Nantucket Regatta!

Usually I post my entries for the Spoonflower challenges each week by Wednesday, but last week I had two daughters to ready for their prom. There were hair appointments, nails, shoes to find and of course the dresses! They looked beautiful!  

But now... back to the challenge.  Last weeks challenge was Sailing! Designers were to create a fabric design with  the theme of sailing using no more than five colors and using a restricted palette. Previews were shown at the fat quarter size (21" x 18"). Deadline for entry was Tuesday, April 23, 2013. Voting began on Thursday, April 25th and continues through May 2nd.

When I thought of sailing, the first place that came to mind was the beautiful island of Nantucket! I was inspired to create a simple skiff and loosely illustrate the race around the island. 

First step is always research... I've only been to Nantucket a few times and I knew it had been a historic whaling community, and I wanted to include a whale in my design somewhere, but other than that it was important to get the facts. What does the island look like? What kind of sailboats would be found there? What are some defining features of the island? 

I started with a simple line drawing of the sailboat, whale, seagulls, a map of the island, and the unique lighthouses from Nantucket, then scanned my illustrations. The next step was to use photoshop to add color from the restricted palette and come up with a composition that would work for fabric repeats, wallpaper and gift wrap. I added the type and finally the lifesaver as a focal point to connect the images!

The Nantucket Regatta is one of the Nantucket Race Week events where, every summer, spectators and artists enjoy watching sailors race around the historic island! This wonderful tradition highlights the beauty and charm of Nantucket, MA, USA!

Nantucket Regatta
©2013 Patty Rybolt Designs