Wishing On A Star

Been listening to far too much Jay-Z lately, actually I don't know if there is ever too much Jay-Z but either way he's been my main playa for full time hustlin and running of late. I was super lucky as last week I worked on a design for Mollie Makes Magazine, they decided to go with a previously designed pattern so I also did a calendar which was available as a desktop and mobile download so if anyone fancies themselves a cacti pattern you can download it here

I also featured on the Shillington blog about my work since graduating yesterday which was a lovely surprise to see when I returned from work. You can have a little look here  where they have featured a few of my patterns. Last night I was trying to take a break from work as sometimes I can get a bit overly in the mix and end up seeing 4am with a pen in my hand so I sat and listened to an audio book but ended up doing a little type piece after having spent the day listening to J, I want to actually create a few of these in this style and then get them printed.

Lots of colour inspiration of late mainly from the florals which as everyone knows I love a bit too much, the past 3 mornings I have been out running as my playa pal Lauren and I will be running a half marathon in Southampton in the summer so I have conducted a training plan so it doesn't get to July and I have to do some sort of crazy last minute training. Starting slower and shorter and progressing with interval training and longer distance runs, with the Great South Run I had trained but I used to run a lot on how I felt, if I felt stressed I could run for miles however I don't like to rely on that anymore and I'm pretty much happy 24/7 in my own little world so I am taking the training seriously this time. Also running provides great opportunities for checking out colours, florals, lines, shapes and spaces. Check these florals out from today...

What other track could it be... this features on my running playlist a lot...

Mermaid hair and patterning

This week has been super exciting as I've been a busy full time playa working away and also had my work featured on Don't Panic. You can read it here They did a short interview with me discussing the style of my work and also the inspiration behind it, I always say to people that Pattern A Day is actually a visual diary so it may look like I'm drawing the most random things but usually they relate to the days conversations, things I have seen, colours I have seen or something I have thought of. I can pretty much go back over the tumblr and tell you what happened that day which is really nice and hence why I plan to keep it going for the whole year so I have an actual visual diary consisting of 365 patterns!

I was also contacted by Mollie Makes magazine to design them a downloadable wallpaper and after a couple of emails the team at MM decided that they wanted to go with a design I had previously done so I worked on a calendar to go alongside it and sent it off this morning ready for the weekend. I absolutely love Mollie Makes so I'm really excited to have my work featured with them.

I am loving our new house a bit too much at the moment, its such a nice place to work and hang out I never really want to leave. And of course have filled my room with flowers in every spot, anyone with hayfever does not wanna enter...

And running is back on track thank god, there was a time when I thought I wasn't gonna be able to get back in the swing off it but I'm definitely back to enjoying my runs rather than seeing them a chore. Though now we face the issue of how ridiculous I look in my bright pink running gear which complimented the silver hair pretty well however I fancied some mermaid hair this week and decided to experiment with Bleach Londons ''Out of Blue'', I only left it on for 5 minutes as I wanted it a turquoise colour rather than blue and 5 mins was just the right amount of time, I will be quite interested to see how it looks in a couple weeks as its just wash in and out.

 Mainly listening to 90s RnB at the moment and this has been top of the most played for the week:

Tiles, Florals and some Frontin

Bank Holidays used to be about a whole 3 days of going out but these days I barely even notice them however did realise I had 3 days to work on freelance work so probably deserved a little outing over the weekend. Lately I have absolutely obsessed with tile paintings, my mama brought me a book on the V&A tile paintings and also an Iranian painting book which I have been flicking through and reading more about each day. I remembered the V&A had a whole section on Iran so yesterday took a little trip there to check out the tiles.

Check this out, its amazing how they are all so perfect yet hand painted one by one. The V&A provided a strong pom pom game in the gift shop... and of course a flower spot at Victoria station.

Also last week on Twitter, Pharrell posted this video and I fell in love with it, I've watched it loads this week and have picked up on new things each time. I usually like to watch something inspiring or read something before I start the day, this video made me so excited... I'm not sure why maybe cos they're are so many amazing people in it talking about my favourite thing. Though it sounds weird to be inspired by a video about inspiration!? Anyway check it out it's top notch. 

Going to go complete some kilometres for the running leader board then crack on with another day at my desk, not that I'm complaining its my favourite place to be. As he posted it on twitter I should probably whack a Pharrell track on here...

Only make moves when ya hearts in it, and live the phrase Sky's The Limit

Yo! You can see I have been rinsing Biggie from the blog title, Sky is the limit is my current ultimate banger for my mornings! So its been a while since I had a chance to write anything on here and it has also lacked hip hop baking updates but I have decided to set up a separate blog for that as it probably deserves one now after over a year and 89 hip hop bake offs in the bank! I will be updating it with new bake offs but also re baking some of the past classics with some better photography skills.

Life is pretty great right now I am freelancing with Mothers Meetings and also luckily enough to be also working for Bon Bon Balloons which I have previously mentioned in a post as well as still working on Pattern a Day and other freelance projects. Full time hustling right there but I am in the zone and now noticing everything around me for new points of inspiration. I have also moved into a lovely new house in South East London with some fellow playas and it is the dream, we have palm trees in our garden...what more could you ask for!

So here is a little list of things I am loving right now:

Bon Bon Ballons

http://iheartbonbon.tumblr.com/

Mothers Meetings

I have been working on some illustrations for the Mothers Meetings book and had failed to notice this sign that sat by my desk for the past 6 weeks. But when I noticed it I fell in love and its 100% true, I did an illustration titled ''Lipstick makes everything better'' and that should probably be on the bottom of this little quote. Dress up whack some lipstick on and everything will be okay! 

Home

Palm Trees, amazing work space and good tiles in our sunny South East home.

Colour Inspiration

As I said I am picking up on colours, shapes and lines everywhere with Patterns on the brain. I have decided to keep up Pattern A Day for a whole year as a visual diary so a lot of the patterns are inspired by things I have seen, views when I am out running, conversations I have with people or just ideas that pop into my head but whats nice is I can look back on the blog and know what I was doing or thinking about that day.

And of course I have been listening to some mega tunes of late, mainly because its not safe for me not to have my headphones in when I'm in the mothers meeting office else we end up chatting all day. So on the note of inspiration enjoy this banger and also keep checking thehiphopbaker.blogspot.co.uk as I backdate it for all the hip hop bake offs. 

Lets work, Lets work, Talk to me lets work...

So much going on right now I can't even keep up, not complaining at all my life is pretty dreamy in all aspects at the moment. This week I have been inspired by a lot of things from music, visuals and also todays workshop with Mothers Meetings at Shoreditch house. The other day someone asked me if I was pregnant going to all this stuff but I would like to clarify I am not pregnant just working with Jenny and getting the chance to go to all the events that they put on without actually having a child :) I have also picked up some really fun freelance illustration projects that I will be working on over the next couple of weeks as well as sorting hip hop baking and its own blog. 

As much as some people might disagree there are some positives to the tube strikes... if you have a lovely boss like I do then you can work from home, so yesterday I spent working on some illustrations from the comfort of my desk. It is actually one of my favourite places to be as its a tidy colourful productive but calming area especially with the candles on (I don't care if it was 9am) I like an ambient work space! I also whipped up some hand drawn typography during my the day and obviously went for the G when choosing what letter to go for, certified Gangsta innit! 

I mentioned about the workshop todays with MM, well it was a dream. Any of my pals will know I am quite into the idea of mindfulness/ positive thought patterns and goal setting so learning more about the way we structure our goals and the way you can work to achieve them in a positive manner was really interesting. I fully believe that you should go with your feelings over things, if you believe it then you can do it, if you have a bad feeling about something you gotta work out whats not quite right before proceeding else you'll never get to the final destination. I do love a good notebook writing session too, for the past 4 years I have kept a note of everyday without fail. Sometimes I write down ideas, new things, exciting things but I always make sure I keep track of whats going on, what I am working on/towards and positive/happy points from the day. Generally no negative vibes allowed in my liberty printed diaries. Below is a little snapshot of some of the points raised and also fun photo booth time which I was 100% not ready for hence the amusing half head shots. 

So a really great week in the making and now back to work and cracking on the drawing flex listening to some tunes. Another reason I love hip hop- positive vibes, I always walk along thinking if Jay-Z says I can do it then hell yeah why not. Also I have decided after now 50 patterns I am going to carry on the project for the whole year, I decided when I started it I wanted the patterns to always be posted at a similar time in the morning so it was consistent and also there to see for the whole day so if you ever wonder when its gonna be its always between 7am- 8.30am yo! You can check them all here www.onepatterneveryday.tumblr.com or  follow me on Instagram where you can see the patterns, hip hop baking, inspiration, treats for my feets and other full time playa antics. Its @beckiplaya and I'm sorry but sometimes I take photos of my dinner, only on pizza dates with Lizzie Brown though! 

Have a listen to Jay-Z, honestly it will put a smile on anyones face just think positive vibes! 

Thought patterns displayed on Persian rugs, Equations are drawn up in paisley form...

The title of this post is actually a lyric from the Rakim track at the bottom but looking at it on its own it kind of looks weird but I'm rolling with it. I can't believe how quickly this week has gone but also all the amazing things/people that I have had chance to do and meet. I am super lucky to be working with Mothers Meetings which is an amazing communications agency that connects companies like Nike, Shoreditch House, Armani Junior there are loads more but basically connects them to young influential parents with events and consultancy. This week has gone crazy quick though we haven't actually stopped, I have been spinning with Mothers Meetings- you can imagine how funny this was, thank god for Estee Lauder makeup, been to a wool workshop which was put on by MM and Wool and the gang, lunched and spent time drawing,  designing and idea generating...could things get any better?! I was trying to explain to my boss Jenny about visualisation so you visualise what you want to do and it helps get you there except we just ended up visualising scampi and chips for lunch?! Here are a few photos to sum up my week, Super detox juices after spinning, the start of my very interesting knitting attempt and my lovely boss Jenny today in the office.

I have found loads of inspiration this week, my eyes are switched to inspiration mode and the other day I picked out a load of stuff out of my bag like what the hell is this...''oh you thought the colours were nice silly'', that was in regards to a weird piece of fruit I brought at a market. Sooooo with all this inspiration Pattern a day is still going strong and I have decided to set the goal of the whole year, that way I will end up with a visual diary of the year and 365 patterns to work with, winning combo. 

Now to my full time hustle as I'm jumping off the overground and planning a hip hop bake off this evening to treat everyone tomorrow with because Fridays aren't Fridays without cake. I am gonna start a separate tumblr for Hip Hop Baking aswell as I need to rebake all the cakes, perfect the recipes and photograph them all again so will have to leave the originals on here but the new and improved will be on their own tumblr. Enjoy this song because I have been listening to it 24/7, its helps with the visualisation vibes...

I'll bring you flowers in the pouring rain...

I have a mad busy but amazing week and found a lot of inspiration along my travels. I am working on a floral typography project at the moment which is being sent to print Thursday so I was sure to get some research in this week before a big working weekend. I absolutely love flowers, they are probably one of my favourite things and anyone who knows me will know I have a ridiculous amount of floral clothing, Liberty floral trainers and notepads, its just everything about them makes me haps so I am really excited to be working on this and its combining two of the best things about life.. Florals and Hand drawn typography!

What I also find inspiring about flowers is the colour and the way that it changes over time, some flowers actually look more beautiful when they have been dried out or when they are in the process of dying. The general structures and the shapes of each of the petals can make really interesting drawings and when you think about it its actually pretty crazy that they are a living thing!? Heres one of the photos from outside Liberty...amazing colours right?!

Liberty London

Yesterday on lunch I popped into Liberty to have a look at their flowers as I was in Central, well I could've spent all day there but unfortunately after 30 minutes of observing, photographs and a few sketches I decided I probably looked pretty weird and should go in at browse the fabric collection. I have been longing for one of the Liberty Scarfs lately to wrap round my barnett during the sun but then I saw the Kenzo ones and sorry Libs but I am all over that cloud print Kenzo treat! Unfortunately I can't afford to be spending that kinda dolla bill on a scarf right now but one day you will see me will a cloudy candy flossed barnett! Its actually the one on the right in this photo but you cant see how exquisite the print but I wouldn't lie, its dreamy.

Kenzo Scarves at Liberty

I also found some great Typography cards by Lucy Loves This, have a look at them here all of the letters are inspired by London and she also does some amazing prints!

Lucy Loves This Typography Cards

My painted pattern of the day for Floral Fridays

And of course today is Floral Friday on onepatterneveryday so it ties in quite nicely with the weekend work schedule. However I will be getting to see my lovely pals as well as Lizzie and I are heading back to the new forest for some much needed forest walks, Earl Greys, hunting down exquisite florals, Ciders with Mrs Bega and a few wines with the OG Size? playas on saturday evening.

Happy Easter weekend playas! Enjoy this, I'm sorry its not hip hop but it will put a smile on yo face