Bonne Année Grand Nez!

This year went by so fast! I feel like I neglected my blog a little, I was so busy marketing my new coloring book. The response has been so amazing that I am trying to get another one out in the next few months, stay tuned for some sneak previews! I did find time to enter the last Spoonflower contest of the year, "New Year Tradition", voting is open until tomorrow, Wednesday, December 30th.

I also decided to enter the Port Townsend Paper Mill Annual Kraft Christmas Tree Contest. And guess what? I won the "CEO AWARD". I found out when I opened the newspaper and saw my name in there. I feel very important. It is not clear what I actually won, but I am pretty sure it is a private jet, or a 60 foot yacht. Either way, everybody is invited to a wild party as soon as I receive my prize. I will keep you posted, start thinking about that you are going to wear…yes, it is very exciting!
Happy New Year everybody! It's going to be a good one and a wild ride!

Agenda à colorier

I feel like I abandoned my blog for a little bit there. The last month has been so busy with the launch of my new book: The Pacific Northwest Coloring book and then we had a bunch of people visiting us. So it's been action packed but a lot of fun! And I am happy to report that sales are going very well! We are now in stores in Washington and California and soon the be in Canada and Oregon! And then I got a contract to do 12 illustrations for Rolland Paper Inc for a 2016 agenda coloring book. This is the cover, a colored illustration of their very cool building. I had a lot of fun doing this job and working with my dear friend Louise. I can't wait to see it printed and I will show you more of it in a following post! A bientôt!

The Pacific Northwest Coloring Book

We are happy to announce the release of our brand new coloring book: The Pacific Northwest Coloring Book! It's a collaboration with my artist friend Melina Lamoureux who is also from Montreal. We both share a passion for the Pacific Northwest and for drawing, so that's seemed like the perfect project for us! We did 20 illustrations each. We'll take you on a road trip up and down the West Coast through luscious forests, seaside villages, serene lakes, snow capped mountains, salty oceans and white sandy beaches. You will certainly catch a few waves, hop on a ferry, sail to an island, watch for whales, visit a lighthouse and encounter all kinds of wildlife. Also, if you live near Port Townsend, come to our book launch next Thursday October 29th from 5 to 7pm at Summer House Design on Water Street. Happy coloring!

Merci!

A big thank you to everybody who voted for me in the Fabric8 contest. I did not win but I am deeply touched by your support. And I am grateful that I got in the top 8 to begin with and for all the exposure. And the good news is, I have a lead at another great fabric company and I will be contacting them shortly! So sooner or later I will have a fabric collection out there, but it won't happen through a design contest. Stay tuned!

It's time to vote!

Multiflorum Collection | Fabric8 Design contest 

Multiflorum Collection | Printed fabric

It's finally time to vote in the final round! I feel like a politician asking everybody to vote for me! I got a little write up in the local newspaper, the Port Townsend Leader! That was pretty exciting! Lots of nice collections in this round, it's going to be a hard one to win, but I still really want to win...You can vote here until October 14th. Only one vote per device is allowed, but you can vote with your phone, iPad, computer, etc. If I win, I will be doing all sorts of giveaways on this blog to celebrate, so check in again after the 15th. Thank you again for your support.

Blue Marguerite

For my last coordinate for my Fabric8 Multiflorum Collection, I decided on a flowery all watercolor design. I took an illustration right out of my sketchbook and cleaned it up a bit then created a repeat in photoshop. Marguerite, the French word for “daisy,” is derived from the Greek word, margarite, which means “pearl". I love daisies, they are simple, elegant and sweet. This cheerful watercolor interpretation speaks to their sunny disposition!

Flora Stripe

I love stripes so of course I would do a striped coordinate for my Multiflorum fabric collection. Picture yourself sitting in a cozy wicker chair in a flower conservatory with pillows covered in that striped fabric. This hand drawn stripe has a vintage feel to me with the latin flower and mushroom names and the little trellis texture for the flowers to grow on...

Champignons!

Here's a little preview of my Multiflorum Collection. I worked on several color ways but for the final I decided to go with red after polling my friends in the US and Canada. The international consensus was to use the red one. I will show you more of the collection in the next few days…

Champignons Rouges | Multiflorum Collection | Botanical sketchbook Fabric8 Contest 2015

I put this little assortment of mushrooms against a trellis texture to keep the garden and botanical hand drawn sketch feel. Mushrooms have the most interesting shapes, and there are so many different kinds. They always pop up in my sketchbook and they make me happy! 

Inspiration

Today, my interview came out on the Spoonflower blog with the title: "Meet Lucie Duclos, Fabric8 Finalist and World Traveler". First I was an "Internationella Kreatör" in the Åland newspaper in Finland, and now a world traveler. I see a theme here, and I like it! More traveling for me perhaps? I was at my mom's cabin this weekend and the weather was simply gorgeous and the lake water so warm and clear. There was also mushrooms everywhere and they are making their way into my final collection. I have to finish my 3 design and then it will be up for voting from October 8th to October 14th. I will keep you posted on my progress!

I made the top 8!

Woohoo! I made the top 8! So, so excited! Thank you for your votes, this could not have happened without your support. WOW! Now I have to go work on my collection and my interview. I will keep you posted on my progress…Today is a good day!

Multiflorum in Top 100

Multiflorum by Snowflower, Fabric8 2015 Botanical Sketchbook entry

I just found out I made the top 100 over 800 entries in the Spoonflower fabric8 Botanical Sketchbook contest sponsored by Moda Fabrics. Woohoo! Moda has always been one of my favorite textile company, they have some really great collections and I would LOVE to design for them. I am so excited that my design even got into the Spoonflower contest email blast, right smack in the middle! Lots and lots of beautiful designs this year, so I will need your help to advance to the next round which is the top 8. You can vote here. As always, thank you for your support!

Butterfly Paisley Collection

Butterfly Paisley Coordinates Contest entry

Yes, it's that time again! Spoonflower contest of the week. This week the theme is Butterfly Coordinates and we had to design a collection that would fit on a yard of fabric. I decided to do a butterfly paisley as my main design. I always wanted to try to design a paisley but it felt so hard to draw and so intricate but it's actually not that difficult and it's kind of a zen thing to draw all those small elements. I really enjoyed this one, and it's a warm up for next week's contest which is the fabric8 competition, stay put! To vote in this week's contest, go here. And as always, thank you for your support!

Butterfly Paisley Collection main design

Internationella Kreatörer

Our wonderful group on the last day of the workshop.

This is very exciting, I made the news in the Åland local paper. On the last day of the workshop, a reporter, Liisa Mendelin, was walking around and asking questions and talked to me for a while, and then next thing I know, I am in the newspaper. It's all in Swedish but I think the article says this about me: "I love Lotta's work and I love Scandinavia. When I saw the beautiful pictures in Afar magazine, I knew immediately that I wanted to go", says Lucie Duclos from Port Townsend, USA.

She wanted to get a new perspective on printing techniques. Right now she is working with stencils. She has cut a nature inspired pattern in a plastic film. Now she dab the color through the plastic on cotton fabric.

In daily life, Duclos is a graphic designer. She has her own company and designs packaging."

So from now on, call me the "Internationella Kreatör"! I'll try to not let it go to my head. I am still fairly unknown in the US…but not for long with this kind of international press, watch out! :)

Last day on Åland

On our last day of the workshop we worked on stenciling techniques on fabric in the morning and in the afternoon we worked any techniques we learned on paper or textile. After dinner (fresh caught perch) Dave played Lotta's ukulele and sang a song for me for our anniversary, that was a hit! And then he did Chantilly Lace and I just had to chime in with a spoon solo to showcase a little French Canadian culture! It definitely entertained this international crowd! We went back to the barn, this time to dance the Schottis, a Swedish folk dance. Everybody went to the sauna after but we decided to walk to the little lookout at the end of the island and watch the sunset. That last photo was taken at midnight!!

A field trip to Mariehamn

On day 3, we went on a field trip to the Åland capital of Mariehamn. We stopped at Judy's, a ceramic artist who has her store and studio in an old dairy farm. She had coffee and pastries for us and she was totally adorable. I bought one of her mug and also a cute apron and tea towel from another Åland artist. Then we had lunch in Marihamn and spent the rest of the day checking out the town and shopping. This town kind of reminded me of Port Townsend with all it's maritime history and wooden boats. We had dinner in a cool little restaurant sitting outside on wood crates on the docks and then danced the charleston (totally unplanned, they just happened to have a band and a dance demo and we couldn't resist but join in). And how many occasion do you get to dance the charleston in Finland anyway?

Day 2 at Silverskär

Silverskär is the name of the hotel where we are staying. The workshop takes place in the barn and it's an amazing space. We started the day with a demo from Lotta on potato prints and working on repeats exploring direction, color and spacing of different motifs. We started in our sketchbooks and then moved on to fabric. In the afternoon we worked on block printing and carved our own vinyl stamps. At 4 pm we took a "fika" break with coffee and freshly baked cakes and pastries from our chef Viktor then we went back to work until dinner (fresh salmon, one of the best I ever had!). In the meantime, Dave was busy riding a kayak around the island and practicing his ax throwing skills (I am not even kidding!)

Lotta Jansdotter Workshop in Åland

Lotta's workshop-day one! So much to tell. We arrived on the ferry from Stockholm-a 6 hour ride through the archipelago- and Lotta and her 2 assistants (Nerissa and Makenna) were waiting for us and distributed those charming handmade ceramic name tags, then we got on the bus to take us to another boat that would take us to our private island. When we got to the boat house on the other side, they greeted us with crepes and schnapps, now that's civilized! When we got to our room, on the beds, was a little goodie bag with a handmade eye mask, postcards, chocolates and metallic tattoos. So sweet! We went swimming and then sauna, hot tub, a little walk around the island and it was time for our 3 course dinner by our fabulous chef Viktor. There is 27 of us here and everybody is super nice and friendly. This feels like summer camp! I LOVE it!

Djurgarden, Stockholm

I am a little behind on my blog because I am having a little too much fun in Åland but I have to tell you a bout a few cool places we went to in Djurgården, an island with lots of museums in Stockholm.
First, the Vasa Museet which hosts a ship wreck from 1628. It was salvaged in 1961 and reconstructed in the museum. Very impressive and a fascinating but also embarrassing story because this brand new ship sunk after sailing for only 20 minutes while everybody was watching. Beautiful ship, bad design. Then we had lunch at Rosendals Trädgård, wonderful gardens, greenhouse and café where you can take your lunch in the orchard and have a picnic. We also visited the Liljevalchs museum and enjoyed the work of a popular ceramic artist in Sweden, Hertha Hillfon. Next post, the Åland archipelago!