Inspired by Rosa Clara

This week I've been working on bridal illustrations for a new multi bride print I'm going to try out in my shop. Sometimes I'm inspired by my friends, or a design detail I saw while shopping, and sometimes I just come up with a design out of my head and "wing it." Yesterday however, I discovered the website of Rosa Clara (here). I don't know how its possible that I've never heard of her before. I mean I've done my time as a bridesmaid, taken the trips to Kleinfelds, read through the magazines and have seen a million episodes of Platinum Weddings!

The art direction and styling of the photo's on this site are gorgeous. It's as if your thumbing through a high end bridal magazine with fabulous editorial. The designs are also pure sophistication so needless to say, I was inspired and decided to sketch some brides based on them. I'm so excited about these little ladies, I just love them and love that I've found a fantastic new site for bridal gown references and fabulous poses.

Photos: Rosa Clara

And the winner is...

Thank you to everyone who entered my first blog giveaway! With the help of the Random number generator, I have three winners; Jennifer, Kala, and Stephanie. All of whom ironically enough picked the same bracelet, "Love," benefiting children in need.

Congratulations ladies, and thank you again to all those who entered and to my friends at Team Project360 for donating the fabulous prizes.

Wallpaper Discoveries

Sunday afternoon I met up with a friend and former colleague and we trekked on over to Pier 94 for Architectural Digest Home Design Show. There were a lot of noteworthy exhibitors showing their collections, the most unique of which were the fabulous wallpapers. The colors, patterns, and textures offered were just so fresh and beautiful.

The first one here is a UK based company called Fromental. This paper was absolutely stunning in person, I kept walking away and having to turn back for one more photo. The company's website says they offer "couture for your walls" with their exquisite hand-painted and embroidered papers I couldn't agree more, couture it is.

The watercolor selections from Eskayel were like nothing I had ever seen before. Artist Shanan Campanaro creates each design by extracting segments from her original paintings. As shown here she not only applies these designs to wallpaper, but pillows and ceramics as well. They have a very ethereal feel due to the lovely color palette and watercolor medium she uses. (Shanan let me chose a sample which I plan to frame and add to my art wall! I'll be sure to post a pic for you once I frame it.)

Design Red is a Chicago company that specializes in fine decorative painting. I highly recommend taking a few minutes to browse through their online portfolio (here). It's amazing what this team can do with a few brushes and paints.

Since I live in a little NYC rental apartment and cannot take advantage of these now, they will definitely be added to my style files for the future!

The Brides are Coming

The weather here in NYC this past week has been absolutely gorgeous. With spring coming and many emails popping up asking about my custom bridal drawings (here) I know wedding season is just around the corner. So I've decided while I have a little free time to illustrate a fresh batch of brides and design a print for the shop with all of them. These three ladies are a little sneak preview.

I hope you have a fabulous weekend and don't forget to enter my giveaway by leaving a comment in the post below for your chance to win one of 3 Project360 bracelets.

Retail Therapy: Project 360 Heart Hoodie

This happens to be one of the softest and coziest garments I've ever owed and its cute to boot. Although I've been a long time fan of Team Project360 (a close friend of mine is the CEO and I always support my girls!) it wasn't until two weeks ago while out in LA, that I actually bought my first piece from the collection and have barely taken it off since! (In my Oscars post, you can spot me wearing it will prepping my illustrations.)

My limited edition hoodie (originally made for Valentines day) is made of organic cotton and recycled leather. Each item in the earth-friendly collection is made with the goal of generating awareness of global issues. The philosophy behind the company is that "even the smallest act can make the biggest difference to a person in need." So you can have this chic and cozy staple that you won't want to take off while helping to better the planet. Since purchasing my heart hoodie and falling in love with it I've had to place a second order. (My "LOVE" hoodie is on its way.) If you would like one too they are available at upscale retailers Henri Bendel, Fred Segal, and Charlotte Ronsen or online here.

And now, drum roll please. . .I'm pleased to announce that you can enter here to win a Project360 leather bracelet! I mentioned to my friend that I was posting about my fabulous hoodie and she offered up 3 bracelets for my first ever giveaway! You can chose from six different words that benefit six different charities. Simply comment below with your name, email address, and the bracelet you would want; Love, Empower, Truth, Hope, Peace or Dream. You can also follow Team Project 360 on Twitter (here) or become a facebook fan (here) then let me know you did so by commenting again. Meaning you can enter up to three times! Three winners will be chosen. You can enter until midnight March 23rd. Good luck everyone! I wish I could win, these babies are worth $68 each!

Tuesday Tip: Lips

This week I want to get specific with you and focus on one feature, the mouth. There are many different ways to draw a mouth; smiling, smirking or even frowning. I'm going to show you my standard go-to perfect pout. Once you master this it's easy to play around and try variations.

1-Start by drawing a circle. Then draw one line through then center horizontally and another vertically.

2-Mark the sides and center with slightly darker "dashes" and begin drawing the contour of the mouth.

3-Lightly erase all the lines. (Once you add marker you cannot erase, the marker sets it into the paper.) Just leave the faint pencil lines so you can still see where to apply color.

4-Add a second coat of marker to the entire top lip and very bottom edge of the bottom lip. Then with your dark pencil lightly outline and add shadows in the center middle, center bottom, and sides.

Something important to keep in mind when drawing the mouth is the top lip is ALWAYS darker because its in shadow. Look in the mirror or some photos and blur your eyes and you'll instantly see it. Above is an example of the "perfect pout" on Audrey from my etsy shop. (Dylan, Vogue and Mystie all sport a variation of this mouth as well.)

For now this is the last tuesday tip. It was only set up as a four week series, but I do promise to resume it again sometime in the future. Thank you though for all the positive feedback! Happy sketching!