Hi Reader, and happy October! This might be my favorite month of all the months. I love when summer turns to fall. I love the cozy weather, and the sweaters, and the extra blankets on the bed, and the leaves and the light changing, and the pumpkin everything, everywhere... There's something so inspiring about this time of year! Do you feel the same way? The painting above is a bit of a nod to the spookiness of this season, with all those little white ghosts floating above the trees, in a...
9 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, I'm so excited to share with you that my Pattern Camp course is happening again next weekend, October 5 & 6, and registration is now officially open! 🎉 >> Get all the details right here << I taught a free workshop yesterday called Fall in Love with Illustrator, because that's exactly what happened to me when I taught myself how to use Illustrator and to design patterns. It was slow-going and frustrating for me for a long time, teaching myself how to use Adobe Illustrator back in...
22 days ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, Happy September! My GOSH was August a wild and chaotic bonanza of experiences in my world! I taught Pattern Camp, had a birthday (and a birthday sale!), camped at the epically beautiful Crater Lake, my son started 3rd grade, and I spent this past weekend in Colorado with my kids where we went to a college football game, did a super hard hike, spent a lot of time with my whole family, and I even got to go see my very favorite musician, Gregory Alan Isakov, at Red Rocks (with seats...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Enrollment for Pattern Camp is closing this Friday, August 2nd! Hey Reader – Happy Tuesday! I hope you're having an awesome week so far. :) My kids are in camp this week and I'm spending my days in the studio putting the final finishing touches on my Pattern Camp course that's happening this coming weekend, August 3 & 4. I'm so dang excited about this course! Watching students go from frustrated to confident using Adobe Illustrator, from patterns being a mystery to being able to design them...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Enrollment for Pattern Camp is OPEN!Doors close on August 2nd. Hi Reader, Pattern Camp is starting in just 8 days! When I was just getting started as a pattern designer many years ago, I exhibited at a trade show called Surtex in New York City. One of my most vivid memories is of an art student who walked into my booth, already jaded and full of doubt, and asked me if I really thought I could make it as a successful pattern designer in a world that was already so saturated with pattern...
3 months ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, I want to tell you a story about how I went from someone who barely knew how to use a computer and knew nothing about digital art-making to someone who's created hundreds of pattern designs and has artwork on products worldwide. I first encountered surface pattern design back in 2005 or so, when design blogs were a new, exciting, and very inspiring part of the internet. I saw people licensing artwork to places like Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie, and a lightbulb of knowing...
3 months ago • 4 min read
Hey Reader, If you haven't heard the news yet, Pattern Camp is back, and I'm super pumped to let you know that registration is NOW OPEN! 🎉 Have you ever wanted to learn how to create those amazing repeating patterns you see everywhere? Well, now you can, and FAST—in just 2 days! Whether you’re a total beginner or just looking to polish your skills, Pattern Camp is designed to be fun, effective, and perfect for everyone. Imagine this:Instead of spending 6 weeks or 8 weeks in a long, drawn-out...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, Happy July to you! I'm in summer mode with my kids over here, enjoying lazy mornings, trips to the pool, bike rides, and picnics in the backyard. It's (mostly) delightful! Ha. Isn't that how it goes the in summer with young kids...? So much fun and also SO.MUCH.CHAOS. OMG. 🤣 On the creative business side of things I've been super busy getting my brand new Pattern Camp course ready to open for registration on JULY 11th!! In Pattern Camp, which takes place over the course of a 2-day...
4 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader – Would you believe me if I told you that I drew that elephant? Well, I certainly did draw that elephant. A long time ago I had a dream of being a surface pattern designer. I'd discovered design blogs and saw artists who were collaborating with companies to get their pattern designs onto products like wallpaper and bedding, and a lightbulb turned on in my brain – I immediately knew that's what I wanted to do. I remember feeling kinda mad that no one had ever told me this was a job I...
4 months ago • 1 min read