A few weeks ago, a very talented artist Ohn Mar Win asked me to be a part of the 'What inspires me' bloghop. I was very honoured and touched. You can read her post here . I got to know Ohn Mar's work originally on Lilla Rogers Make Art that Sells e-course about a year ago. Recently Ohn Mar has been working on a monthly doodle challenge where she posts a food doodle a day on instagram. Her drawings are so fluid and stylish - such a talent. The biscuits in particular got me...

Can you imagine what it did to me every morning at 10am when a different biscuit popped up in my instagram feed ?!? Seriously though - she has some beautiful illustrated recipes on the They Draw and Cook website - have a look here !

Also some beautiful illustrated maps - this one is my favourite:

So now on to the bloghop, first a bit about me ...

QUESTION #1 WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON RIGHT NOW?

The end of September had a lot of deadlines for me, 2 for card companies and 1 for wallart - so after finishing those off like crazy I am now looking forward to working on some new collections, and having a little holiday next week.

QUESTION #2 WHY DO YOU CREATE WHAT YOU DO ?

I love drawing what I draw - if it doesn't feel good while I am doing it then I know it won't work. I love drawing on inspiration from nature, travel and family to create pieces that make me happy and also hopefully make others happy too. I want my art to appear on beautiful products.

QUESTION #3 HOW DOES YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS WORK ?

Daydream, sketch, research, sketch, put together, doubt self, get grumpy, feel happier, finish and not want to stop !

So now the fun part for me - moving on to 2 artists who I find very inspiring.

First off is Claire Picard. Among the many things I love about Claire's work is her use of colour. I learn so much by looking at her colour choices. Always original and fresh and innovative. Like this...Just lovely isn't it. And how about this Christmas one...

Olive and pinks - so gorgeously unexpectedly Christmassy without being clichéd !

Claire lives in Paris and also illustrated this beautiful map:

Gorgeous work - all of it. You can see more on her website here

The next artist who I would like to mention is Katie Beery Doucette of Polka Dot Mitten. She is based in Michigan, and is not only a talented artist but a formidable businesswoman too. She runs her own shop It is What it is, in Douglas, MI. She designs and makes all the signs and art by hand which are also distributed and sold all over Michigan. I don't know how she does it all but she does and is a real inspiration !

One of the things I love about Katie's work is her lettering - it just looks effortless, and really stylish. In the past I have feared putting lettering in my pieces as I am paranoid of sounding cheesy or just plain annoying. Like those office posters that have people rowing with the word 'teamwork' above them. Makes me cringe personally. Anyway - Katie manages to be stylish and inspirational without a hint of cheese or annoyingness. The words just flow on her pieces and are so believable and unique.

This is one of my favourites - I love the colours and the composition - it's just perfect:

You can see more of Katie's work here.

So that's all for now, I have loved featuring someone else's work for a change! Now it's back to creating lots of new designs - the most fun thing to do !