I have long admired illustrators who can say so much with a simple stroke of a brush or a line from a pencil. I guess that's why I admire the beautiful works of Mats Gustafson, a fashion illustrator from Sweden. The illustrations look so relaxed but there is very little room for a mistake as each line must be exact. His soft, pastel and feminine watercolour illustrations can be so powerful and impactful with very few strokes

He began his career in the 1970's with high-end fashion magazines that were dominated by photography. His illustrations appeared in British and American Vogue, Marie Claire, New York Times as well as advertising campaigns for Hermes, Tiffany & Co and Yohji Yamamoto. You can see more of Mats Gustafson's work on his website

This week I'm loving Japanese born Chico Hayasaki's fresh, fashion savvy illustrations using line and watercolours

Just recently I discovered that she's turned her hand to fabric design (found via CWC International blog). A cool mix of retro, fashion and delicate prints printed on 100% Japanese cotton. They are produced by Kei's Fabrics of Japan and, unfortunately, I don't believe that they're available outside of Japan as yet

Can you believe it's nearly year's end? My nimble fingers are frantically making jewellery for my last (and biggest) market for the year on this Thursday: Mosman Christmas Twilight Art and Craft Market. It's all consuming but I love it!

And when the going gets tough, what else do I do? Something completely different of course! I'm in the early stages of designing products for (yet another) online Etsy shop. Featuring downloadable templates and tutorials...reviving my Graphic Design roots. I thought I'd give you a sneek peek at some of my work...above shows the illustrative progression of 'Baby Bear' based on my daughter's favourite teddy. I'm not sure about her colour just yet, but really, I should be making jewellery not bears (and wascally wabbits). Stay tuned, hopefully the shop will be up early next year