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This is probably the longest I've gone without blogging. The final month of 2015 and this first month of 2016 have been spent taking a (much-needed) break and reassessing everything in my life after the numerous changes and challenges of last year. I've had to make decisions on what to prioritise and what to cut out completely, and have been surprised by the choices I made.

So I'm starting this year out full of Hope, and I'm passing that along to all of you. I've decided to carry on with the free printables to subscribers of the Floating Lemons monthly newsletter although it almost didn't make the cut. But despite my extremely full schedule now that I'm back in college, I do find pleasure in producing a text-based illustration every month, and anything that makes me feel good is staying for the coming year! This year I'm going for just one word, every month, that will express some form of inspiration or just good energy, and I think that "hope" is the perfect way to begin, even if it is a wee bit late ...

Here's a step-by-step progress of the illustration, from trying to figure out which text design I should use:

I was helped immensely by friends on my facebook and instagram pages who voted almost overwhelmingly for number 6, thank you! I then scanned it in, cleaned it up and printed it out very faintly so that I could roughly draw the flowers intertwined through it, and experiment with colours:

Once I decided on what I liked, I scanned the whole thing in again, made small changes in photoshop, reversed it and printed it out so that I could draw the outlines out in pencil and then transfer them onto a sheet of watercolour paper, then start colouring it in with watercolour pencils:

I then added water, painted over the pencils, worked in extra layers, and kept going:

Here's the final illustration before I scanned it in and cleaned it up in photoshop:

It took me a lot longer than expected but it was a pleasure getting 'into' a piece of art again, and a wonderful beginning to a creative year full of hope. I'm expecting more changes and challenges this year and look forward to tackling them all. Cheers.

PS: To get the Hope design as a free printable please do sign up for the Floating Lemons monthly newsletter and you'll get a text illustration available for you to download and print out at home every month. To subscribe just click HERE. Thank you!

"Follow your dream". I think that pretty much says it all. I live mine daily. I work at what I love and love what I work at. Everything else ... well, if it's something I love it becomes a part of the dream too, something else to work on, to aim for.

Are you following your dream? I hope so -- but if not, perhaps this print might give you a bit of a motivational start-up kick. It's free to subscribers of the Floating Lemons monthly newsletter, so if you'd like this as a printable (as well as the rest from 2015 so far), then just sign up HERE. Cheers.

This month I've invited good friend and talented designer Lisa Zainuddin from oxoloco.com to kindly contribute one of her lovely calligraphic pieces for the free printable that's available to subscribers of the monthly newsletter. What do you think of "Flourish & Bloom"? Absolutely delightful, right? Here's a shot of her work in progress ...

Lisa is also collaborating on the children's books with myself and brilliant author Jennifer Poulter, so you'll be hearing more of her as time goes by.

Meanwhile I'm back at college and the workload is pretty intense at the moment. I'll be posting pages from the sketchbooks here as I go along, as well as at the new site for my persona as children's book illustrator Mariana Black! It's all a bit confusing right now but I'm sure I'll get everything sorted out eventually, though some lines may remain blurred forever - I don't quite have a problem with that though.

As always, the monthly illustrated quotes are available as free printables exclusively to the subscribers of the Floating Lemons monthly newsletter. Click HERE to sign up for it.Have a lovely week! Cheers.

As we head into winter I thought it would be good to have a reminder of sunny days and summery good times to keep us warm when the cold finally hits. As I write this the weather is extraordinarily mild (for the UK!), the sun is shining away brightly, I'm not as yet huddled in front of the fire, and am enjoying every moment of light and clarity ... while it lasts. Here's a little print I've made to lift the spirits during the greyer months ahead, or just to provide an extra glow if you're lucky enough to live where it's warm all year long.

I re-coloured my Painted Flowers pattern for this, and cleaned it up further. Seemed perfect for this month, wouldn't you agree?

As always, it's available as a free printable (along with the past 10 monthly designs for 2014) for all subscribers of the Floating Lemons monthly newsletter. If you'd like to sign up, just click here.

Wishing you good humour for the week ahead. Cheers.

Seven years ago I mustered up the courage to make a huge change in my life, despite having been offered my "dream job". I left Australia and moved to France to instead work on my art and build a career and business from it. It's one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life.

I can't say that it was easy, and I've encountered quite a few bumps along the road, but I learned tons, and dogged determination has gotten me this far, with a small but thriving business and a huge love for what I do. Now, however, I'm again faced with massive new decisions to make, both in my work and personal life, and it's time to once again find the courage to make changes for the future. To follow my dreams. So this text design is particularly appropriate and will be my mantra for the days to come.

I've also placed it against a white background for the free printable that will be made available to the subscribers of the Floating Lemons monthly newsletter, as all that black may be a bit of a problem for home printers to handle. Both will be available, so you have a choice of whether to print it against white, or black if you think your printer can handle all that ink!

To sign up for the newsletter and get access to the previous free printables as well, just click here.

WIshing you the courage to follow your dreams. Cheers.

I loved working on this text design - it really strikes a deep, personal chord, as I've been using this as an affirmation for the last year and it has worked wonders in my life. So I'm passing it on, and hope that you choose to fill your lives with the possibility of facing all its challenges fueled by positive energy. It really does make a difference.

As always, this monthly illustration is available as a free printable for subscribers to the Floating Lemons newsletter, (next issue will be out on the first Saturday of this month, the 5th of April) so go ahead and sign up by clicking on the image above, or right HERE.

Here's the original sketch that I scanned in and then worked on digitally to get the finished piece:

Wishing all of you a day full of brightness. Cheers.

Be joyful! March always seems such a transitional month for me. Winter hasn’t quite shed its icy coat but there are signs of balmier spring weather sneaking into the air. A perfect time to choose to feel Joy, especially on those grey, cloudy mornings.

I wanted this illustration to feel natural, simple and spontaneous, so out came the watercolours, and I painted using bright, cheerful pinks, greens, oranges and blues, ending up with the above piece. Here are a couple of sketches:

The above text illustration is available as part of a series of monthly free printables for the subscribers of the Floating Lemons newsletter. If you'd like to sign up to receive them, just click here.

Wishing you a day full of brightness and joy. Cheers.