cutie-pie butterfly dress ...

butterfly pattern ©BeeBrown 2016 for Little Miss Marmalade

... sorry blog, its been a while since I last posted but I thought you might like to see one of the dresses that is currently part of Little Miss Marmalade's 2016 Autumn collection. I have more posted on my instagram account to please pop over there if you'd like to see them (click here). Thanks to Little Miss Marmalade for doing such a great job incorporating the pattern into their fabulous designs and making such fun, happy little dresses. Makes me want to be 6 years old again!

blueprint ...

... getting ready for Blueprint 4! ... it's July and the middle of Summer so that's a sure sign that I should be thinking about Christmas ...

giveaway day ...

... I'm doing a little giveaway today! Yay! If anyone would like to have a go at winning this high quality A4 print, please just make a comment below. I'm also doing this giveaway across my Design Hive FB page, Twitter and Instagram so please feel free to go there if you prefer. It's also open to everyone. The deadline is this sunday at midnight and I'll draw and announce a winner on Tuesday 31st May. I hope lots join in and good luck! xx

project calm ..

... so thrilled to see my work in 'Project Calm' today. 'Project Calm' is a modern, fresh thinking magazine project which focuses on the idea of mindful living through journaling, meditation, crafts, calligraphy and yoga amongst lots of other things. My illustration accompanies an article all about the home and features some really fun and groovy ideas for living spaces. Go and get your copy today! Available in the UK at £9.99 from all good magazine retailers!

petite louise ...

... I have some beautiful new prints and postcards now available through Petite Louise ... there are 6 designs in total to choose from and here are 3 of them. Petite Louise are a gorgeous on-line shop and can be found here. Hope you'll pop along and take a look! x

3,000 thank you's...

... just to say I've hit the 3,000 mark over on Instagram! If you follow me over there, thank you so much! ... If you don't and would like to, please follow the link on the right hand side of this blog ... or you can find me @beebrownhive Thanks again!

spring fair 3 ...

... by the time I've finished posting these photos from the Spring Fair it will undoubtedly be time for the Autumn Fair! Never mind, better late than never and I thought the pics from Acorn and Will's stand were so great that it was still worthwhile posting them. If you want to find out more you can check out their website here. They specialise in really bright, fun vintage, retro & sometime kitsch jewellery and fabric (amongst other things) and everything is really affordable and always under 10 squids. Hope you enjoy the photos! I think the colour inspiration from the stand is dazzling! See you soon. xxx

spring fair 2 ...

 ... today I'm going to be posting some more pics of lovely things I spotted at the Spring Fair (I know I promised this earlier in the week so sorry it's a bit late!). Next up are some gorgeous plant pots, vases, planting vessels and terrariums from the aptly named 'Chive'. One of the things I learned in the trend seminars is that 'Indoor Garden' is going to be super hot trend for this coming year. Unfortunately 'Chive' don't have a super groovy website for me to point you in the direction of, but hopefully these photos will provide some inspiration in themselves. I'll post more fun stuff from the show soon. Enjoy! x

spring fair 2016 ...

fab light display on one of the stands - photo courtesy ©JamJarLights

... Every year in February I like to take a trip to Birmingham to go and walk the Spring Fair at the NEC. It's an amazing show choc full of fabulous products waiting to hit the shop floors. As it's such a huge show, covering everything from Homewares to Jewellery and Kids Toys to Christmas Products, I tend to prioritise what I'm going to see. I always make sure I check out the contemporary halls as they are so much fun, and another must-do is checking out the WGSN trend report shows for 2016-17. I met some great people this year as I pootled around the halls, and they very kindly let me take a few photos of their stands as I went, so I thought it would be fun to write up a few posts this week highlighting some of the fab products I spotted.

... One company I came across was JamJar Lights, (they can be found at www.jamjarlights.com) who have just created a great new app which allows you to custom design your own lighting designs. Fabulous! More photos to follow tomorrow ...

circus fun ...

circus fox ©beebrown 2016

circus fun ©bee brown 2016

... Last Summer I was asked to create some jolly circus animals for a kids wall chart company in Korea. I was thrilled to bits when my samples arrived in the post so I thought I'd take a photo and pop it up on the blog for you to see too, along with one of my first round pencil sketches. The entire length of the wall chart is also being posted in 3 chunks on my instagram feed, so if you fancy popping over there to see it in all its glory, please do! 

brick building a brand in a book ...

photo © Fiona Humberstone

... It's the beginning of a New Year and it's the start of my personal 'book' for 2016 ... (not the one pictured above I must mention; I'll come back to that one later), but the start of the new book thats in MY head ... my imaginary book ... my creative journey book; the one that will help me write my creative story of this coming year. I like to think of every New Year as a fresh, unopened book that's waiting to be filled with its own particular stories, dreams, aspirations, achievements, heartbreaks and struggles ... Idealistic maybe, but it helps me organise my thoughts. I'm on that first, clean, untouched page of my allegorical yearbook and already I have a long list of things I would like to attempt to achieve scrawled onto it (in a very nice fine-liner pen I must add!). I'll warn you now, this is going to be a long post ... a long post where I share some of the thoughts and ideas whirling around my head, with the aim of trying to get them all in to some sense of order and shape ...

... So just to re-cap, last year was an astonishing year for me creatively. As those of you who have been following my blog for a while will know, I was lucky enough to be picked up by Jennifer Nelson Artists for representation. Having an agent like Jennifer has been a really great move and since January of last year when it all began, I can honestly say I have truly loved the journey so far. I have learned and have a clearer understanding of SO much: I've learned more about trade shows, prep-ing for trade shows, licensing artwork, clients needs, handling relationships better, developing work, different ways to organise and the list goes on. From my perspective, the benefits and relationship/work dynamic of having an agent have been great, but after a year with the agency, I realise I still have a long way to go...

... Perhaps it's just the endless battle that creative types have with themselves about achieving that 'style' that really represents them. That style that sets them apart from every other illustrator out there and that marks them as truly individual with that unique 'not what anyone can offer' quality, yet still provide the market-place with what it demands. It's a pretty tall order but necessary to pursue and I still have some refining to do ...

... And this is where the real, physical above-mentioned book-as-opposed-to-the-allegorical-one  comes in: I'm hoping "How to Style your Brand" by Fiona Humberstone will help me march on with the next round of 'illustration dream completion'! I've never met Fiona but she seems a thoroughly switched on cookie with lots of juicy tips to share. I'm not going to attempt to give a book review here, but from having a good look at all the other 'How to Brand Yourself' books available out there, she does seem to offer something accessible and digestible. And I think this is part of the next step in my journey and one which I'm hoping 2016 will help me define ...

... Last year came with rather a lot of private struggles and challenges (I know we all get them) ... but a BIG lot. I'm hoping this year will be slightly freer of those struggles and I'll have more energy & time to devote to making more lovely work. LOTS got neglected last year (like my website for instance - hasn't been touched in over a year), so the first part of my plan needs to involve devoting time to defining myself as an illustrator with a little more clarity and cohesion, and moving away from the mish-mash of how I feel things are at the moment.

... So, brick by brick, bit by bit, and coming in the first half of 2016 will be an updated logo, website and blog along with other bits and pieces ... and I think perhaps more importantly, a clearer idea of who I'm trying to illustrate for ... a more streamlined look and perspective! Lots and Lots of work to do but I'm looking forward to the challenge and to sharing some of my processes and journey with you along the way. Happy New Year everyone! Lets hope it's a goodie!! xox

welcome 2016 ...

'welcome 2016' ©bee brown 2016

... Happy New Year everyone! Like a fresh, clean page in a new book, may the new year bring us many happy stories and create for us many happy memories! xxx