Well as most of you know (because I haven’t let you forget) – I’ll be taking part in the MS 24 Hour Mega Swim this weekend. It’s still not too late to make a donation towards my efforts.

The effort of training which also coincides with many assignments due has meant I haven’t been blogging as much as I would like. Trust me I would much prefer to be here than trying to conceive a 15 second video promo for a fictitious TV station. Can someone please tell me what this has to do with graphic design? Am I sounding at all cynical? Yes, I thought so. Remind me, why am I doing this again?

Anyway – there is a very faint light at the end of my assignment tunnel so I hope to back here in earnest soon because I have a bunch on stuff I want to share with you.

Have a lovely weekend and think of me doing lap after lap after lap after… you get the idea.

Image: Bubble reflections 4 from stock.xchng

It’s been another first today; my first Mothers Day without my Mum. I’ve been really missing her today and even though I got all sorts of cute home made presents from my boys I still felt like something was missing.

I had a very vivid dream about her last night. It was very sensory; I got to give her a kiss on the cheek and I felt her warmth and could smell her skin. In my dream I knew she was no longer alive but it just felt so natural, like we were having a catch up. I woke strangely happy by the dream maybe because she was happy. What does it mean? It’s been puzzling me all day.

So my colour was chosen for her. It’s a colour she liked to wear and she carried it so well.

Happy Mothers Day to all Mums – it’s a hard job but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

My flickr finds are from top: One jewel by tanakawho, 3 out of 4 ain’t bad by Darwin Bell, Pink Delicacy by **Mary**

P.S. – you can also select my colour peony or #D69CBB to see it on my ColourLovers page. Are you a ColourLover? Let’s be friends.

I have just noticed that my tea towels really need replacing as they are close to threadbare. Usually I would go to the local home maker store and buy any old thing but this time I’ve decided to treat myself to a couple from Skinny laMinx.

Skinny laMinx is the creative enterprise of South African based illustrator and designer Heather Moore. We Australians tend to have an affinity for South Africa and I’m not sure why that is. We don’t have very similar histories like we do with Canada so maybe it’s because we are often mistaken for the other when travelling abroad or that the gorgeous flowers that we like to call our natives (proteas for example) are actually native to South Africa. Or maybe it’s just because we are both in the Southern Hemisphere and share the same seasons.

I have been a fan of Heather’s work for many years now so it’s surprising that I haven’t blogged about her before now. Her tea towels and fabric are screen printed and she starts a lot of her designs with paper cut-outs, which sound simple enough but she has turned this technique into a true art form and she is the only designer I know that makes weeds look appealing.

So back to my tea towels. As I suspected the Skinny laMinx Etsy store did not disappoint and two of the four pictured here are on their way to me. Can you guess which? I look at it as the beginning of my collection.

All tea towels designs are from Skinny laMinx Etsy Store and they are clockwise from top: Succulents in Terracotta, Everyone Came to Tea in wedgewood, Sprouts in blackboard and Flatware in sage.

I am quite certain I could do 52 weeks of green. I am so taken with this colour right now.

My flickr finds are from top: trevally jack school by Daniel Norton, 365/176 Purple coneflower in waiting by Rachel, Feel Free to Leave a Message by Jeremy Brooks

P.S. – you can also select my colour moss or #57A650 to see it on my ColourLovers page. Are you a ColourLover? Let’s be friends.

All this swimming is making me see blue.

My flickr finds are from top: Yosemite Dam  by Stuart French, Drift ice #2 by Nyamaru Kamome, Escarparse by Enrique Saldivar

P.S. – you can also select my colour fleur de lis or #1D6DA8 to see it on my ColourLovers page. Are you a ColourLover? Let’s be friends.

While the little men were attending a Minecraft Discovery Session last week at the Powerhouse Museum, I treated myself to an hour visiting the Love Lace Exhibition. With a tagline of Make Lace, Not War I had a feeling it was going to appeal.

Featuring 130 works by 134 artists from 20 countries, it was a truly visual feast. It really extended my assumption of what lace and lace making means and I was so inspired by variety of materials from the traditional cotton to the use of echidna spines and horse hair! It’s been too long since I’ve been to a textile exhibition and it was such a wonderful escape.

These were three of my favourites – they were outstanding both afar and up close. The tree is only just over half a metre square so the detail was breathtaking.

Are you a textile fan? Go visit the exhibition if you get a chance.

Not very often I actually remember what I was thinking when I name a colour. I have a merino sweater this exact colour and the only time I wear it is to the farmers market during the winter. It reminds me of feeling sleepy and frosty Saturday mornings.

My images seemed to speak to me this week, especially the bottom one which is called betty and that was my mothers name. I’m sure I could make a connection with the other two.

My flickr finds are from top: vanishing point by esther wieringa, shine by Margriet Pronk, betty by +fatman+

P.S. – you can also select my colour feeling sleepy or #D9BFD2 to see it on my ColourLovers page. Are you a ColourLover? Let’s be friends.

Want to know where these gorgeous finds are from? I’m getting inspired by green over at Brandi Girl Blog. Check it out.

Hey friends! You might hear a little less of me (if that’s possible) over the next few days. My little men and I are Sydney bound to spend some time with friends. No trips on the water are planned this time around and the weather isn’t promising to be very spectacular either. We are, however, planning a visit to the Powerhouse Museum, the Aquarium and one last ride on the monorail before they tear it down.

I hope you have a good week and I’ll see you soon.

What is it worth? This has been a persistent question for me lately as I’ve had to place a price on my services. There quite a lot on this topic some helpful and some not so much. Since I’m new at this I went in search of some answers and found two great resources that may also help you. The first one is Brandi’s FREE (yes really) ebook An Artists Guide to Pricing. This small and to the point handbook really gets you thinking about what you’re worth and the biggest lesson of all – underpricing your work hurts everyone. The second book was Logo Design Love,  I realise it’s a book about designing logos but it also has an entire chapter devoted to pricing design. While neither books give you a figure they both offer lessons learned from experienced artisans and designers.

So why have I been pondering this? Well recently I feel I may have lost work because I’m pricing myself at exactly what I’m worth. What a shocking discovery to make! So in order to understand what is going on in the minds of my clients, without actually asking them, I decided to do two things; break down in time how long it takes me to achieve a blog design from Photoshop to cutup and the final product and see what my competitors are charging for the same service. So here’s my estimate for a standard website assuming a 7 hour day at modest $60 per hour.

• Design mockup in Photoshop – takes me anywhere from 2 – 5 days, so let’s say it takes me 3 days on average – $1260
• To cutup my design to HTML, CSS and PHP for WordPress takes me anywhere from 2 – 7 days depending on the complexity of the design and functionality.  So let’s say on average it take me 4 days – $1680
• The recommendation from my university professor is to add 15% to the final quote since things always take longer than you think and you have to be profitable – $441

Total = $3381

So based on that what I’m currently quoting, a starting price of $1200, is almost a third of what I’m ‘worth’.

What are others doing? I went onto Etsy since I am also selling my pre-made blog designs there and offering custom work. The prices for a custom site design range from USD $180 to $800. So unless I can churn out a design and cutup in 3 hours or be willing to work $3.67 an hour I cannot compete with someone selling the same service at $180. The bigger question is, should I be trying to?

I think your price says a lot about how you value your experience and abilities. What do you think when you see a product that’s too cheap to be believed? My first reaction is, it can’t be any good which is closely followed by they can’t be very experienced. For my part I’m going to resolve to always quote what I am worth.

I know many of you have had similar experiences and I would love for you to share them. What is your approach? Have you come across obstacles with pricing and what your clients expect?

Dollar Sign in Stencil Design by Room 29 Etsy store