I’m very excited to share the newest addition to the Gillian Kyle range; Butterflies & Beasties.  Getting a glimpse of our elusive and beautiful beasts is rare and creating a range that captures them for the home has been an aim of mine for a while. I’m delighted with the results. Each piece is inspired by Scottish wildlife, but with my own modern and slightly irreverant twist.

Modern Scottish Wildlife

The majestic stag and hirsute Highland coo are two of the most well known and beloved Scottish icons and, as the spooky taxidermy heads on the walls of any Scottish country estate attest, their beauty and majesty have always been in vogue for interior decoration.

I love that modern interpretations of this classic imagery have become so popular in recent years, and have really enjoyed adding my own representations into the mix. But stags and coos are not the only beautiful beasts Scotland boasts!  I’ve included some of our other big beasties in this range too; a proud capercaillie, a wily fox and a very curious hare. All surrounded by buzzy bees and  beautiful butterflies.

Creating Beasties and Butterflies

Inspired by everything I see; each design starts out life in my head. Then its about getting to my desk, sketching things out and developing finished pen and ink drawings. I just love the quality of line you get drawing by hand using these sorts of materials compared to creating images digitally. Then I start work developing the designs on my Mac, choosing colours and seeing each character come to life. This collection has been a great chance to create colourful prints for my wee hoosie too!

Fill the walls with colour

I am an absolute magpie and because my home is where I work I love to have it filled with things that inspire me. Who doesn’t like to be surrounded by lovely things? I thrive on living in an eclectic space and my work always reflects that. Each of the new prints has a fresh, sophisticated colour palette which will create a burst of stylish colour for a modern minimal space but work equally well in a more classic interior.

I’ve let the lovely people who make up my social media community have a first peek at Beasties and Butterflies – and I’m so glad I did. The feedback so far has been so, so positive and I’ve been overwhelmed by the love thats come my way. Its wonderful to see how many of you share my love for Scottish wildlife. It’s been great too, to hear so many requests for cushions and wallpaper in this range – watch this space because its top of my list for 2017…

You can see the full Butterflies and Beasties range here. Till next time!

G