Five Days of Digis: Love One Another

Hi friends! Hope you saw our special Five Days of Digis launch yesterday — where I introduced my rich and happy pattern of Gerbera Daisies — that you can download for FREE RIGHT HERE.

And today, we have another sweet image to share. This one has flowers with special meaning to me (gosh, they all do, don’t ya know!) and I’m thrilled to share it with you — hoping you find a special joy working with “Love One Another”.

Love One Another is an illustration that celebrates the spirit of love and acceptance. Different species of plants and creatures living together in harmony - a metaphor for our times. The image comes with and without the sentiment, in black and no-line versions.

I’ve drawn flowers with special meaning to me.... dwarf and intermediate bearded irises mingling with tulips. You guys know how I am totally in to flowers, right? Well, there was a time that the only flowers we had growing up were the random wild daylilies that seemed to pop up in everyone's yard. But one day when I was in high school, my mom, Susan, discovered irises. The variety of colors, sizes, ruffles galore. She went bananas. First she got into tall bearded irises (which you may be familiar with), but then, being my mom, she had to find something more rare and special, so she sought out the "dwarf" (sometimes only 3-4 inches tall!) bearded irises, or the intermediate, which are a little bit taller. The blooms are just as MAGNIFICENT as the tall bearded, if not moreso.

Source: Schreiner's Iris Gardens

Well, the iris phase was pretty intense in our household... along with growing a huge variety, my mom and stepdad both got training to become judges in the American Iris Society. I was encouraged (well, more like bribed) to take part in junior iris arranging competitions, and I believe we can trace my very first botanical painting to iris subject matter (I'll have to dig up a photo and add it here....)

I knew I had to get some irises down on paper - but what to pair them with? As I envisioned a combination of flowers coexisting joyfully.

In April of this year I was invited by a dear old friend of mine, Sharyn Sowell, to visit her incredible garden and studio in Skagit Valley, Washington. She timed our visit to coordinate with the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, where basically the entire area lights up with row upon row of blossoming tulips. You have to just pull over at the side of the road and gawk. It is unforgettable beauty and I took approximately one billion photos. Many of them with me giving the thumbs up! Who doesn’t love tulips?

So, there we have the components of Love One Another: irises and tulips! And what of the critters meandering about?

I’ve included a Luna Moth (which you can see, our designers have colored in whatever way coordinates with their flowers — which is a brilliant move), and a "pleasing fungus" beetle (never had heard of it before, but I liked the polka dots!) and a caterpillar with little spiny things sticking out. Folks, I don't even know what kind it is, because sometimes that’s just what happens when you want to add a little frill!

My friends, you simply must see what our dear designers have created for today — unstoppable beauty to inspire your next project!

Come see:

Barbara Walker

Stacy Morgan

Christine Okken

Rhea Weigand
Cheryl Scrivens

There are so many color combinations possible for this digital stamp set! I can’t wait to see what you will do with it!

Tomorrow we’ll have another highly detailed illustration to share, it’s a personal favorite I have to say...