Midnight inspiration

Sometimes people ask me how I get ideas, which is of course a difficult question to answer as they come from so many sources. But I’ve noticed one interesting thing – solutions to design problems often come in the middle of the night, in that strange state between waking and sleeping. Often if I’ve been having a problem with a design, I’ll wake up in the morning knowing perfectly clearly what I should do next.

This is an example. I wanted to do a simple design of “nested” birds done in a naive, folk-arty style, but I didn’t have the least idea what I could put in the background. I didn’t want to have the design just floating aimlessly in space – I wanted it to be part of an overall pattern. I came up with a few ideas but didn’t really like any of them. But then next morning there was the solution, finished in the last detail in my mind. Birds live in trees, right? So put the birds in a textured background with a feeling of leaves. It could be stitched on fabric painted in irregular blotches of green, and the birds would go well in blues and reds

Here are some of the leaves by themselves

The basic pattern of leaves 

and here are the birds with a background of leaves

Leaves plus birds
 

They’re OK but I think I’ll re-do them with more patterns on the bodies – either that or stitch them with bright, busy prints as the appliqué fabrics. And I might just put in a few branches among those leaves

Comments

[Linda Hudson]

I like your leaves in the background with the birds on the top!

[yoshi]

That looks fantastic! :-)

[Robbie Lloyd]

I love them just the way they are. You are so talented. Thanks for sharing with us.

[Joan]

Your creativity and expression are heartwarming and smile-making. Thank you for showing.

[Lisa Cox]

Perfect solution. I like the green with the bright bird colors. For a more winter look, the same design with muted colors would work, too. Very versatile!

[Deena]

The feathers make a great accent background on the painted fabric. I find too, that many of my ideas come in the night between deep sleep and awake mode.

[Michelle Long]

Beautiful.

[asprag]

the birds are stunning -- and background leaf repeat so versatile. some of the outlines for leaves could include brown shades or even variegated from greens to browns, esp if the fabric had less vibrant [more washed out] colorway.

[Chartreuse]

Very beautiful
Thanks

[Shirley]

I like the rw tree that will make a nice frame for something, could I please have it sent to me?
Thanks!