peony
via design crush
Kelly wrote a post about my new custom paintings (and one I made especially for her!) over on Design Crush this week. I'll tell you all more about the paintings soon, but first- Read the post here.
"Sweet peas & Peonies" via courtney khail stationery and design (feel free to share, but please give me credit and link back to my site.)
This is week four of my new design intros and this week the featured design is "Sweet peas & Peonies."
Okay so technically it's a ranunculus crossed with a peony, but one of the best things about being an artist is creative license and "sweetpeas & ranunculus" just doesn't roll off the tongue as well. Either way, I wanted a really dominant and sturdy center flower that would be framed and layered with more delicate blooms. After approximately 10-15 different takes, this is the one I finally decided upon. I love how the little blooms peak around the bigger "peony" and how one single stem branches out behind it creating both depth and height. Because it has a slight wave like feeling, I wanted to juxtapose that with an angular, graphic layout for the wording. By using different sans serif fonts and tweaking the spacing, I was able to create a save the date where both the information and the painting stood out without either part over shadowing the other.
"Wild Peony" copyright courtney khail stationery and design (feel free to share, but please give credit and link back to my site)
This week's new design is the Wild Peony. Often I think people view peonies as a more luxurious, delicate flower (probably due to it's super short growing season and therefore they aren't locally available year round) but for this design I wanted to give it a more wild, "freshly picked from a garden" feeling. Kind of a mixed bouquet of sorts- with small delicate blooms combined with the lush peony and then juxtaposed against the hardness of the berries. I really enjoy seeing when different textures and unique pieces are combined in arrangements and decided to bring that into this design. (This is a common theme throughout my new designs so you may here that a lot over the new few weeks.) Not only does it bring visual interest, but it also creates more depth to the piece.
As for the invitation, one of my best friends got married at Boone Hall Plantation in South Carolina and I loved the entire feeling of the place. (There were gardens, tree lined drives, and huge green fields all on the water.) It had such a beautiful balance of the wild and the traditional so when I was designing thinking of where to take the invitation to showcase the "Wild Peony" design I knew I wanted to pull inspiration from that experience. Hope you enjoy it!
I was doing my morning read today (some people read the newspaper when they wake up, I read blogs.) when I found this:
Thank you so much Ms. Polka Dot!! I really appreciate all of the wonderful things you had to say!
Everyone should definitely go check out her blog as well (great ideas, photos, etc), and if you happen to be an Australian bride, it is the place for you to find anything and everything you might need.
It is so exciting to see people writing about what I do! Not to mention a fantastic way to start the day.
Hope everyone's Tuesday is just as bright!
via me
I'm working on a wedding order right now for a lovely Australian bride so I am a little busy and haven't been able to make a ton of boards lately. I'm so sorry! But since everyone has been so patient, I thought I would give you a sneak peek into what I've been working on lately. Promise photographs of the finished product are just days away!