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.