Hallyburton Collection Autumn/Winter 2014

Patterned Fields Swirl 72dpi webHere’s my new images for next years 2014 Autumn/Winter Hallyburton Collection.  All inspired by where I live on a country estate in the heart of Perthshire, Scotland.  I’m surrounded by an abundance of inspiration on my doorstep!

Louise Kirby Woodland Wandering 72 dpi

Mood a circleMood c circleMood b circle

Mood d circle

Mood e circle

Mood f circle

I’m continually inspired by the changing seasons and fascinated at the harmonisation of the flora and fauna blending together.  You often find me exploring knee deep amongst the grasses and dotted wild flowers, wandering through the woods of dappled trees and patchwork fields – I hope my designs capture the essence my surroundings.

Elemets brush 72dpi web

Pheasant Footprint brush 72dpi web

This new Autumn/Winter 2014 Hallyburton Collection uses a palette of greens and a hint of warm chestnut.  Some of my artworks include my fascination of pheasants as I follow their footprints around the estate, textured of stacked logs and expressive dotty marks of nature’s elements.

tree rings repeat merged 72dpi web

I create sophisticated patterned artworks for your products using my signature style of a lovely organic movement using repetitive marks and textures in delicious colours.

Stacked logs stripe 72dpi web

Patterned artworks collections can be licensed or I can be commissioned to create something bespoke for your products.

Patterned Fields Green 72dpi web

 

Lets go on a journey together…

land rover web imageI was lucky to be selected to take part in the coaching with Cultural Enterprise Office with Lynn O’Neill.  I really enjoyed the bespoke personal service and allowing myself the time to develop.  I was encourage to think BIG, so I wanted to showcase my patterned artworks on a product that would dispel the myth that my artwork was only for scarves.  So I started an self initiated project, for my all time favourite car the Land Rover Defender.

I think the brand really matched the essence of what I’m about and my love of the great outdoors.  I wanted to use my patterned artwork and signature style of delicious colours, patterns, and expressive mark making with a rhythmic flow capturing the essence wilderness of the landscape to create sophisticated, natural and beautiful designs suitable for Land Rover Defender.

land rover section by louise kirby

So I set about creating some hand painted paper designs using imagery of the landscape, fields of pattern and animals.  My visualisation was that I see the Land Rover Defenders as something that can go anywhere with no obstacle and I wanted to capture this in my artworks by merging and blending a variety of terrains into one another to give the feeling that Land Rovers can go anywhere, with spontaneous marks the emphasise the thrill, and adventure of the Land Rover Experience through the rugged British countryside.

I could imagine my patterned artworks on  – exterior bodywork, spare wheel covers, interior upholstery, promotional leaflets, collectable toys, and water bottles to hoods.

From there I needed to visualise the artwork on a product, so without getting my hands on the real thing I tried putting my designs on simple line drawings.  Here are some of my samples.

Land Rover Repeat in Product web

land rover red in product webI searched for the biggest model I could afford and got this lovely toy and set about applying my design idea on the product.  I also made a hand printed silk wheel cover too!  I loved the little model so took it to the park to do a wee photo shoot. Here are some of the photos from that day.

Land Rover web

Land Rover View webLand Rover water web

Land Rover Grass web

I hope you like my creation; do you imagine driving about with my design on it?

I’d love to go on an adventure with Land Rover where I bring the creativity and they bring the wheels!

wheel commission louise kirby web

New year and new products – cushions, cards, art prints and canvases

Stripy Fields Framed ArtI’ve signed up to Society 6 that allows designers to have a range of products.  I have 3 of my designs Fields of Pattern, Stripy Fields and Spotty Fields on this website producing cushions, cards, art prints and canvases for me.

Cushions come in 3 sizes 16″ x 16″, 18″ x 18″, 20″ x 20″ and you can choose to have the cushion pad included or not, available in all 3 designs.  Please click on the cushion and you will be taken to the website.

Fields of Pattern Pillow

Spotty Fields Pillow

Stripy Fields Pillow

 

Cards come in a pack of 3 of the same design and are available in all 3 designs.  Please click on the card to be directed to the website.

Fields of Pattern Card Spotty Fields Card

Stripy Fields Card

Art Prints come Framed or Unframed and in various sizes in all 3 designs. Please click on the card to be directed to the website.

Fields of Pattern Framed Art

Spotty Fields Framed Art

Stripy Fields Framed Art

 

Canvases  in various sizes on white canvas using the latest Epson archival inks, are also available please click here to see.

All products are available directly through Society6, the website is in dollars and it ships  to the UK for a small fee.  Enjoy shopping!  Part of my mission to cover the world in my patterns!

for your tootsies, hoofs, trotters, paws or feet

I’ve moved to the countryside allowing me to be surrounded by my inspiration of Scottish wilderness and thousand of pheasants!  After days out exploring the area I would come home with muddy welllies or walking boots, so I decided to make myself a doormat  to keep my house nice and clean!  Here’s some examples of my hand painted doormats.

Hand Printed Doormat

Indoor use only

Helping to keep your home clean

Each one unique

Material – Coir Mat, PVC backed.

Introductory offer of £25, only available for collection from my studio, please email me if you would like one hello@louisekirby.com

I also had a little play with some other silhouettes and patterns I like!

 

 

Sneak + Peek

I’ve been creating some one-off, hand printed scarves in my studio.  The Sneak + Peek collection is inspired by the pheasants hiding amongst the fields.  Where I live there are thousands of pheasants but it’s not till you come close that they reveal themselves with their distinctive call warning all there pheasant friends to look out.  The mono printing technique that allows me to capture the textures of the fields and no two scarves are the same.  Each scarf is reversible to allow you to change your look and get two scarves for the price of one!


 

 

 

Material – 100% Silk Crepe de Shine

Dimensions – 32cm x 180cm (aprox)

Price – £120

Scarves are available to buy directly from me, please email me hello@louisekirby.com   I will include free postage and packaging to any UK address.

 

All Bagged Up

I’m delighted to announce that Anththropologie have chosen one of my design for their new collection. One of my pheasants is now fashioning itself on a tote bags in the USA and UK.  You can check out the tote bag here, they are only available directly through Anthropologie.

I love seeing my artworks on different products and how Anthropologie have styled it with it’s plain back and slightly sparkly handle – and of course seeing my logo on their products with their tags.

It’s exciting to think that my artwork is reaching a bigger audience here in the UK and the USA.

I personally think myself and Anthropologie make a great combination for collaborations and the whole experience has been a pleasure!

Labour of Love – Anthropologie NYC

My first export order has gone over the pond and far away… all the way to New York! They have flown to 2 of Anthropologie’s stores in New York – the Chelsea Market store and 16th & 5th store.

These hand printed scarves are all handmade by me in Scotland; and each scarf is ever so slightly different.  It’s intensive and very much a labour of love to design and craft my scarves to create the finished product.

Here’s a wee bit of info on the processes from start to finish:  From the mixing of dyes to create delicious pots of colour, I do lots of testing to get the right shades. Hand screen printing each scarf individually using complicated blending techniques and stencils of pheasants.  Mono printing the reverse side, gives a very unique hand made quality where each mark is scratched in.  Washing the screens, hanging to dry, steaming of silk to fix the dyes, hand washing till any loose dyes are removed (and by this time my fingers have all gone wrinkly), ironing, sewing and adding in the care labels. Then attaching the official Anthropologie labels, felt good! Packaging up and to note the massive amount of paperwork from purchase orders to packaging list then Fed Ex-ing over the pond!

It’s been a real learning experience working on this project and I’d like to thanks to the whole Anthropologie team that helped me get through all the hoops for exporting. I felt like a very little fish swimming across the Atlantic Ocean or perhaps more apt, a wee Scottish birdie flying across the Atlantic Ocean!

My work sits so well with Anthropologie’s brand and values; with their ethos of quality, love of pattern, and how they really embrace working with artists and makers.  I think this makes them them unique even though they are such a big company.

Their unique shopping experience means you just want to spend time in their stores. The beautiful displays are always a feast for your senses; and so many beautiful things mixed with very good styling and visual merchandising.

It’s great how having created the storefore front for their new Edinburgh store in May (see video), I’ve since designed a small collection for the Edinburgh store and now scarves for the New York stores.  I really hope the ladies of NYC like my scarves, who knows who will be wearing them!