Cats forever and enamel pin.

trendy animals

 

You know, how every year one or another animal come into fashion? I mean, not a trend of one or another pet, but animal in design. I made this sketch in 2013 based on my own experience and tips from other people. Tried to do some research, but there is no any convenient information or statistics, so it is quite rough. In 80’s and early 90’s it would be dolphins and tigers, roaring lions and wolfs. Then came pandas, rabbits, foxes.  From kids clothing to home wares – owls were everywhere. 2013 was all about pugs and french bulldogs. In 2014 we all were gone crazy for sloths. In 2015 every home ware shop still has a cockatoo lamp and you can get a print with this bird print in every artist market. And so on.
Animal trend comes and goes. One animal stays.
The Cat.

trendy animals cat a4

 

This is a new and more detailed take on the same topic. Feel free to comment if I missed something. For example I missed dolphins so popular in 90’s. Or elephants. Or do you have any ideas of the more recent trends? Like “Put a bird on it” 😀

And now Mr. Cat is available as an enamel pin.

IMG_0318 600

 

When I was a child I found a tin box full of pins at home. My parents or grandparents collected them. They (pins) were magic! I still have few pins from that box. Seeing them in my accessories box I imagined making a pin of my own. And here it is. Cat, of course!

IMG_0319

 

I am still working on a better packaging ant it would be great to tell the whole story about why it is called “Cat forever”, but meanwhile it comes like this.

IMG_0320 600 

Find the cat on my Etsy shop.

Nothing serious

nieko rimto003

“Nieko rimto” which in Lithuanian means nothing serious is a wonderful publishing house in Lithuania making beautiful books and lovely stationery. And I was contacted to draw few postcards.

Here they are:

atvirlaiskis postcrossing atvirukas gimtedieninis

1017442_625042624218085_1403322169_n

They also made some souvenirs like magnets, paper for letters.

IMG_3414 Photo0011

And since then my friends and family members sent me lots of pictures of those cards in the bookshops, book fair, etc. Thanks!

1622602_625042310884783_1679534706_n 1798725_625041234218224_1254358560_n 20140123_101625 20140123_101726

Keep calm and pet a cat

IMG_0924

I enjoy drawing on porcelain. That smooth surface… And I got this lovely bottle – vase from garage sale. I’ve been collecting different things I could draw on for a year or more. Now I think I need to finish all those projects and get rid of things, just to make more space. “Keep calm and carry on” was the poster British government released as a motivation and encouragement for people in 1939, just before the war. It has interesting history, read more here. But now this has been overused everywhere. Probably because of pretty nice typography, some retro nostalgia or something else. I wanted to remove the print, but nail polish remover, white spirit and other liquids didn’t work. Another idea was just over paint it. And then the crown gave me an idea.

IMG_0976

Here it is.

IMG_0974 IMG_0975Other sides. I am thinking if I should post it online for sale or bring it to some gallery/shop.

DIY Christmas Tree

diy christmas treeLately it was busy period with all Christmas works. And once I’ve finished them I took some time to get ready for Christmas. Oh, I missed those little crafts!

This is a simple project.
1. Cut a pyramid out of cardboard.
2. I didn’t get big enough piece, so I cut 3 triangles and taped them together it with a masking tape.
3. And then into a pyramid. See how I cut the “legs” at the bottom. It is unnecessary.
This picture looked dull so I added some colour palettes I was thinking of using for Christmas tree.
4. Cut little scales out of coloured paper. I folded some tissue paper and then cut heaps of scales at once. The problem you need to use double layer of them – otherwise tissue paper is too transparent. I also used a nice coloured blue paper napkin (just because of the colour) and golden crepe paper for more festive look. You know, you could cut those scales in different shapes, maybe more pointy, triangles for more spiky tree. Or fringed pieces. Lots of possibilities!
5. Start gluing from the bottom. Draw a horizontal line with a glue stick and attach those little scales.  Then start the next row on top.
6. Ta-da!

It still misses the top, I just haven’t decided whether it will be a star or something more funky.