the moon from my attic: designer

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Nature as Inspiration ~ Artist Kiran Ravilious

It has been a very busy week in preparation for Surtex in May, which is really just around the corner. At this time of the year I wish I had already completed more work although I have some 10-15 new collections to show. So many ideas, so little time...!

One of my pleasures when attending a trade show is to promote my design work through magazine ads, emails, postcards, blog articles, press releases, and most recently YouTube videos! This year my theme is mostly focused on nature, with florals and Alpine woodland paintings on the main stage. My postcard image below illustrates one of my collections called Wild Roses.

Nature is a source of inspiration for many artists who create their own unique style of work. Recently I came across an artist who is similarly inspired by all things natural and whose work itself is also inspiring to me.

Artist Kiran, her dog Daisy and her design work in the background

I invited designer and printmaker Kiran to tell us more about her design and print making process. Her style is defined as naïve and she creates lovely yet bold botanical prints.

Kiran is from Leicester, England, where she lives with her husband Ben, their two daughters, and their dog Daisy. She says, "I carve my designs on lino and handprint them directly onto fabrics. I started printing about 4 years ago and my work has since grown to include single hand printed cushions, bags etc. and in 2013, I produced a range of printed fabrics and wallpapers."

Kiran's creative work starts with a design being transformed from a sketch to being transferred to a block, to carving it, then inking it and printing it and finally, for her fabrics and wallpapers, transferring it to the computer and manipulating the image.

"My main source of inspiration is nature but strong bold graphics are also very inspiring to me along with interesting colour combinations."

She is currently working on a very exciting project that includes a new set of designs. "I'm not sure if they'll come to anything but it's fun trying something new and different to what I normally do."

Kiran uses Twitter and Facebook to interact with other creatives and to find out what is going on in the industry. She adds, "There are journalists and stylists on Twitter whom I've followed who have gone on to feature me on their blogs and so on. I also love using Pinterest for inspiration and it's also a great way for people to discover my work.

My work has been featured in a few magazines lately. I have never approached any magazine due to a lack of confidence more than anything else and thinking everything needs to be perfect before I even think of approaching them. I think perhaps they like the idea of 'discovering' someone new but I know sending them an email with an introduction and a few photos or a link to your website can be useful." So true!

An important tip she shares with us is to keep it at. "Try and work on something new as often as you can. Sometimes being an all-in-one person where you have to do almost everything can be very draining but it takes a few years before people start taking your work seriously. If you're good at what you do and if you believe in yourself, then so will others!"

"I hope to be able to continue doing what I'm doing and to expand my product range!" - Kiran concludes.

Find out more about Kiran:

www.kiranravilious.com

www.facebook.com/kiranraviliousprints

http://blog.kiranravilious.com

And be sure to check out her video of her printmaking process, where she also shows some of her designs...as well as introduces us to her dog Daisy!

Visit Kiran's studio and see her at work!

Monday, March 17, 2014

Amethyst and the Moon - Artists Stephanie Ryan & Melissa Schulz

It all started for me with a mural and a moon ~ I love the arts. I also love painting and dreaming under the moonlight and so The Moon from My Attic was born, to celebrate what I most connect with. One of my biggest dreams when I was a kid was to have my own studio in an attic, you know, like the real painters such as Monet and Modigliani, two of my favorite artists. My aunt, who was also an artist, used to sing beautiful songs to us kids while teaching us how to paint. One of the songs was about a man on a river boat praying under the moonlight for good luck - in Italian, of course.

So the moon has been on my mind for a long time and I am thrilled to have as my guests this week a pair of formidable artists who have found a way to collaborate in a business venture together and recently launched the Amethyst and the Moon. They are both very creative and fun!

Artists Melissa Schulz and Stephanie Ryan

Melissa Schulz is a brand strategist, a licensing agent, a creative and marketing director, an artist and a jewelry designer. With close to 20 years of experience in the art licensing, product development and marketing fields, Melissa has helped artists and companies strategize their business growth. All the while, she has devoted creative time for the development her own lines of jewelry and mixed media pieces.

Stephanie Ryan is an artist and designer with 20+ years of experience in the product development field. In 2012 she launched her brand and licensing business and has had many early successes. Stephanie's art can be found on dinnerware, fabric, home and garden decor, greeting cards and much more!

The Moon from My Attic: What's the main story behind the team? How did it form? We worked together in the past and have always talked about collaborating and we knew we had similar aesthetics and interests and thought it would be so fun to combine those things and work together again. Over the course of the last year we found ourselves living through some life challenges which forced us to do a lot of soul searching and through our discussions of what we wanted for our lives we kept coming back to this idea of working together.

These little conversations sparked a passion within us that grew and quickly turned into a tangible dream of combining our love for crystals and the healing powers found within them and the magical realms that surround us into a collaboration that we were both very excited about. We love the idea of taking this passion and presenting it to the world in a beautiful way. We also love that we can shine a little light of inspiration and healing on others during their times of soul searching, too.

TMFMA: What's your creative process about, i.e. how do you work together, how do you develop a product as a team? The most important thing is that we have a very strong vision of what Amethyst and the Moon is. That is our foundation and as a result we are able to work independently and collaboratively towards our goals.

TMFMA: What do you enjoy the most when collaborating? We are both night owls and find that magical things happen under the light of the moon. Hours pass quickly during this time and we love how the inspiration and ideas flow between us as we iMessage throughout the night. The energy between us is so strong when collaborating about Amethyst and the Moon it helps to feed our lives and other businesses as well.

TMFMA: What online or other tools do you use to keep coordinated and in the loop on common projects? We love Google Drive! Google documents and calendars are fundamental. iMessaging, facetime, screenshots and iPhone photos are LIFE SAVERS as well as a great way for us to keep each other laughing throughout the day.

TMFMA: What's the advantage in working together? We both bring a unique set of skills and expertise to our collaboration with just the right amount of overlap to create the perfect synergy. We are very comfortable with each other and have a high level of trust between us. It is such a gift to get to chose who you spend your time with and we love working together. We also seem to have the sense of humor of 15 year old girls which means we like to laugh and giggle a lot! One of the things we promised each other when we started this is that Amethyst and the Moon would be a way for us to have fun and feed our souls. You really need to find the right partner in order to fulfill that kind of dream and that is the biggest advantage of us working together.

TMFMA: What excites you to work together? The energy that is created by the two of us working together really excites us and gets us into bigger picture thinking for our lives and business. We especially love the idea of being able to help others on their journey to connect to their hearts and souls and what lies beyond them with inspirational art and messaging, jewelry and healing products.

TMFMA: Any suggestion or tip for other artists interested in starting up a group? It is so important that you have the same vision. Articulate your vision through visual and editorial references so that you know you are on the same page and your dreams are aligned. Private Pinterest boards are great for this and fun too!

Find out more about Amethyst and the Moon: