Tag: illustrations

Designer Desire: Sarah Westwood

Montage of Sara Westwood Sprocket illustrations

A couple of weeks ago, I was searching Etsy for a birthday bandana for Barley; he turned one-year-old on the 12th of August. I didn’t actually come across a bandana that I wanted – I eventually got one from Pets at Home. What I did do, though, was find the work of Sarah Westwood.

Sarah is a graphic designer who makes fantastic prints, notebooks, greeting cards, coasters & place mats, tea towels, badges and more. Most of her illustrations features her Weimaraner, Sprocket. Sprocket is often accompanied by a few of his mates;  Scoot the little bird, Sid the squirrel and Parsnip the hedgehog.

We’ll let Sarah herself tell you a little bit about herself:

My business as artist and illustrator started way back in 2005 and my work was completely different… My digital art didn’t start until I decided to do the Instagram hashtag theme #onehundreddays and I decided to do #onehundreddaysofsprocket and this changed the whole course of my work, a long with my inspiration. Sprocket was my dog and he is my muse. I love drawing his adventures. Sadly he’s no longer with us but we had him for 12 amazing years. My studio is based in Great Fryup Dale on the North York Moors. I use an iPad Pro to hand draw all of his adventures, if you love dogs then you should hopefully like my work. Sarah Westwood

I think I’m going to go and stock up on some of her Christmas and birthday cards. I know it’s Sprocket on the front, but I can pretend that it’s Barley!

Self portrait of Sara Westwood and Sprocket the Weimaraner

All illustrations: © Sarah Westwood

Designer Desire: Pati

Mosaic of vintage Pati illustrations

Last week, we introduced you to the work of US illustrator, Pati. We have a couple of his (or her) vintage framed prints for sale.

As you can guess, even though we found many, many examples of their artwork, we couldn’t find ANYTHING about the artist. Hence the reason that we don’t even know if Pati is a man or a woman, so no artist’s portrait this week!

Their work was distributed by Soovia Janis Inc. in the 1960s and 70s, along with a couple of other artists doing similar illustrations; Margot Johnson and Jacque. Perhaps we’ll feature them some time in the future.

They include food and cocktail recipes, star signs and the like… all in a colourful, folksy, quirky style.

Recipes in the frame

Vintage Pati recipe prints distributed by Soovia Janis Inc. | H is for Home

We’ve got three of these original 1960s recipe artworks heading for the web shop this week. Aren’t they fabulous?

Vintage 'Gimlet' recipe print by Pati distributed by Soovia Janis Inc. | H is for Home

Each one has a recipe for a cocktail or dessert incorporated into a wonderful hand-decorated art illustration.

Vintage 'Strawberry Bombe' recipe print distributed by Pati for Soovia Janis Inc. | H is for Home

They’re the work of ‘Pati’ who produced them for Soovia Janis Inc of New York. They’re just three of a very large series of works. You’d do very well to track them all down. If you’re a complete-ist who can’t stand not having an entire set of something, tread carefully before you embark on collecting these… it might be a life-long quest!

Vintage 'Stinger' recipe print by Pati distributed by Soovia Janis Inc. | H is for Home

It might be worth it though as they’re so gorgeous. Imagine a wall full of these – what a riot of colour and swirls. Most people will make do with a smaller collection – or a single picture for that perfect spot in the kitchen, bar or dining area. Your choice might come down to which colour design suited your existing décor… or a favourite cocktail maybe. In fact, a whole row of cocktail recipes along a bar would look great… no stop, now we’re mentally making a collection. They’re supposed to be for sale. We haven’t got a bar anyway!

Label on the reverse of a vintage Pati recipe print | H is for Home

Each has their original painted wooden frames and labels to reverse – and measure 42cm x 22cm. They’ll be listed in the web shop soon. However, if you want first dibs as a reader of our blog, just send us a message. They’re £55 each or £140 for the three.

 

World Dolls Series: Russia

'World Dolls Series' blog post banner

World Dolls Series - Russia book cover

So, here we are in Russia for our next stop in the World Dolls Series.

World Dolls Series - Russia front inside book cover

Illustrations are by D.White from the Birmingham School of Design. We’re not sure that they listened to the brief properly as our guides are all supposed to be dolls – the clue’s in the title – World DOLLS Series. We seem to have been given a couple of rustic farmers. Ironically, Russia probably has the most famous dolls in the world.

Boris and Anna, dolls from World Dolls Series - Russia

Anyway, we’re sure Boris & Anna are a lovely couple.

Boris and Anna, dolls from World Dolls Series - Russia

There you go – Boris is throwing us a wave – and is that a glimmer of a smile?

working in fields from the World Dolls Series - Russia

Perhaps there’s not much to smile about on the collective farm! Hard graft and huddling round the stove for the long winter apparently.

winter in Russia from the World Dolls Series - Russia

There’s no doubting that the other books in the series have been a tad lighter, more carefree & fun.

wrapping feet in cloth against frostbite from the World Dolls Series - Russia

Life certainly seems quite tough in 1960s Russia.

illustration of the Kremlin and Red Square from the World Dolls Series - Russia

Perhaps a few days sightseeing in Moscow will be fun. Look at the party atmosphere.

illustration of boys playing with a train set from the World Dolls Series - Russia

There are a games at ‘the club’ – and a bit of sunbathing at the Black Sea. Is that President Khrushchev sitting on the right monitoring the deck chair situation?

illustration of people relaxing in deckchairs on the beach at the Black Sea from the World Dolls Series - Russia

We’re off to Norway next – we’ve invested a lot of money in warm clothing which might come in useful. We’ve always wanted to tour around Scandinavia, so we can’t wait to get there.