Enrollment for Pattern Camp is OPEN! Hi Reader, Pattern Camp is starting in just 8 days! When I was just getting started as a pattern designer many years ago, I exhibited at a trade show called Surtex in New York City. One of my most vivid memories is of an art student who walked into my booth, already jaded and full of doubt, and asked me if I really thought I could make it as a successful pattern designer in a world that was already so saturated with pattern designers. I remember feeling so sad because it was so clear to me that she'd given up before she even started. She didn't believe success was possible for her, and so she expected me to agree with her and to tell her how hard it was and how badly it was all going for me. My answer surprised her, I think. What I told her is that there's room for everyone to do what lights them up. The world may be full of people doing the same kind of thing that you do, but they're not doing it the way you do it. There's room for everyone doing things their own way. Success is possible for everyone. I wonder if she remembers that interaction the way I do. I wonder if it changed anything for her. The world is even more saturated then than it is now, and my answer is still the same. There's room for everyone doing things in their own unique way. Success is possible for us all. In fact, I'd say I feel even more strongly about my answer now – there are a lot of people doing things in a way that's not their own these days (trying to beat the algorithm, copying instead of innovating, etc), and I think there's more room than ever to do things in your own unique way that's different from the masses and to find your own version of success. Don't be jaded and full of doubt like that art student was. Your attitude matters. Trust yourself and what lights you up. Walk toward it, even if you don't know how it'll turn out or what success might look like for you. What have you got to lose? In Pattern Camp you'll learn how to:
When you enroll in Pattern Camp, you'll get access to:
Come to Pattern Camp and start discovering and creating your own version of creative success, whatever that means to you. Enrollment is only open until August 2 – and then our live Pattern Camp weekend is August 3 & 4. Don't wait!
pps– Not interested in Pattern Camp? No prob! You can click here to snooze emails from me about the course, but stay on the list for future emails about other good stuff. What past students are saying: "Pattern Camp really did change my life. In one weekend, Illustrator & Photoshop went from scary unknowns to usable (and enjoyable!) tools. I'm so glad I took it all those years ago. Love that you're offering it to a new round of students - they're gonna have so much fun!" – Mary O.
"Super inspirational. Beautifully presented and wonderful to watch the pattern go from some drawings that feel potentially doable, even for a complete novice, through to an an amazing repeatable pattern that looks so beautiful and professional that you could never imagine doing it yourself. However, watching step by step by step I can see that it just might be possible to inch through a project and come up with a pattern that is personally fulfilling." – Dayle M.
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I'm an artist, surface pattern + fabric designer, author, mama, and online teacher in Portland, OR. I believe in the power of art-making as a tool for radical self-care. I help people feel a little bit brighter and a little bit less alone through the art and products I make, the words I write, and the classes I teach. Come join almost 10k people in my colorful, uplifting world!
Hi Reader, Happy September! My GOSH was August a wild and chaotic bonanza of experiences in my world! I taught Pattern Camp, had a birthday (and a birthday sale!), camped at the epically beautiful Crater Lake, my son started 3rd grade, and I spent this past weekend in Colorado with my kids where we went to a college football game, did a super hard hike, spent a lot of time with my whole family, and I even got to go see my very favorite musician, Gregory Alan Isakov, at Red Rocks (with seats...
Enrollment for Pattern Camp is closing this Friday, August 2nd! Hey Reader – Happy Tuesday! I hope you're having an awesome week so far. :) My kids are in camp this week and I'm spending my days in the studio putting the final finishing touches on my Pattern Camp course that's happening this coming weekend, August 3 & 4. I'm so dang excited about this course! Watching students go from frustrated to confident using Adobe Illustrator, from patterns being a mystery to being able to design them...
Hi Reader, I want to tell you a story about how I went from someone who barely knew how to use a computer and knew nothing about digital art-making to someone who's created hundreds of pattern designs and has artwork on products worldwide. I first encountered surface pattern design back in 2005 or so, when design blogs were a new, exciting, and very inspiring part of the internet. I saw people licensing artwork to places like Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie, and a lightbulb of knowing...