My submission for the Global Talent Search hosted by Lilla Rogers Studio has been a joy to create! . I went with a Metamorphosis theme for this assignment: to design a tea cup, saucer and napkin for a posh newly expanded tea and pastry cafe. I named the cafe "Chrysalis" and went with imagery of moths and fruit. I've been obsessed with the combination of peachy-salmon tones with dusty rose lately so I knew they would play a role and of course, light aqua blues and mossy greens are always popping into the picture ! I did my first honest to goodness repeat pattern in Photoshop with this project. The original idea was to put the pattern on the tea cup but I decided on putting it on the napkin only as well as a backdrop neutral for the overall presentation.

The repeat pattern on the tea cup option

I also tried it with a grey background...

I made the decision not to do a mock up of a teacup with the design on it. I really wanted to keep the composition simple and let the art come forward. I decided instead to do the teacup design on a template shape that would be used at the factory level to place it on the cup.

I wanted to push the unexpected nature of using moths instead of butterflies. Moths are so varied and so many are just amazingly gorgeous. I borrowed nature books filled with photographs of moths and their various stages of life: chrysalis, caterpillar, egg, etc... from my dear friend Loree Burns who has a vast collection of such books including the ones she has written! If you have a young nature lover check out her books - they are terrific! .

I liked the idea of using the Metamorphosis idea in conjunction with a place you might go to pause for a bit to gain sustenance to continue your personal journey or perhaps spiritual unfolding. I came up with a tag line for the cafe: "Nurture your Metamorphosis" for the cafe.

I truly felt more confident and joy-filled working on this assignment than I have in previous GTS attempts. I hope my emotion for this personal victory shines through in the result. Crossing my fingers and toes that Lilla and her staff sees something they'd like to see more of and will allow me the opportunity to try my hand at the next assignment. There are over 1,000 international artists in this GTS and she will have to narrow that group down to 50 ! Not an easy job I am sure. I will let you know ! In the mean time I still have work on the Gracie Brave book and having fun with the last few pages - so much going on in these last illustrations and I am loving that prospect as well!

Here is my final presentation submission: