Ruth Ellen Parlour's Blog, page 2

Hello Autumn Collection

As the nights draw in and the chill air makes me wrap up warm, I thought it was a good time to share my Hello Autumn surface pattern design collection! All Designs are available for licensing/sale. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any queries. I am also available for freelance work. This collection was originally designed during the Make it in Design module 3 course for a live brief. I wanted to create a warm, homely and comforting feeling with this collection. I hope you enjoy a browse!

All Designs are available for licensing/sale. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any queries. I am also available for freelance work.

**Please note that all designs are the property of Ruth Ellen Parlour and subject to copyright law. Please to not distribute or replicate these designs without permission from the author**

Copyright © Ruth Ellen Parlour all rights reserved

Make it in Design Summer School 2017

I love taking part in the Make it in Design Summer School, it gives me some insight into upcoming trends, and inspiration to make collections. I’m going to happily go on to create these patterns into larger collections. This year I entered all three tracks, although overtime at work meant that I couldn’t devote enough time to it that I would have liked. Nonetheless I’m happy with the designs that I came up with. I’d recommend the Make it in Design courses and schools for any pattern designer wanting to expand their portfolio, find some inspiration, meet like minded people, and just have some fun.

**Please note that all designs are the property of Ruth Ellen Parlour and subject to copyright law. Please to not distribute or replicate these designs without permission from the author**

Copyright © Ruth Ellen Parlour all rights reserved. All designs are available of purchase or license

Beginner Track 01: Abstract Thread

Beginner Track 02: Drawn Botanics

Intermediate Track 01: Pure Zen

Intermediate Track 02: Stripe Form

Advanced Track 01: Mystical Tribes

Advanced Track 02: Pale Garden

**Please note that all designs are the property of Ruth Ellen Parlour and subject to copyright law. Please to not distribute or replicate these designs without permission from the author**

Copyright © Ruth Ellen Parlour all rights reserved. All designs are available of purchase or license

Dark Wonder Collection

This surface pattern collection was designed based on a 2017 trend from WGSN called Dark Wonder. Themes include outer space, natural forms such as gems and rocks, lace patterns, flow, and light on dark with tints of neon. The collection hosts various colour combinations: main colours are blue, purple, yellow and grey. Bold graphics are combined with water colour textures to create depth and interest. I used a combination of hand and digital techniques to create these patterns.

 

All Designs are available for licensing/sale. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any queries. I am also available for freelance work.

**Please note that all designs are the property of Ruth Ellen Parlour and subject to copyright law. Please to not distribute or replicate these designs without permission from the author**

Copyright © Ruth Ellen Parlour all rights reserved

Little Somethings… May 2017

So it’s nearly the end of May and it’s been a hectic month. It seems that the better weather is encouraging people to do more. I don’t think I’ve ever been more social!

So here’s what I’ve been up to this month!

 

Somewhere I’ve been…

Hamsterly forest is just a 30 min drive from my house and one of my favourite places. Being in woodland is calm and soothing for me, it’s a great place to rejuvenate my souls and do some background research for the Water Dragons.

Something I’ve read…

I’ve just finished The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks. It’s been sat on my bookshelf for nearly 10 years, I’m making an effort to read through all the books I have before buying new ones. I thoroughly enjoyed this, a riveting fantasy with strong characters and a great core concept. I especially enjoyed the magic system. The only problem is now I want to read the rest of the trilogy, adding more books to the shelf!

Something I’ve seen…

I’m often late in watching new films but I saw Moana for the first time. It’s a gorgeously colourful film and I love how strong the main character is and what she has to face. It was very well thought through and the songs are great.

Something I’ve designed…

The previous tenant of my house was a keen gardener. There are flowers in my garden I don’t even know what they are! I decided to draw a white flower, the petals having crinkled edges like crepe paper. It developed into this pattern I call Midnight Flowers.

Something at home…

You probably already know that I moved to a cottage on a farm. Well this month I’ve been trying to get my garden in order. We dismantled a derelict shed and I weeded the garden. On a hot day I explored the public footpath that took me through some fields of bright yellow rapeseed, Walworth castle in the distance, and over the hill a great white windmill. Yes, I have a view of a castle from my house!

Something exciting…

We got caught in a glorious thunderstorm. On exiting a shop I looked up to see a great heavy cloud rolling down the distant hill. Lightning crackled the sky before the heavens opened. People took shelter to watch the storm as our car was battered with hail and a torrent of water. It felt almost apocalyptic.

Something mindful…

I am here now, is a book by The Mindfulness Project. It offers fun and thoughtful exercises to develop mindfulness. I love thumbing through the pages I’ve done, trying new things and revisiting old ones. It makes me feel better, giving me a sense of calm and grounding. I tried an ice cube meditation whereby you hold an ice cube in your hand until it melts and notice how it feels. It was strange but fun!

 

Something fluffy…

It’s been hot here in the UK and my two boys have been moulting like crazy. I’ve been trying to keep them cool in the hot days.

I hope you enjoyed my Little Somethings, I’ll try and do them every month!

Make it in Design Winter School 2017

So this year was the first year that Make it in Design ran their Winter School. It follows the same format as Summer School. There’s 3 tracks: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. It runs over 4 weeks and you get 2 briefs based on a trend report from WGSN, and 2 fun challenges (per track.) I decided to partake in all 3 tracks and was blown away by the themes. You can see all the submissions in the Make it in Design Pinterest boards.

**Please note that all designs are the property of Ruth Ellen Parlour and subject to copyright law. Please to not distribute or replicate these designs without permission from the author**

Copyright © Ruth Ellen Parlour all rights reserved. All designs are available of purchase or license

So here’s my submission.

Track 01: Beginner

Brief 01 Tech Stripe

I’m not big on geometric but I had fun playing around with mark making for the hand drawn stripes, and some shape manipulation in Photoshop.

Brief 02 Earth Texture

The quote is from Shakespeare, I was inspired by the shapes and colours in Antelope Canyon, Arizona for this design.

Track 02: Intermediate

Brief 01: Dark Veils

I used photography and hand drawn elements for this Gothic inspired pattern.

Brief 02: Broken Beauty

Again more photography and photo manipulation. There’s something beautiful in withered flowers. This was my bridesmaid bouquet!

Track 03: Advanced

Brief 01: Boho Rock

I struggled with this one but drew inspiration from Rococo style motifs and combined it with animal prints and soft tones.

Brief 02: Wondrous Nature

I visited the Oriental museum for inspiration to create this design. I love the stylised elements of the Chinese lion dogs.

All designs are available of purchase or license.

**Please note that all designs are the property of Ruth Ellen Parlour and subject to copyright law. Please to not distribute or replicate these designs without permission from the author**

Copyright © Ruth Ellen Parlour all rights reserved

 

Make it in Design Summer School 2016 and Pattern Bombing Paris

This year I participated in the Make it in Design Summer School 2016.

For those of you who have never hear of Make it in Design, it is a website running a series of Surface Pattern Design courses created by a team headed by successful designer and entrepreneur Rachel Taylor. If you’ve never heard of her I suggest looking up her fabulous designs!

There are 3 tracks for the summer school and I took beginner and intermediate. We are given 2 design briefs to work to based on emerging trends. The school is a great way of getting your creative juices flowing and gives you the chance to tackle a project you might otherwise have ignored. I thought I would share with you the designs that I created for the school.

 

Beginner track brief 1 French Riviera

 

I used my mother’s collection of seashells for this brief.

French Riviera

 

Beginner track brief 2 Honest Hand-marks

I have to say this brief didn’t come easy to me but I created a dress mock up to display my design.

Hand-marks

Intermediate track brief 1 Honest Meadow land

I went out into the big wide world for inspiration for this brief, finding lots of meadow flowers and grasses to draw.

Honest Meadow land

Intermediate track brief 2 Escape Souk

This was by far my favourite. I would have never thought to look at this kind of thing before now but I simply could not stop designing! Needless to say I came up with a whole collection for this brief but this is the design that I submitted for the summer school.

Escape Souk

 

Pattern Bombing

 

Immediately after the summer school, the make it in design team launched a pattern bombing competition where designers Photoshopped their own patterns onto objects in the outside world including architecture, animals and other things. This was great fun and interesting to see my patterns on other things! I used my holiday snaps from Paris to display some of my patterns.

Harrogate Home and Gift Buyer’s Festival 2016

This year I went along to the Harrogate Home and Gift Buyer’s Festival to get a look at some of the products, chat to designers, and get a feel for a trade show. It was a beautiful day with hundreds of great designers and products. I am always drawn to a particular style and I thought I would share the designers that stood out to me. Some are well known and some are up and coming.

These photos are snippets taken from leaflets and catalogues, I do not own the rights to these designs, they belong to the artist.

Louise Mulgrew Designs

http://louisemulgrew.com/

I loved these designs straight away. Louise is just a youngster but already making a name for herself. Her character designs are quirky and her painting style shines through on everything she does, and she was such a lovely girl!

Chloe Gardner

http://www.chloegardner.com/

I am always drawn to animals and colours, and Chloe has both in her beautiful designs. We chatted for a while about her techniques and colours. A woman who truly loves what she does!

Amy Louise Design

http://www.amylouisedesigns.com/

Another lovely young lady who specialises in the greetings industry with beautiful artwork including character designs and florals. I received a free sample card from her which is just a delight!

Lola Design LTD

http://www.loladesignltd.com/

This artist creates absolutely stunning artwork combining florals with animals portraits for a truly unique effect.

 

Cath Ward

http://www.cathward.co.uk/

I love Cath’s illustrative designs. Her technique really brings to life the animals that she paints and I couldn’t resist the cheeky bunny face!

Deckled Edge

Home

I had a chat with Janna from Deckled edge. Being surrounded by horses in her everyday life this inspiration really shines through in her art. She creates beautiful horse and unicorn illustrations that little girls would love. She hasn’t left the boys behind though and has some awesome dinosaur prints to her repertoire too.

Louise Tiler

http://louisetiler.com/

A firm favourite of mine for her unique illustrative designs. Her quirky greetings designs bring something new and fresh to the table.

Alex Clark

http://www.alexclarkart.co.uk/

Alex has been in the art and design circuit for a while now and her portfolio keeps on expanding. Art and design that appeals to children and adults alike, she draws inspiration from farm life and animals in her unique quirky style. It was a privilege to meet her at the trade show!

Gillian Arnold

http://www.gillianarnold.co.uk/

An artist an entrepreneur whose business is based in a neighbouring town to myself, Gillian’s stall drew my attention immediately. I love the bright and vibrant designs of her home ware products.

There were many wonderful designers at the trade show but these appealed to my own personal tastes the most. I’m hoping to go again another year and gather some more design inspiration from these amazing people!

Creative Exercise: Take a Walk

Part 1: Take your camera and/or your sketchbook and just walk around your local area, taking snaps of anything that catches your eye. I find it handy to have a camera phone so I’m always prepared if I see something while I’m out and about. See what patterns and designs you can create using your inspiration.

These are photos I took wandering around my home town:

Part 2: While on your walk, if you can, find 10 different leaves to photograph, or pick and take home. Draw their shapes or find patterns within the leaves. Experiment with colours and see what patterns  you can make from them.

The Best Apps and Gadgets for Children Who Love Picture Books

Picture books have long inspired squeals of delight and gleeful smiles from young children, who find themselves absorbed in the colors and story. When I was little, the newly released electronic versions—whose buttons provided exciting sounds and tunes to accompany each page—were a world of magic.

Today, the children of the iPad and smartphone generation have so much more to choose from. Interactive picture books and story apps have taken the world of infant development by storm! Here are five of the best, which are sure to go down a treat with any child with a penchant for picture books.

 

Dandelion

 

As the first in-house release from development company, Protein, this enchanting story is truly an innovative masterpiece. Leading the way in tablet technology, they managed to achieve a totally new way of interacting with the screen that is perfect for a book of this name—allowing users to physically blow things off the page.

 

The anti-bullying rhetoric of the story makes it a fantastic resource for young children who are nearing school age. The content was written by a father whose son was experiencing problems of this nature, and the heartfelt message he created has resonated so much with users worldwide that the app has received numerous awards.

 

Goodnight Moon

 “Goodnight Moon” has been placating bedtime tantrums since its release nearly 70 years ago in 1947, but the new app by Loud Crow Interactive, Inc. has well and truly brought this story into the twenty-first century. The interactive format is simple; it allows you to flip through pages of the story and accompanies each sentence or section with a delightful animation.

From the cow jumping over the moon, the bursting red balloon and an old lady whispering hush, these little moments of action are sure to immerse your child into the story. Which each page cleverly designed to encourage your little one to drop gently off to sleep, this is an essential resource for difficult sleepers.

 

Animalia

 Another classic release that has been re-vamped for the age of technology is “Animalia” by Graeme Base. The original book was created as a fantastic tool to help young children get to grips with the alphabet. With beautiful illustrations and an animal dedicated to each letter, it has been perfectly translated into an interactive picture book experience for the iPad by AppBooks.

 

Plus, as an additional feature, there’s a boy who appears throughout the book and plays a sort of “Where’s Waldo” role. Kids will delight at searching through the beautiful animated illustrations to try to uncover his hiding place as they turn through the pages.

 

The Unstealer

 “The Unstealer” is another fantastic language learning tool that masquerades itself in a fun and interactive storybook app. The premise of the story follows a crafty thief, who goes around stealing the prefix “un” from the start of words. This has the charming effect of transforming the words into their positive counterparts.

Not only does this help understand prefixes, but it’s also a fantastically upbeat story and an excellent way to get young children thinking positively and enthusiastically. The app has received fantastic reviews from many sources for both its literary content and the clever inclusion of animation and interactive elements, so it is sure to go down well with all children around six to eight years old.

 

5. Book Creator

This app is a fantastically unique concept that allows you to put the power of the picture book into the hands of your child. The simple set-up lets you create your own stories, place text, insert pictures and work, page by page, to create your e-book! You can even try and publish to Google Play or iBooks directly from the app.

The franchise has seen great success in the school environment, with teachers using it to create a unique educational resource for their classes, but it has also proved extremely popular among children who enjoy making their own work. This can either be for school projects, to help them learn more about a particular topic, or just to nurture the inner author inside them. It’s definitely a fantastic follow-up for older children who love picture books but are getting too grown up for them.

These five apps are all a great way to enhance your child’s experience with picture books, but there are many more like them. If you know of any other interactive stories or fun related apps, be sure to leave a comment below! We’d love to hear your ideas.

 

About the Author: Caroline is an entertainment and technology blogger for Culture Coverage and Secure Thoughts. She loves that her combined interests help her find the latest innovations in books and film and hopes to share all she’s learned with fellow parents!

Ruth Reviews The Night Gardener by The Fan Brothers

The Night Gardener">Blurb: “William discovers that the tree outside his window has been sculpted into a wise owl. In the following days, more topiaries appear, and each one is more beautiful than the last. Soon, William’s gray little town is full of color and life. And though the mysterious night gardener disappears as suddenly as he appeared, William and his town are changed forever.”

The night gardener is an adorable story about an orphan boy and a mysterious stranger who creates wonderful topiaries overnight. The Gardener enlists William’s help and together they create more wonders. The heart-warming story is about friendship and finding purpose in life.

The art style is hand drawn, in a detailed sketchy style with bright pops of colour. The topiaries are really brought to life by the beautiful art.

I think children aged 3-6 would enjoy this book, particularly children who can relate to the story.

I would happily pay around £10 for this book as a beautiful gift for a child.

My Vote: 5 Stars