DEE HARDWICKE ON SEEING INSPIRATION EVERY DAY AND FINDING YOUR STYLE
“All my designs begin life in my sketchbooks.”
As an artist and designer with a passion for the natural world – from the wild beauty of the countryside surrounding my home. I always carry a sketchbook with me, and over the years these have become visual diaries of my life. I also love taking photos. The pages quickly fill up with watercolours and pencil drawings of the flowers, plants and palettes that catch my eye from day to day and from season to season. All my designs begin life in my sketchbooks, which I love flicking through for inspiration whenever I’m starting a new project. Although I have a fine arts background, you don’t need to be particularly artistic to begin to create your own motifs, and I’d encourage anyone to give it a go when they get inspiration. is a good starting point since you’ll have an instantly recognisable form to work with. You could also experiment with creating palettes by painting little blocks or circles of colour to build into geometric motifs – something which is simple to do but very effective. You’ll find that you become increasingly confident as your sketchbook fills up and you get more practice. Your favourite motifs can then be used in a host of projects. For example, I’ve always loved knitting, so as well, with each stitch acting like a brushstroke of colour. There’s endless creative potential for even the simplest motifs to carry into different art forms.
