Design Healing

Diagnosis?

Turns out on top of adrenal fatigue my thyroid is also out of whack. Hopefully treatment will pull me out of the hell I have been in for the past 10 years!

Design © 2009 Stephanie Ryan

New Patterns

Here are some patterns from the new painting.

 

 

New Paintings

I am still experimenting with painting styles. Here are two new looks.

(paintings © Stephanie Ryan)

Dreaming of Spring at a Winter Workshop

I went to a painting workshop by my good friend Carol Maguire this weekend. I was going to wait to post this but since I am snowed in today, I thought it would be nice to share some Spring cheer. I have been wanting to paint flower patterns for the longest time and decided to finally give it a try. I love the way it turned out and can't wait to do more. Thanks for a great workshop Carol! 

( Spring Wishes 11"x14" Oil on Board ©2009 Stephanie Ryan)

A Pattern and an Affirmation.

I love this affirmation by Louise Hay. I have been using a lot of tonal grays in my new patterns and am not sure why. Maybe the winter is finally getting to me. It is usually my favorite season, but is really dragging by this year. I am counting the days until Spring... maybe that will cheer me up.

(Design ©Stephanie Ryan, Affirmation by Louise Hay)

A Pattern and a Quote

(Design © 2009 Stephanie Ryan)

A Print a Day...for a couple of days.

I have been feeling inspired this week to create some new patterns. I should be posting these on my Print, Pattern, Repeat blog but seem to be having some sort of identity crisis. I am just happy to be posting and creating my own designs again. It has been a long and strange 3 months. It started when I left my job at Lenox and started my new position at Kathy Davis Studios. I seem to have fallen apart a bit in the transition. The last three months have been trying for me, being so out of my comfort zone. I am starting to feel more like myself and have decided that it is time to pull myself up and try to refocus. I will try to keep you posted on how things are going. The new job is great but, I am having trouble finding my stride. I feel like I am no where near my full capacity and that bothers the living heck out of me, and I can't figure out why. The work environment is a little different than I am used to, it's an open floor plan and everyone sits together. I tend to be a bit of a recluse, I work best by myself in my own quiet space. I wonder if that has anything to do with it? There are a lot of distractions. I love the energy of an open design studio but am not so sure it is conducive to my style of working. Oh well, blah, blah, blah, I'll figure it out. Thanks for listening.

I am going to try to keep creating a pattern a day for little while. I think it is a good way to keep me motivated.

(Design © 2009 Stephanie Ryan)

Companion Pattern

Here is a little companion pattern to yesterdays Grow with Gratitude pattern. As a side note, it feels good to be posting again. I am getting back into the swing of things in a very quiet way.

(design ©2009 Stephanie Ryan)

Gratitude is the key to manifesting

Try practicing gratitude when you are manifesting. Be grateful for all that you have, even the things that make your life challenging. You will be surprised by the results.

(design ©2009 Stephanie Ryan)

Happy Valentines Day

(Design ©Stephanie Ryan)

Look! My fabric is featured in Elle Decor... just kidding.

Sorry. I had to say that. I was playing around with PhotoShop this morning and mocked up some of my designs in this interior shot. Looks kind of real. Right?

Here are the designs before I played with them.

This was a fun project to work on. It helps a lot to see how your designs work on different products. You could also do the flat art method shown below. But it's not as much fun.






Okay, they are fun too. Try playing with your own designs, you'll love it.

So, now I have to switch gears a bit with the rest of my day. Work is pretty busy these days. I just finished up one of the Holiday programs and was given three more programs to work on!!!! Yikes, and of course they are due yesterday : ) So, I plan on meditating a bit. I need to start researching and sketching this week, so I want to clear my mind and refocus. I didn't get a chance to paint any new designs for myself this weekend, hopefully I can start something new this week.

Oh! Great news by the way, I have been on my elimination diet and detox for two weeks now and am feeling really great. I can't believe how much I was affected by the food I was eating. I have removed all foods that I could potentially be allergic to and am giving my body a chance to normalize and heal. I can already feel a huge difference in just two weeks.

Enjoy your Sunday and have a wonderfully creative week!!! You can do it.

I am leaving you with this Alphabet for Life Plaque from Acacia Catalog.

( All original art © Stephanie Ryan & Blue Pumpkin Press, plaque from Acacia Catalog)

Crisp breezes on the horizon.

Hello there friends! It's Friday... woohoo! Today is my last work from home day. Summer hours are over at work which is a bummer. I am trying to look at the bright side of this... my favorite time of year is right around the corner!!!!! So here are some fun new patterns to welcome in the fall time. Have a great weekend.

( all designs © Blue Pumpkin Press)

Coming Full Circle

I hope you all had a great weekend. I had some fun painting again this weekend. I painted a new painting and put it together with some older work of mine, and was so pleased with the way they all went together. I posted more about this over on my other blog Print Pattern Repeat. Take a peek over there if you would like to read about how I got started and how I feel I have come full circle with these new designs. For the first time I feel like I am connecting with my work on a deeper level...very exciting stuff!

(©Stephanie Ryan 2008)

Play, Play... Play, Play, Play.

I'm having way too much fun. Here is a painting I worked on over the weekend. I couldn't resist picking it apart and playing with some patterns.

(© Stephanie Ryan 2008)

Old School

I have been trying to take a break from my computer these days. Not completely, of course, because it is such an amazing tool. I have been wanting to experiment with drawing and painting off of the computer. I usually make a line drawing of a design, scan it, and redraw it in Illustrator. I love the look of the designs but feel they are too stiff, they lack that warm and fuzzy feeling. So, here is a painting I was playing around with. I couldn't just leave it as a painting though, it had to become a pattern...because I am obsessed...sorry. I know it is very traditional, with no modern zing, but I like it. I'm warm, I'm fuzzy. 

 

 

(© Stephanie Ryan)

Button Up

This new pattern reminds me of my doll making days. I bought a lot of antique buttons! I decided to make this into a baby invitation for BPP.

Button Up

(design ©Blue Pumpkin Press)

Emotional Response

I was playing around with this new design. I love the way you can change the color of a design and get a totally different feeling from it. It is amazing how important color is.

(Design © Stephanie Ryan)

On My Lunch Break

I decided to play a little bit at lunch today. Here is a fun bird pattern that popped up after my curry chicken.

( Designs © Stephanie Ryan )

Pattern Play

I have been playing with patterns a lot. These prints are based on BPP designs. I have another group that I am working on to send out to some fabric companies. Scared? Yup! I will keep you updated on that one.

(images © Blue Pumpkin Press)

Pattern Play

Here are some patterns I have been playing with. They are all inspired by existing Blue Pumpkin Press designs.

(images ©BluePumpkinPress)