Nature Inspired

April 15, 2016

Since I've been working from home this past year, I sometimes get a bit str crazy. For me, the best solution for this is to get out into nature and fresh air. I decided to take a drive up to Mount Tamalpais yesterday morning. It was so refreshing! It's only 40 min from the city after all and it's really paradise on a weekday morning. Very few people are up there and I kinda love to be there as the fog lifts and reveals the amazing green hills and views below.

If you follow my two Instagram feeds (this one and this one) you might have seen a few pictures I posted. There were all sorts of sweet and colorful wildflowers all over the hills and they got me inspired to make this when I got home.

All designs and images © Katja Ollendorff

November Instagram Fave: Alea Toussaint

November 20, 2015

I stumbled upon this Instagram feed and was immediately taken with the incredible patterns that Alea Toussaint makes out of a variety of objects. Whether it be flowers or peppercorns, pens or sequins—she makes one stop to take a closer look. Just beautiful!

She is a graphic designer and pattern artist based in Minneapolis. If you would like to see more of her work, visit her website here www.aleatoussaint.com

And you can buy prints of her work on Society 6 here.

Alea Toussaint on Katja Blog

Have bloomin' great day!

September 3, 2015

I woke up super early again and decided to do my "morning design flow" exercise. I get out my sketchbook first thing every day after waking to see what comes. I used to keep a dream journal, but now I'm letting my thoughts come out as designs. Here's what happened today.

At 6:00 AM I began sketching, and by 7:00 I had a motif I thought I could play with.

Then I brought the motif into Illustrator and did an image trace so the lines were nice and clean.

I dragged the motif into PS and worked on the layout and then the color.

A few hours later...and voila!

A pattern is born.

I couldn't help but make some coordinates to go along with the primary design. And then a gazillion color changes later... I landed here.

Are You Feeling Blue?

July 16, 2015

I say, just add pink!

It's Dahlia Season Dahling!

August 24, 2014

I spent the afternoon at the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. The dahlia garden is in full bloom and it's spectacular! If you want to be surrounded by color and beautiful blooms, it's a must-see.