"Forest of the Unicorn"

If the wine is sour; throw it out!

                    Michelangelo - The Agony and the Ecstasy

One of my favorite quotes from this movie, as it perfectly expresses the experience had by most artisans.  

Sometimes after quite a bit of work sometimes even years of work; you realize that it just isn't working, that something needs to change.  Grit your teeth and pick up the seam ripper and take out all of those stitches, discard the pattern and start afresh, or rework a print.

It has been the case with the "The Virtuous Unicorn" design.  The colors were too jarring, the expressions on the ladies faces became simpering when they were colored, the design just didn't flow.

Something had to change.  I wrestled with it, and then found inspiration in William Morris's fabric designs.  Trees and curly flora grew up, the ladies and most of the animals fled the newly grow woods leaving it to savage lions.

Please excuse my flights of fancy, I just finished rereading Jane Eyre.

To make plain: the print has changed.  It's no longer a hem print, but rather an all-over print.  I think it is lovely and I hope you all do to (and are not to disappointed by the absence of former elements).  I'd rather delay the line then release something that doesn't meet with expectations.

Off white background

Here it is tiled so that you can see how the repeat looks

For reference the unicorns will be a little bit less the 5 inches when printed.

In addition to the off-white version, I am also in the process of editing two other versions: Navy and Brown.

Here are swatches of the additional background colors.

Navy and Brown

I am very excited to see how the motifs pop against the darker backgrounds!