Make it Fishy!

Sometimes you do something and it rings a bell...the colours...the ambience...where have I seen these beachy-Boden colours before?

'Little Fishy' on Etsy (SOLD...thank you!)

Ah yes, my last sketchbook from college - fifteen long years ago...struggling to find 'my' colours. Faded paint, ice cream shades, the same colours I home in on now...you can keep your bright primaries, give me muted any day.


I had a fish phase...

pages from college sketchbook

...and it struck me that while there are birds and bunnies aplenty - on Etsy, blogs, crafting sites - fish are largely unloved. Are they cold and un-cute? Surely not.

Felt fish aquarium from 'the Big Book of Soft Toys' by Mabs Tyler

Do they lack vintage atmosphere? Hardly.

Andy's Grandad's brass fish lure

Do they lack panache? I don't think so.

Illustration from the Esquire cookbook 1956

Once, fish were loved, and found in every home.

1950's Vintage cushion cover

Their sophisticated elegance and beauty provided inspiration for myriad designs...

Vintage Anchor embroidery motifs

So where are the fish of the 21st century? Give me your fish: let them come in joyous, writhing shoals. Free the Piscine spirit within you, and make it fishy!

'Luna' on Etsy