How to have winter fun in June:

Well … all you have to do is to design for stationary! I am slowly getting used to the "design schedule" for Holiday cards. This year I didn't feel as much disconnected with the rest of the world as I did last year. And all that snow even had a cooling effect on some very hot June days :-)

The designs shown here are submissions to the current Minted Challenge for Holiday Cards. Like always with Minted comps votes and likes are very welcome! Please just click on the images, that'll lead you directly to my submissions on the Minted page. Thank you so much! Voting ends on Friday evening, July 7 … already … it's almost too late for vote asking … 

And here's a bit more about my designs:  

" A Holiday Stroll 1"

 

" A Holiday Stroll 2"

The two cards above both feature details of one of my watercolour paintings.

"Angel Duo"

Whereas the sketchy pen + ink and crayon angels were done as part of an advent challenge a while ago.

"Anatomy of a Snowflake"

The snowflake design is for a corporate Holiday card. It was inspired by old anatomical/ botanical  drawings and provides a lot of room to add the company highlights of the year and a thank you + holiday message to the clients.

"Wish upon a Winter Star"

The inspiration for the two snow bunnies wasn't forest animals, but my own cat. I watched him observing and admiring the first snow of winter through the studio windows, obviously planning some mischief (he just loves snow!).
I painted this little winter scene with gouache and silver gouache.

"Christmas Ballet All Stars"

And finally a Christmas Ballet card that is just a bit silly :-)

I hope you'll like my card designs. And now, back to summer!!!

Happy Holidays!

Tomorrow morning I'll be signing off for the holidays … wishing all of you a wonderful Christmas and some peaceful and festive days with family and friends!

I will be back on the 28th. Not really working until the New Year, but might peek in here :-) See you then! Happy Christmas!

Reverting back to winter … and loving it!

Firstly I'd like to share a new (wintery) win:

Pretty chuffed that my little winter birdie made it into the top 30 winners of the Minted & Pottery Barn contest for kid's wallart! ! (Only just … on the 27th… but in nevertheless!) It will soon be available as art print – and hopefully will sell well in the next holiday season!
And I only learned later on that this was the biggest contest Minted ever did with over 600,000 votes!!! and more than 7300 submission :-o Good that I didn't know before entering … prob wouldn't have dared. So double happy over here now! You can see the gallery of all top 30 winners here.

And secondly here's more Christmas cards coming up! I have entered these designs into the current stationary challenge for holiday cards on Minted, so votes are very welcome, as always :-) Thank you so much!
(Just click on the title of the image, that'll lead you to my submission on the Minted site).

"Starlight Angel" (foil pressed)

"Watercolour Prayers" (non foil)

"The Journey" (foil pressed)

I hope you like them! Motifs and lettering were all done in brush and ink, which develops into one of my fave techniques at the moment.
Please feel free to have a look at all of my submissions here. Thank you!
And you can have a look at the foil pressed version of the Holiday card challenge here and at the non foil version here). 

Spring sunshine mixed with Christmas carols

It's kind of weird to work on Christmas designs when Spring is finally here! But that's what I did last week.
There is a new challenge on at Minted, for Christmas cards. In fact, there are more holiday challenges coming up, so this blog might look a lot like Christmas in the next weeks …

This first holiday contest, the “Oh Come, All Ye Faithful” Religious Christmas Photo Card Challenge is for designs with religious or spiritual themes and greetings. The cards will be personalizable with the customer's name and own photography. There is a foil pressed and a non-foil version of the challenge.

I felt this was not an easy brief but an interesting one. While I am not overly religious I liked the idea of working with a spiritual text. Back to the basics, so to say!
I had to whipe off the dust of my calligraphy brushes – it's been a while that I worked on handlettering and calligraphy – but after some trials I really got into it. I aimed for cards that have a fresh, spontanious, expressive and uplifting look. Here's my three faves! (All photos are courtesy of Minted.)

"Bold Brush Hallelujah"

"5 Blessings"

"Bold Night Divine"

I hope you'll like them!

Votes are very welcome :-) You can vote for the designs in this blogpost just by clicking on the title of the image – the link will lead you directly onto my submission on the Minted page. You as well can have a look and vote for all my designs (6 of them) here on my voting page. Voting is open until Tuesday, April 19. Thank you so much!!!

Contest No.3: The Minted & Pottery Barn Kids + Teen Wall Art Challenge!

Wall art contests seem to come in threes as all good things do! The Minted & Pottery Barn Kids + Teen Wall Art Challenge is the third one on Minted since 2016 has started. Not sure if it is a good thing though … we are still waiting on the results of the previous two contest …
In this contest Minted + Pottery Barn are looking for art prints for boys and girls and for the whole age range starting with baby up to teenagers.
I am a bit exhausted contestwise but I just couldn't miss this one! Wall art for kids really is one of my fave subjects. It would be nice to build up a kid's collection on Minted. And to have a print been sold by Pottery Barn would be totally awesome! Well a girl can dream ;-)

So ok, I went ahead and submitted 16 pieces. Like always I will be showing you my faves here and I would be delighted to get your votes! Please just click on the title of the images, that'll lead you directly to my submissions on the Minted website. Thank you so much!

"Roaming Free"

I really love the playfulness and freedom vibe of this painting! It's a beautiful print for horse lovers of all ages. And it fits well to the brief as two of the themes asked for are animal prints and hobby themed prints.

"How to catch a Winter Star"

Two little winter bunnies in sweaters make a soft and tender nursery print for the holiday season – which is another theme asked for in the brief.


And here now are two fun prints for boys:

"Counting Crocodiles"

"Submarines Ahoi"

"The Craftsman" is originally an illustration done for a German fairytale. Works for both genders I think. I love the European and old times vibe of this one.

"The Craftsman"

Finally two romantic prints for girls and young ladies:

"Framed in Petals"

The inspiration for the watercolour print above came from Art Nouveau cameo brooches.

"Wake up in Flowers"

And this mixed media painting was inspired by our rooftop garden, that literally grows into our  bedroom windows in the summer …

I hope you like my submissions!

Want to see more? I have posted all my submissions on the "Voting now" page, so please just hop over there to take a look! Thank you again!

Merry Christmas everybody!

Wishing everybody a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Will be leaving very early tomorrow so I am signing off now. Back next week. Looking forward to some quieter days "between the years" …

P.s.: The scene above is completely fictional! It is sooo warm over here, almost like springtime. Wishing for snow really, but winter is postponed obviously …

Happy advent!

Now I wanted to do a painted advent this year. Like REALLY wanted to! But no way … like always in December I am far too busy with commissioned work. It's mainly graphic design projects at this time of the year.

I take my hat off to everyone who does an advent while working full time and full speed!!!
For me I think I will only manage to do this if I start early in autumn and work on it in advance …
Anyway, I wanted to share the bits I did for the 1st and 2nd of December. Happy advent everybody!

On another note the Cyber Monday sale at Minted is on still! 25 % off! It's extended until today (Thursday December 3rd) noon San Francisco time – which is 9pm mid European time. So only a few hours left … if you're interested my wall art hop over here NOW! And thank you so much everybody who already ordered :-)