This week's Spoonflower Design Challenge is all about kaleidoscopes.  As usual I sat down to begin about four hours before the submission deadline! I had kind of decided I wasn't going to enter but then I found myself with some free time so I sat in front of the computer and decided to have a play.  

The first elements that I went for were butterflies.  I don't know if that was because deep in my subconscious I made the connection between kaleidoscopes and butterflies (the former being the collective noun for the latter) or if I just thought that butterflies would look pretty in a kaleidscope.  The colour scheme came about organically once I had selected the butterflies that I wanted to use.  It wasn't really a conscious decision, but I knew that I wanted to use pink flowers and then once I had the blue, tealy green and pink elements the purple just followed.  It's a colour combination that I find myself using a lot.  My signature colours perhaps?

I considered using the pattern function in Adobe draw to create the kaleidoscope effect, but due to the lack of time I decided to simply create a tile with a geometric pattern and then use the mirror repeat function in the Spoonflower uploader to achieve a kaleidoscopic look.  Somehow it all came together and I LOVE it!  Voting is now open at Spoonflower until Tues 19th November at 8pm EST.  I'd love your vote if you're willing to give it.

The theme of this week's Spoonflower Design Challenge is Chintz.  Chintz is originally from India featuring repeating, colourful motifs printed on cotton.  It gained popularity in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries where it featured first in home decor (wallpaper, furniture and hangings etc.) , but eventually it began to be used on clothing.  It became so popular that European countries banned importing it fearing that it would destabilise their local textile industries. 

Over time Chintz has been used to describe a particular type of floral fabric - think Laura Ashley.  It fell out of fashion in the early twentieth century, but is now seeing something of a revival.  If you're interested in learning more there are some interesting articles on the V&A Museum blog. 

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If you like the design please vote at Spoonflower. Voting closes Tuesday 12th Nov at 8pm GMT (3pm EST). 

In addition to the purple, I also used light blue, tan and pale yellow backgrounds.  All four variations are available in my Redbubble shop and will be coming soon to Spoonflower.

I had an idea for a Skillshare class about creating a "recipe" for mixed media art that would enable beginners to get great results more easily.  I decided to try out my recipe digitally and it was while I was doing that, that I came up with my new art peice "Golden Raindancer".  I knew that I wanted to depict a dancer and maybe some sort of rain.  The original work was far too busy and I didn't like where it was heading so I decided to take the dancer and place it on a much simpler background.  I love the combination of red and black and gold.  "Golden Raindancer" is now available in my Society6 and Redbubble shops.