What started as a single sketch as part of a personal project grew into a collection of small houses. With no travel possible at the moment due to Covid restrictions, creating these pieces has been a welcome form of escape and a kind of virtual travel. I hope to create more and suggestions are always welcome !
Recent Product Samples
Calendar For Groupe Editor, featuring my cat on the cover
Greetings card for Trader Joe’s (available in the USA)
Seasonal Flower Project
Some sketches of flowers from my garden - I am working on a series of seasonal flowers, which I am posting on Instagram. Here in Germany we are in the middle of Spring at the moment and I have really enjoyed sketching these and building up a small collection. My hope is that I can slowly build up a collection that reflects the changing seasons and what is growing and blooming !
A couple of recent Product Samples
A couple of recent product samples: A gift bag (for Elum) - there is also a beautiful gift wrap available.
Also a greetings card for a well known US retailer. Both are available in the USA.
BLUEPRINT 2018
It was a great honour to be asked to design the poster for Blueprint 2 in New York in May. I am very much looking forward to exhibiting there as a solo artist for the first time.
The poster was inspired by New York in late Spring and all that this wonderful city has to offer. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to make an appointment to meet at the show.
The poster for Blueprint 1 was created by the very talented Jennifer Orkin Lewis, and you can see them both on the Blueprint blog.
Christmas Folk - new Christmas collection
I have a new collection of 12 designs available in Continental Europe with Groupe Editor. Just like my signature collection with them (Jardin Anglaise) , they have done a beautiful job printing them with gorgeous gold embossed details. Inspired by European Winter traditions and Christmas markets and towns, I loved designing them and it reminds me how lucky I am to live here, especially at this time of year!
Exciting news - A New Collection in Europe
I am very happy to share a project that has been quite a while in the making. I now have a signature collection of 48 greetings cards which was just launched in Continental Europe with Groupe Editor.
I have been incredibly busy developing this collection for the last few months, and I am happy to say the finished result looks absolutely beautiful ! All the cards are printed with gold details and cover every occasion from birthday and wedding, to thank you and retirement. The collection is called 'Jardin Anglais' (English Garden).
I am looking forward to sharing more of the designs in the upcoming weeks !
New Illustrated Recipe
I created this piece in response to the fabulous Skillshare class by Ohn Mar Win: Design your favourite fruity recipe. Ohn Mar is a master of food illustration and I can highly recommend the course. I am also thrilled that it is featured on They Draw and Cook !
We have had a really warm September here in Germany, and so I have been inspired by all the lovely late Summer fruit available here - berries, apples and peaches. Now I need to go and make some !
Blueprint May 2016 New York here I come !
In just a couple of weeks my agent Brenda Manley will be representing me at 2 shows in New York. The first is Blueprint and I will be there on the Saturday.
It's been a busy couple of months getting all the new work done and promotional materials ordered but I think I am finally there ! Here is my flyer...
From Sketch to Finished Design...
I was so happy to receive samples of my latest licensed greetings cards - this one is available in Trader Joe's in the USA. I wanted to share some of the process and sketches that took the design from the initial idea to the finished product.
I always start with initial pencil sketches - using lots of images from pinterest and various books for inspiration. I wanted to do a birthday cake decorated with lots of fresh flowers, and bunting and make it really summery and fresh. One of the parts that takes the longest for me is choosing the colour scheme - I always want to ensure it is perfect before starting and I am not the most decisive ! Pinterest is great for this too.
I like to prepare all the elements - flowers, leaves, decorations, and then place them on the cake just as if I am decorating it in real life. I do this with my flower bouquet designs too.
The same goes for the text - I tried a couple of options for this one and finally opted for the simpler version. I always draw it by hand in pencil, then black ink before scanning it in.
I was really happy with how this one turned out - and I hope you will look out for it if you live in the USA !
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A New Year, a New Agent and Printsource !
Happy New Year ! I am thrilled to announce that I now have an agent - Brenda Manley. I am looking forward to a great new year and new opportunities.
She will be at Printsource in New York City in just a few days time representing me and the other great artists in her agency.
Drop by and see her if you are there - I wish I could be there too !
Festive Wishes
There are always great daily art challenges in December - such a great way to get lots of new images together with a Christmas theme. This December I followed the inspiring prompts from the Four Corners Art Collective over on Instagram. I didn't manage one a day, but here is a selection.
Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and wonderful end to the year !
Harriet x
Time to plan your Christmas Market visits !
I know it's only mid November but it really is nearly that time of year ! In just over a week or so the Christmas markets will be starting up here in Germany. It's one of my favourite times of year and one of my favourite German traditions. We have some great markets in the big cities near here - Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Heidelberg. But some of my favourites are the markets that pop up in the small towns around here for just one of the Advent weekends. The towns look magical, all lit up - often in the snow !
So I decided to put together an illustrated map showing the dates for this year, so hopefully all my Taunus friends can start planning their weekends to fit in as many as possible ! And maybe it will inspire some people to visit... did I mention the mugs of steaming glühwein ?
I have also been wanting to submit an illustrated map to TDAT (They draw and Travel) and this was the perfect opportunity. Their site is wonderful - you can search for maps from all around the world - in a huge variety of styles.
New Wall Art available
I am excited to share two new pieces that are now available to purchase as canvas and fine art prints through Oopsy Daisy Fine Art for Kids. They can be customized with the name or text of your choice, or you can stay with the original hand drawn text. I loved creating these flower borders ! Each individual flower and leaf reminds me of a particular holiday or year in the garden.
New illustrated recipe for TDAC
I have been wanting to illustrate this recipe since the summer, and I finally managed to get it finished this week. A couple of years ago my German friend Birgitt showed me how to make this from the elderflowers we gathered from the forest and my garden. Unfortunately all the elderflowers have long gone, but the jars of jelly are still going strong ! I am thrilled to have it on the TDAC (They draw and cook) website along with many other beautiful mouth watering recipes from around the world !
Here are a few designs and collections that I have reformatted as 'tall pins' for pinterest. I love using pinterest for inspiration - but have not used it too much for pinning my own work yet - so it will be exciting to see where these pins end up !
Explore colour
The last couple of weeks I have been taking Este Macleod's course 'Explore Colour'. I have admired Este's work for many years and I was so happy to have the chance to learn from her and how she uses colour, particularly the golden fluid acrylic paints.
Read moreSpring Forest - new canvas wall art available through Oopsy Daisy
My 'Spring Forest' piece is now available as a canvas print, framed or unframed, through Oopsy Daisy. This piece was inspired by all the wonderful forests around here in the Taunus in Germany. It turns from a winter wonderland of ice and snow into a bright green lush woodland in a matter of days here when Spring arrives. I will never get tired of walking through the woods on the countless paths and trails.
There are more pieces in this collection available for licensing in my portfolio - please contact me for the password to view the whole collection !
Summer
It's that time of year when lots of friends are leaving - some just for the summer and some permanently to start new adventures in far off places. Wishing you all a wonderful summer - safe travels and hopefully some sunshine !
Just a quick post - to share some sketches and inspiration from my instagram feed. I love all the inspiration from seeing photographs / sketches and snippets of people's lives from all over the world. I use Instagram a lot to post sketches and ideas, and I love to follow like minded people. You can find me here: MELLORHARRIET
