peppers from their diet. 

Heatpressing hand painted peppers

Machine rendering after hand sewing

Now peppers are very nutritious for some people, but they can be anaphylaxic for some. However they are almost never listed on food menus and food packaging as allergens. Often they’re not written on food menus, despite them being part of the dish. Due to their colourfulness peppers are often used in ‘food on the go’ meals such as salads. Really helpfully they’re often finely chopped and written in minuscule font on the ingredients list on packaging. 

So I just want to make people, you even, more aware of the possible reactions and physical responses to peppers. Maybe this work can take away someone’s pain or discomfort. 

So I’m asking people to think before they eat and serve bell peppers and paprika, I’m asking food retailers to think before they add bell peppers and paprika and to make it as an allergen, and for restaurants to always state where bell peppers and paprika have been used in their dishes. And please use a different chopping board for peppers.

Thank you for reading to the end. Next time you eat peppers just observe in the time afterwards how you feel. If you have any of the symptoms listed in this article you might want to see if the symptoms clear up or cease. 

Eat happy, be happy, consider pushing aside the peppers. 

Awareness Building

Advice Card – Reverse

See more on my Facebook and Instagram

Related work: Work that relates to the techniques is at the following links. I often find that the work is stepping stones to the next creation, like a bright creative path where the next step is revealed upon completion of the present one. These creative projects led to this work.

Bird and Flower Cushion

Steel Company Brand Art

Satin Cheese Plant

Next Step – in the campaign is to use the content created with supermarkets, restaurants and through PR and social media to raise awareness of bell peppers as an allergen.

Mini Case Studies – If you’ve a bell pepper story please email me as I’m collecting personal accounts and experiences that can demonstrate how this intolerance can affect individuals.

Links that may be of use/interest:

https://www.livestrong.com/article/279402-bell-pepper-allergy/

https://allergy-symptoms.org/capsicum-allergy/

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321883.php

https://www.healthline.com/health/allergies/nightshade-allergies#treatments

http://research.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/informall/allergenic-food/index.aspx?FoodId=58

https://wwws.fitnessrepublic.com/nutrition/healthy-eating/does-bell-pepper-cause-stomach-cramps.html

If you have a reaction to chillis…

https://metro.co.uk/2018/02/19/chilli-peppers-capsaicin-intolerance-affect-7315577/

Passion for Textile Flowers

Everlasting passionflower lovingly crafted from textiles.

The satin cheese plant I made led to my decision to make a textile passion flower….

I studied the beautiful flowers that I have been growing in garden for 15 years.

Some all-white varieties surprised me in the garden this year.

Passionflower study in coloured pencils

Monochrome study aiming to simplify the forms.

Watercolour study of passiflora.

I then took the designs into stitch. This was the first iteration of the passion flower with a little fused Angelina fibre panel for the centre.

Free motion embroidery and ribbon couching to create the second flower design.

After considering different fabrics I decided to use satin with scrim behind for the third flower experiment.

It was important that I create depth for the flower’s corona filaments, anthers and stigmas. I used felt, a bead and embroidery silks.

My intention whilst working at Chelsea College of Arts at the start of the month was to create screen printed designs that I could later add 3D passionflowers to. 

A passionflower couldn’t exist without its leaves. I created this one using satin that I have designed and printed using Colourcraft products, with felt behind/underside made at Stitched Up and Fleeced in Sheffield.

The final addition was the tendrils shaped with a little love as inspiration. Photographed in the sun, which is what prompts the passionflowers to reveal their striking beauty.

Thanks so much for reading to the end. I’m delighted with this work and will be looking at the display of it. So watch this space by popping your email address in the box at the top of the page to follow my blog. Normally a maximum of one post per week, a little bright creativity into your inbox

Here is the work that led to the passion flower creation.

Bird and Flowers Design

Satin Cheese Plant

Textile Print Design at Chelsea

And finally here are flowers I painted in pomegranate juice (and a little green watercolour). The juice was a stunning pink so I could resist making art with it. The work is inspired by a great book I’m reading The Joy of Watercolour by Emma Block.

Additional inspiration from the Botanica book by Uppercase magazine. A delightful treat of a book.

Designer Dog Coat

Personalised Pooch Weather Proof Coat

My four legged furry buddy isn’t keen on walking in the rain. So to stop this little guy…

…ending up looking like this…

I decided to make him a bespoke coat. As he’s a Lhasa Apso with a long body shop coats don’t fit him so off the peg wouldn’t do the job.

So using his silhouette and paw print, captured on a snowy day, I designed a repeat pattern.

I painted the design in dyes using wax relief…

Then heat-pressed the design onto fabric and cut out the shapes from the paper pattern I had created to fit my furry fashionisto.

The good weather took the sewing and quilting of the layers al fresco.

I love reflective fabric so used used this for back panel of the dog coat.

My lovely Bernina sewing machine made light work of the creative quilting and edging tape sewing.

I don’t think, for me, sewing can get much better than making with fabric I’ve designed and printed myself.

After attaching the pieces and adding Velcro and a button fastening the coat was ready for “walkies”.

The collar up option for heavy rain is quite David Bowie/spacey.

The collar down option for chillier but less wet days.

You might want to see these dog inspired projects:

Drawing With Silks – Cute Dog

The Dog Who Wanted To Fly

Maltese Dog Portrait

Dog Portraits in Acrylic Paint

I’d like to thank my fabulous furry fashion model, Borrow My Doggy for the introduction and you for being here.

Make a new furry friend through Www.BorrowMyDoggy.com

For more fun makes follow my blog, my Facebook page and Instagram feed.

Thanks

Kim and Willow xx

Embroidered Dog Portrait

White dog portrait created in silks, yarn and thread on dyed fabric.

Lhasa-Apso Portrait of my little buddy in embroidery silks

After the success of the embroidered portrait earlier this year I decided to try to create an embroidered portrait of Sam, the white dog that has featured in a number of my paper artworks, and whom I painted previously in acrylic paints before, paintings which became an illustrated children’s book.

Hand painted portrait of lovely Sam which became a page in the book

I chose a teal/ turquoise cotton fabric that I had dyed. I chose the colour as it was the colour of Sam’s favourite toy, and echoes the style of the portraits that I painted on bright bold coloured backgrounds.

I gradually built the design using hand sewing, deciding to add fluffy white yarn that was left after I knitted the jumper on jumbo needles.

I was struggling to get a likeness and lost momentum in the project so decided to inject some energy by continuing the piece on my sewing machine with a transparent foot, and also with a darning foot to use free motion embroidery techniques.

This worked and I was able to sew into the design, develop the likeness and then finished the final elements by hand. Here’s a 43 seconds short video of how the work developed.

I’m pleased with the final outcome and can now decide how best to display the work in my gallery.

Related posts which feature Sam or similar techniques are here…

Painted Dog Portraits

Drawing with Silks – Cute Dog

Illustrated Children’s Book

Paperart Pictures

Jumper on Jumbo Needles

Thanks so much, I hope you’ve enjoyed being here and if there’s something bespoke you’d like me to create for you then best way to contact me is to email inspirebykim@outlook.com 😊

Have a n-ice day! Sewing challenge

This was my written intention at the outset of my latest make inspired by ice cream.

Ice Cream beauty/ tech tablet/ make up bag.

Ice Cream van made using appliqué in key colours of fabrics, including my silk painted fabrics, as the front panel design for bag. Two lollies and an ice cream made in appliqué. All arranged on indigo dyed fabric using shibori technique. Heatpress printee onto silk, padded and machine embroidered to accentuate the ice cream van and ices.

Reverse side of the bag  is an ice cream, lollies and the scanned appliqué van on an indigo shibori ground as a repeat pattern. Which will be printed on satin, sort padded and then quirky quilting.

The ice cream texture is akin to a cloud and some could be pink. Zip pull of an ice- cream in shrink plastic.

The one main side, with repeat pattern on reverse, approach inspired by my cushion from Las Dalias market, Ibiza. 

Complementary coloured bag liner or could heatpress a design onto wipeable lining. That could have a secret message or mantra for the bag owner.

 It must be made with love. Look for the love and stay in love to get the magic. That said it doesn’t need to be perfect, that should not delay its creation.

———————–

And here it is… completed.

Here are the creation stages, I’m pleased with this bag.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this post.