One of the best things about seeing cherry blossoms in the spring, is when they start losing their petals and the whole world becomes a cherry-blossom snow globe. I was lucky enough to catch this phenomenon while living in Japan, the capitol of hanami (cherry blossom viewing). I had been living there and teaching English on the Jet Programme. When I would bike out to the school where I was at, I'd ride along the small, winding, canal en route and enjoy getting caught in the pink and white storm. If I was lucky, a petal would fly into my face and I'd get temporarily blinded, but I guess those are the hazards.

It was the original inspiration for the idea behind this design. 

However, the form is a little more obscure. Since I started the site, I've been researching Hungarian patterns and motifs because my family comes from that German / Austro-Hungarian part of the world. During my research travels, I stumbled upon a motif which I had assumed was Hungarian but, alas... is not. It was originally featured in A Schole-House for the Needle, a 1624 book by Richard Shorleyker who was a printer working in London. This pattern book is a compilation of designs and patterns for embroidery. But, the snippet I found very much reminded me of the Hungarian flower motifs that I had been looking at.

One thing I also realized is how the arts transcend borders. A looot of this stuff looks so similar. But, when you have countries conquering each other, I guess that's what you get.

So, I thought I'd take a crack and see what I could do with it. I'm not usually really great at documenting my processes. And, it's kind of a design no-no, but a lot of times I start directly sketching in Illustrator, instead of by hand. I chalk that up to having to work under deadline pressure for so many years. Also maybe sometimes a bit lazy! (lol). But also a lot of times, I find that when something really works, I kinda trance out and I don't know how I got there. Creativity isn't structured.

After importing the design into Illustrator and working with it, I really really got inspired by this sgraffito vase. Sgraffito, in Italian, means "scratched" and I liked its graphic nature.

APPARENTLY, since I can speak and read Japanese, I also work in the same direction: Right to left! (*shaking my head*) I started off with the design on the right and as I kept refining the lines, I thought, "What if I take away this line?" and when all the black started coming through, I knew I had something.

So that's a little about the evolution of this design. I'll be posting about things that inspire me and trying to delve behind them.