I am excited to announce that the popular desktop wallpaper Floating on Nasturtiums has been re-released!

Hot, orange and red blossoms with crisp lily-pad foilage. Now updated to include some larger monitor sizes that weren’t around when I originally created the image.

So head on over to the Freebies section to pick this fiery gardener’s delight, Nasturtiums, for your desktop!

Tags: seasonal, nature, summer, floral

Today the August Issue of the Marmalade Monthly is released. This month members of Club Marmalade Moon are in for a fluttering of butterflies as the collection of Picnic Pals expands!

This month’s issue is packed with exclusive desktop goodies. There are butterfly avatars to use on forums or social networks, as your computer log in, or as an image for any personal project where you find use for them. A pale yellow Brimstone, a lime green Brimstone and a Common Blue Butterfly.

There is a pre-release of three butterfly icons that I plan to release to the public later on this month.

And finally there is a members-only desktop wallpaper with butterflies on a blue summer’s sky!

Join the Club for limited edition desktop art and get your butterfly desktop art too!

Tags: seasonal, nature, summer, bug, Mac OS X, Windows, Vista, social networking, instant messenger, forum, Twitter

Club Marmalade Moon is gathering momentum and it’s already time for the fourth edition of the Marmalade Monthly.

This month club members get a ladybird avatar to use in chat programmes and computer user accounts. The avatar can be used in forums and other communities, in social networks like FriendFeed, MySpace, SocialThing, Twitter or Facebook and for the image and video sharing communities Flickr and YouTube. The image can also be used in non-commercial projects such as a personal blog or web site.

There are two Ladybug Twitter themes too, in July’s Marmalade Monthly. One of them has a repeatable background pattern with ladybugs that has many uses, it can for example be used on a computer desktop or as a background on a blog.

Do you like to customise your computer desktop? Your digital, social space? Join the Club for free, limited edition desktop art!

Tags: design, seasonal, nature, pictures, pattern, social networking, instant messenger, forum, Twitter, theme, customise

You may have noticed that we have had some issues on the site due to changes in the backend software. I am relieved to announce that everything is in mint condition again!

If you signed up to Club Marmalade Moon and didn’t hear from me, please sign up again! Also, if you have any trouble with the links in your Marmalade Monthly for June, please drop me a note and I will resend this month’s issue to you.

Since you were kind enough to put up with all the unpleasant bugs I have created an enjoyable one, a ladybug icon, who deals with the nasty bugs and gives you luck! So fly on over to the Freebies section to download your Ladybird icon. She’ll keep your desktop clean!

Tags: Mac OS X, Windows, Vista, nature, design, desktop, bug

According to a Swedish legend, there was a cobbler who each year put up a sign that said "Closed Between Bird Cherry and Lilac".

And this is indeed an enchanting time of year! Beautiful and intoxicating early summer. When veils of green leaves open on the bare branches. The heady scents of blossoms. Fresh shades of greens and bird song.

Every year I keep thinking that I really ought to do what the cobbler did! Hang up a sign on the door and take a few weeks off to indulge in this time of sheer beauty. And every year it turns out to be a busy time of year!

I had to do something about it so last week I spent the day walking all over Djurgården in Stockholm. I was dizzy with summer! Lunch in the fruit orchard at Rosendals Trädgård under clouds of cherry blossom was almost too much to take in. Breathtaking.

Back in the studio I worked on this desktop picture with an orchard with cherry trees in bloom which originally was inspired by a letter from Japan. But that is a different story! Trying to give the image this almost ethereal feeling I had in the orchard... And perhaps a bit of a story book quality!

Cherry Orchard wallpaper is available in the Freebies section and comes in several sizes and variations for different types of monitors and set ups. There are fullscreen, widescreen, iPhone and iPod Touch versions so pick a good one!

Tags: design, seasonal, floral, summer, spring, nature, Japanese

I have been fascinated with yellow ever since the daffodils burst out in bloom! This new dual monitor desktop background with forsythia was inspired by Japanese designs and patterns - and yellow.

This month Club Members receive the Marmalade Monthly and a May desktop calendar. So head on over to the freebies section to get your Forsythia wallpaper and don't forget to join Club Marmalade Moon for even more exclusive desktop goodies!

Tags: design, seasonal, floral, spring, nature, Japanese, desktop calendar

When MacPeople Lite in Japan featured my Soon Spring icons in their Spring 2008 issue I revisited the collection and decided to update the set to include fresh new versions for Mac OS X Leopard and Windows Vista for this weeks release of icons at the Iconfactory.

But it was so much fun to work with these icons that I expanded the collection with five bold, new spring flowers! Inspiration was literally on the doorstep, with a few late Snowdrops and a sea of Scilla on the grassy slope outside the studio. Iris, Daffodils and Pheasant's Eye saluting the sun from the flowerbeds.

When I was designing these flowers I studied them and was fascinated by things I found out. That Iris, in Greek mythology, was the goddess of the rainbow and messenger of the gods. The optical phenomenon iridescence is derived from Iris' name and the fleur-de-lis is a stylized Iris...

Then I read that Pheasant's Eye daffodil, is also called Poet's Daffodil or Narcissus poeticus in latin... Isn't that just irresistable!?

And if you want to get it on paper, that spring is here, you might be interested in the Tulip card over in the shop where there are several cards inspired by spring.

Soon Spring icons come with a companion wallpaper: A Sea of Scilla. This desktop picture is available in several sizes for different types of monitors. There are fullscreen, widescreen, iPhone and iPod Touch versions so take your pick!

Last but not least, members of Club Marmalade Moon receive a bonus collection of Soon Spring icons and images for personal use on your blog or website or as avatars for your computer user account, forums, instant messenger and social networks such as Facebook, Twitter or MySpace! Join the club to get your free April release of limited edition desktop art!

Tags: design, seasonal, floral, nature, spring, bold, Mac OS X, Leopard, Windows, Vista, social networking

It never fails, every year I buy budding bunches of daffodils, when I shop for food at the market. A couple of days later I buy another bunch, soon the dinner table is overflowing with daffodils. And when the daffodils bloom I am startled at how anything can be so - well so very yellow...

As you might have guessed, I am designing some icons and desktop pictures on a spring theme. Bold and colourful like the brave spring blossoms. This spring desktop art will be ready to open its petals on your desktop next week!

Members of Club Marmalade Moon will receive bonus spring desktop art, so join the club to get your April release of limited edition desktop art, if you haven't done so already!

Tags: design, seasonal, spring, nature, floral, bold, Windows, Mac OS X, Vista, Leopard

Well, while I was off to have Easter dinner with my family, the Easter Hare showed up for his last visit for the year! There were paw prints all over the house and he had left a note by my laptop with little odd drawings, scribbles and arrows explaining where all the eggs were...

Here are all the eggs and their locations! If you missed the egg hunt you can download them here.

And there is more! This was just the beginning of fun desktop events here at Marmalade Moon! I am launching a new project for people who like to customize their desktops: Club Marmalade Moon!

Members will receive exclusive, limited edition, designer desktop art that will be free for use in personal projects. You can use the desktop art to decorate your computer desktop. Or your blog or website. You can use it for your computer user account, your forum profile, or instant messenger. You can customise your social network such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter. Making your digital space personal and beautiful. And it's fun to collect the desktop art too!

Sign up today and be part of the grand opening in April!

Happy Easter!

Tags: design, desktop, interface, customise, Mac OS X, Windows, Leopard, Vista, nature, holiday, Easter icon egg hunt

He's been here! The Easter Hare was all excited and said he had hidden six eight Easter Egg Icons on the Marmalade Moon!

I asked him what you were supposed to do when you found an egg, he gave me a look like I am hopeless, and said that “you just click on it and you will be magically transported to a secret page where you can save them to your computer”.

Then his paintbrush dropped out of his satchel and he snatched it back up and suddenly looked a bit worried. He said something about finding the right shades for chocolate, and said he'd be back with more eggs “when they were ready”. Then he jumped vertically for no apparent reason. Blinked and darted off.

Just like that! There was no time for me to remind him that the last day for the egg hunt is on Easter Monday, 24 March and ask him what he had planned for the grand finale! If anything... One wonders... I will keep you updated when I see any more evidence of his work...

Until then, good luck on your icon egg hunt! Six eight eggs to find to start with!

CLUE: If you have recently been browsing Marmalade Moon you might have to reload a page to see the egg, or clear the cashe in your browser.

Tags: design, desktop, interface, Mac OS X, Windows, Leopard, Vista, nature, holiday, Easter icon egg hunt

So, I ran into the Easter Bunny and, he said there is going to be a desktop icon egg hunt here at Marmalade Moon!

Yes, he really did seem mad as a March hare, this bunny, or rabbit... Very excited, but also a bit scatterbrained... I was asking him about dates and how many of these eggs he was planning to bring but all I could get out of him was that it will be going on “during Easter” and that he will be hiding “some pretty eggs” all over Marmalade Moon... When I pressed he said the last day for the hunt would be on Easter Monday, 24 March.

I think that was a bit too much for him, having to be so specific, because after that he started mumbling about whether these eggs would be wrapped in foil or not, or if they would be made of chocolate or if they were going to be all in shades of pastels or in stronger colours, with patterns or dyed, hollow or solid... And then he hopped off with a jerk, I assume to make preparations, and I refrained from passing any comments about tin foil...

Tags: design, desktop, interface, Mac OS X, Windows, Leopard, Vista, nature, holiday, Easter icon egg hunt

Announcing the release of a set of Full Moon icons based on the colourful moons from my recent Total Lunar Eclipse Collection of desktop pictures.

Customize your desktop with this set of icons includes nine variations reaching from a pale, milky white moon, through shades of yellow, glowing oranges and reds as well as some blue moons.

Full Moon icons are Leopard and Vista ready!

Tags: design, desktop, interface, Mac OS X, Windows, Leopard, Vista, nature, celestial, astronomy, Moon

I am busy creating more desktop art on the theme of the full moon. There will be a new set of icons with the full moon based on the colourful moons from the Total Lunar Eclipse Collection of wallpapers. I am planning a set that spans from silvery white, a harvest moon and blood red moons in explosive shades of red, orange, pink and palest lilac. Oh, and a blue moon too of course!

Also, on popular demand, I am remastering 'The Painted Desert', a desert landscape with moon. Adding new sizes for large monitors and for the iPhone and iPod Touch as well as dual monitor versions.

These are some of the ideas I am working on just now, so check back for this new set of icons with the Full Moon and for 'The Painted Desert' desktop picture.

Tags: design, nature, celestial, astronomy, Moon, Windows, Vista, Mac OS X, Leopard

I designed three new desktop pictures with the total eclipse of the Moon available for download in the freebies section so that you can enjoy this dramatic celestial feast on your desktop.

'Under a Blood Red Moon', 'Glowing Coal Moon' and 'Burning Orange Moon'.

Tags: design, nature, celestial, astronomy, Moon

I am making a new wallpaper for the celestial feast on Thursday, February 21, when stargazers will see the full Moon blush red as it passes through Earth's shadow in a total lunar eclipse! The colour of the Moon will change from silvery white to copper red or glowing orange when light is deflected by the Earth’s atmosphere and bounces back off the “blood moon”.

Shades of palest lilac, pinks, oranges and deep red all come together forming a Moon that resembles a glowing coal. So check back for a collection of new desktop pictures with the total eclipse of the Moon!

Further reading (external links):
NASA - Lunar Eclipse Page
Wikipedia - Lunar Eclipse

Tags: design, nature, celestial, astronomy, Moon

In time for Valentine's Day, this desktop picture with rose petals has been remastered for large monitors and for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

For a digital romance, or for a longing for deep summer, the heady scent of roses, the velvet petals.

Dress up your desktop in pretty petals over in the freebies section. Because desktop geeks have feelings too!

Tags: Valentine's Day, summer, seasonal, nature, design

There has hardly been any snow in Sweden this winter so I had to make up for it in some way. I designed a winter wonderland desktop background with bold, crisp, stylised snowflakes to capture a winter atmosphere.

'Snowflake' Wallpaper is available for download in the freebies section. Enjoy!

Tags: snow, winter, seasonal, nature, holiday, design