Priscilla Lives

3. Delicious Adventures: Bonjour Brioche

2012-02-10T20:36:00.000-05:00

The other week, Jacqueline, Aloscar and I went for brunch, which I think is one of the happiest events on earth, at Bonjour Brioche, which happens to be one of the happiest places within a 5 mile radius. Their apple cider was warm and cozy on a cold day, but their hot chocolate is legendairy (you're welcome). Pain au chocolats are among my favorite foods in the entire world, and the Bonjour Brioche variety is buttery and dense. Simagine the filling of that chocolate croissant in liquid form, poured into a cup with hot milk and mixed until creamy. I die.

I always order scrambled eggs at brunch, but I rarely order smoked salmon, until I saw this scrumptious offering. Smoked salmon & scrambled eggs with chives, rosti potato, creamed horse radish and caviar, served with their freshly baked baguettes. Don't tell Alexi otherwise he'll say I have no self control or whatever, but it was so good, I kept eating long past the point I was full and was the proud mama of a lox-scramble-rosti-bageutte food baby.

Alexi had the Croque Madam, on their yummy brioche with ham, gruyere cheese and sunny side up egg. I love food like this, really simple ingredients that are packed with rich flavors, like you're standing right outside the Jaurès metro station in Paris, staring in the window of Le Preux Boulangerie. Its times like this when I slightly regret living so close to work and not, say, across the street from Bonjour. On the one hand I could walk to work every morning with a steaming cup of cocoa and a pain au chocolat, but on the other hand I'd probably be come a whale.

2. Tarts

2012-02-08T23:02:00.000-05:00

Oh orphan tarts, you make me so happy. I would lovingly give all of you a home in my tummy. So sorry for the delay in illustrating our delicious brunch at Bonjour Brioche. This is Part 1 (unfortch we didn't eat all of them, but I've been dreaming about illustrating them ever since!) but here was the real life spread that was delivered to our table:

1. Body Parts

2012-02-06T19:40:00.000-05:00

I gave myself about a week to break, and now I'm over it. On to the next challenge: 100 Drawings! Here is one that I drew of boy parts and girl parts for my Life Drawing class. I love drawing people, but can I tell you how boring it is to draw heads over and over? I was ecstatic to finally start drawing bones, and this is my first time! Anatomy is one of those things I always wanted to learn to draw. I don't think I could do it in real life with a cadaver like they did in medieval times because I'd totally vom, so I'm going to have to learn it from this textbook, which is by the way, one of the greatest references for drawing I've ever seen.

100 Days

2012-02-02T23:17:00.000-05:00

Oh my, I was so into my 100 Blogs in 100 Days challenge, I didn't even realize I had passed the hundred mark almost a week ago! A lot of things have changed in the last three months (which is almost a quarter of a year!) and it's pretty amazing to have a record of your life in transition. Here are a few things I learned in the last 100 Days:

1) Things evolve at their own pace, but there has to be discipline in the creative process

In the first few weeks, I mostly wrote about other people's amazing work. About midway through the challenge, suddenly I noticed a shift and now when I scroll down the page, its 90% my work, which hasn't happened ever! I have been waiting for years to feel this pumped to produce new stuff, and it's not for lack of trying. I always felt that people shouldn't wait for things to happen, they should go out and make them happen, but it's so difficult to force yourself to produce creative work when you can't find the motivation. So the minute I wanted to draw, I did. I pulled out my tablet. I signed up for classes. I made a schedule. I think the real point is to recognize when you feel that moment of inspiration, and MOVE.

2) Invest in your future

When I was feeling uninspired, I organized. I collected tons of tear sheets in 36+ categories, filled with J.Crew catalogs, magazines, postcards, tickets, packaging, anywhere I found inspiration. These archives have built up over years and years. Alexi always used to ask me what I was saving them all for when I didn't do anything with them, but I knew they would come in handy one day when I suddenly wanted to draw and needed references. This totally paid off in the last month!

3) Make friends & get over yourself

Caitlin McGauley told me that you never know who is looking at your work, but you can take it one step further and make sure the people YOU want to look be looking at your work are doing just that. I've always sent fan emails to people I admire, but when I started drawing I also asked them to look at my work and give me feedback on some of the challenges they faced, and asked them to give me advice. Since starting this 100 day challenge, I've emailed and received emails back from three artist I admire greatly (and blogged about!) all of whom gave me great tips on what I should do next. I also got over my fear of producing lacklustre work just started producing work, because things will get better with practice.

People's responses on Facebook and in person have been have been so overwhelmingly supportive. On to the next 100-challenge!

Delicious Adventures: Bonjour Brioche

2012-01-29T23:24:00.000-05:00

Place: Bonjour Brioche, 812 Queen St. E

There are few things I love as much as Sunday mornings and brunch, and therefore brunch on a Sunday morning is basically one of the greatest things on the planet. When I used to work at the restaurant, we'd have old ladies coming in and asking for the "luncheon" menu because they felt it was classier than asking for the lunch menu (even if it was dinner) and this would drive me bonkers. Luncheon is an event - it's like asking for the Bat Mitzvah menu. You're here to eat lunch. I digress. This is another reason why brunch is great - because it is both an event and a meal. Jacqueline, Aloscar and I went for one such event this weekend at Bonjour Brioche. It's a double date with the Li sisters! More to come in a fully illustrated breakdown soon!

Yo Miss - Ironic Hipster Edition

2012-01-28T13:40:00.000-05:00

Yo Miss - JCY Edition

2012-01-27T23:37:00.000-05:00

Yo Miss - Gina Edition

2012-01-26T23:03:00.000-05:00

I'm having a lot of fun with my "Shit Student Say" series. This is my latest instalment, and a step-by-step of how she's created!

1. Pencil sketch. You don't see all the lines in this image, but there's a grid which keeps her proportions consistent and lots of rough gestures to capture her posture. I usually draw in front of my laptop, where I can look up references (like puffy Baby Phat jackets and acid distressed Parasuco jeans!)

2. I haven't gotten around to getting a scanner yet, so right now I've got a ghetto process of taking a digital photo of my sketchbook with my Canon S95 and then color correcting it in Photoshop, which is how I got this black and white sketch, prepped and ready to color.

3. First pass at color. I establish a rough color palette, and then go back and forth in Photoshop and Painter. Sometimes the colors change, but every piece has a different layer (there's a layer for her hair, skin, makeup, jacket, fur on the jacket, jeans, etc.) which allows me to go in and change one element easily later.

4. Textures like her gold hoop earrings, Baby Phat logo and the monogram on her Coach bag are added in last. Here's our student!

Spectacular Achievements..

2012-01-25T13:22:00.000-05:00

I handed in my gamer student yesterday and Anthony said that my work had noticeably improved, which is lovely to hear. He also made a very accurate observation about my style, which sent me in a spiralling shame attack. I love drawing really detailed characters, but from from the neck up and the hairline down (basically the head) I still have a very strong Asian influence. And by Asian I mean manga, a comparison which irritates me to no end.

I was heavily influenced by anime when I was younger because that was the most stylized form of illustration I knew (back then) and it was so aesthetically different than all the other shows you'd see on YTV. I used to draw Sailor Moon comics when I was not paying attention in Chinese School so I could sell them for 50¢ at break, or trade them for a Sailor Moon card since my parents would never buy them (the other girls had entire binders and brought them to school, I was excruciatingly jealous)

But the older I get, the more I hate the comparison to manga because it is, to me, a very limiting range to box oneself in, and it makes me feel like I haven't really made any big leaps forward. A lot of illustrators I admire, like Jordi Labanda, is able to draw from similar proportions without being labelled as having an anime influence. I'm still trying to figure out what "my"style is, which takes practise, and I'm not exactly a poster child for patience. Head up young person.

Yo Miss - Gamer Edition

2012-01-24T23:40:00.000-05:00

Aloscar

2012-01-23T23:53:00.000-05:00

This is my character for class tomorrow, and I did a tribute to Oscar and Alexi, two incredibly special people to my sister and I. They also represent basically every gamer geek I know and love :D For the record, I think I was one of the early pioneers of nerd loving. I was loving them almost a decade before hipsters started doing it!

NYC Brownstones Part 2!

2012-01-22T13:54:00.001-05:00

Hi! I'm finally finished my NYC brownstone project. This took me a couple of days but I'm quite pleased with the results!

As I was drawing these, I love imagining who would live in these houses. I think the girl who lives here would be married to a hedge fund manager and dresses in Jason Wu and Ralph Lauren (black label, darling) by day, Zac Posen by night (her mother-in-law, who is a Baroness but doesn't use the title, wears Oscar de la Renta to the same benefit). Her entire life is in her Hermes birkin bag, unless she's hopping on a PJ to St. Barts for the weekend, then she'll be using her Goyard luggage.

This house reminds me of Carrie Bradshaw's home in Grenwich Village. This girl is a professional muse for Marc Jacobs, which is why she always has a bag on her arm before it's even off the runway. A younger version of her would party with the boys from LMFAO, but now she attends premieres and benefits, supports the CFDA, and wears clothes made by her friends, Alexander Wang and the Proenza Schouler boys.

This woman is a globetrotter and was a supermodel a few years ago. She's loves Woody Allen and Proust, wears Isabel Marant and Chloe, and can actually wear Rick Owens off the runway. When Margharita Missoni, Tatiana Santo Domingo and Eugenie Niarchos (whose families account for about 80% of Greece's GDP) are in town, they love to stay over. She's friends with almost everyone on the Vogue Paris masthead, and keeps in touch with both Carine Roitfeld and Emmanuelle Alt (it's a private matter, sweetie).

Here's a row of them altogether!

Just for fun, I Disney-fied this. I can imagine this in the background of Monsters Inc. or a Nickeloden Kids show :)

NYC Brownstones

2012-01-21T15:22:00.000-05:00

Still drawing buildings and I'm not finished yet, so here is a work in progress! I turned my Park Avenue home into a row of Brooklyn brownstone townhouses! I'm really happy experimenting with drawing on paper & pencil and then coloring it digitally. I feel like I'm back in school again, except instead of rushing to finish assignments, I'm staying up until 2am drawing and listening to Watch the Throne, which makes me very tired but very, very happy. Hopefully I'll be done the series tomorrow!

Park Avenue Princess

2012-01-20T23:20:00.000-05:00

I love drawing people and fashion, but lately I've wanted to try drawing places. Caitlin McGauley has been inspiring me to explore buildings, which I haven't done in a long time. I used to draw clothes I'd see out of the pages of In Style magazine because I couldn't afford Michael Kors skirts and Gucci dresses (update: I still can't) I thought that I was so clever by drawing them, because I could create illustrations for my portfolio and have the clothes that way! Here is a Park Avenue town home which I'm assuming is worth millions of dollars. So lets add that to my imaginary roster of assets.

Lately Lily

2012-01-19T23:23:00.000-05:00

I've been drawing a lot more lately, which I haven't done regularly since I started OCAD (ironic right?) My tablet is great, but I am having so much fun drawing with pencil and paper again! A lot of people who produce tons of illustration work I admire have a sketchbook with them at all times, so they can draw from their every day life. I'm just starting to keep a sketchbook again, so I thought I'd look at this little girl, who loves to draw in hers!

Lately Lily is a creative collaboration between illustrator Micah Player and apparel designer Erin Nichols. Lily is the daughter of a photographer and writer for the International Exposition (Definitive Journal of Global Curiosity) magazine, she travels the world with her parents in the company of her best friend, Zeborah (a stuffed zebra from the London Zoo).

Each season, Lily writes in her travel journal about what she's seen and where she's been lately (like me!) and shares souvenirs from her sunny yellow suitcase. There is also a series of t-shirts with unique hangtags that you can collect to follow Lily's adventures, which contain fun facts about the places she visits. Lily made her internet debut in December 2011 as she travels to Peru. Looks like one of my nieces is getting a tshirt for whatever occasion is coming up next!

Malfoy Love

2012-01-18T23:19:00.000-05:00

My friend Mel has never understood why I love the Malfoys, who are hands down, my favorite Harry Potter characters. It's because of Heather Campbell, who I've admired for years and who brought them to life through her illustrations long before the movies.

Heather started drawing HP fan art when she was a student at the University of Texas at Dallas. She has created so any comics, concept art, and doodles that there is an entire website devoted to it.

There's lots of fan art of Harry and the trio, whatever, but this is the first image I saw that I LOVED, because in an instant, it created for me an entire relationship between Lucius and Narcissa outside the pages of the books.

First, Heather made Lucius basically the most handsome antagonist I've ever seen and perhaps the only blonde that I've ever found attractive. When I see Jason Isaacs in the movies, I see the real life embodiment of her sketches (Not loving the ringlets Narcissa's rocking at what looks like their wedding because it makes her look like a porcelain doll, but in the first image she is the perfect Slytherin ice queen)

Second, yes they were "evil" and Death Eaters and whatever, but they were also madly in love with each other and did couple-y things and are so funny together.

(Totally do this to Alexi)

She also brought Bellatrix to life for me. I am going to pretend the whole Helena Bonham Carter thing didn't happen. Heather's Bella is way, way better and she also has the attractive Black family genes (and not look like a homeless person as she does in the movies) Heather created a Project Half Blood Prince where she attempted to summarize each chapter in a series of illustrations. This play by play is one of her favorite chapters in the entire series and it's so funny, I die every time.

This is a great illustration of the Weasleys too

But back to the Malfoys! Father and son bonding time as Lucius teaches young Draco how to play quidditch and he catches his first snitch.

And one of the most adorable Malfoy pictures of all time. I love this family.

The most epic rendering of Chapter 23 of Deathly Hallows. At one point, Heather thought she wanted to be a marine biologist, but later decided that that required too much science and not enough playing with dolphins. Science's loss is a win for design, because her character design and concept art is out of this world.

Yo Miss - JAP Edition

2012-01-17T01:52:00.000-05:00

Working in a School, you overhear a lot of great conversation moments. Some of my best material comes from the students. I've had ones walk in demanding if I knew where their sweaters were, ones who were wondering if I could break into someone's locker to retrieve their shoes (they left it with a classmate whose name they forgot, in a class they didn't know, during a class they didn't remember) But some of the very best moments happen at the beginning of each semester, during a magical week known as start-up. It is amazing how many withering looks Lori gets on an average day. And the sartorial commentary I could give.. its like Christmas morning. Oh students, I love you all so much.

Golden Globes: A Mega Picture Post!

2012-01-16T21:43:00.000-05:00

Awards Season is here!!! The Critics Choice and Peoples Choice awards went by and it was meh, but I always look forward to the Golden Globes, the SAGs and the Academy Awards for the delicious eye candy. And I'm not talking about you, Joshua Jackson. Here is a round up of my favorites:

Emma stone in custom Lanvin. As I'm typing this, I'm totally reading it in my head in the same tone that the presenters use to read out the nominees, because I'm a dork. Emma and Alber work so well together. Emma has worn Lanvin she has hit it out of the ballpark. She looks stunning in this plum tulle gown with raspberry paneling, which looks super ethereal and flowy, but if you look closely Alber has added some rock chic details like a strong smoky rhinestone-studded shoulder and a biker inspired crystal eagle leather belt. Harley Davidson meets Aphrodite, indeed.

Nicole Kidman in Versace. I have always been a fan of Nicole. Even when she was married to Tom Cruise, and then when she was divorcing Tom Cruise, and the entire world was watching as her blood was turning to tears, and then when she looked all Stepford Housewife-y meets too much botox. I was rooting for her the whole time, and I love this fresh, rock & roll studded Versace. This is the Nicole I remember!

Salma Hayek in custom Gucci Premiere, their official foray into couture. I'm consumed by jealousy. Not because Salma is the wife of Francois Pinault, whose estimated worth is $11.5 billion. It's because Pinault happens to own PPR, which owns Gucci Group, which means that Salma can get custom sketches of shimmery art deco-inspired gowns with antique gold bustiers and a skirt handmade from delicate glass beads from Frida Giannini whenever she wants. I die.

Shailene Woodley in Marchesa. Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig are really, really good at what they do. They have been criticized for the same thing as Elie Saab in that they only specialize in one thing, which is apparently jaw-droppingly beautiful ballgowns that make you feel like a princess. That's a bad thing?

Dianna Agron in Giles Deacon. This is one of my favorite dresses of the night. Deacon was inspired by a steady stream of influences, beginning with the automaton Silver Swan, to Cecil Beaton's Symphony in Silver portrait, featuring his sister, to Andy Warhol and Billy Kluver's Silver Clouds, all leading to an extremely fluid and modern collection leveraging technological processes to create couture-like details. I wasn't expecting this from Giles, and hope we'll get to see more work like this in the future!

Evan Rachel Wood in Gucci Premiere. Hands down my favorite of the evening. She is stunning in this dress, which is embroidered with overlapping fish scale paillettes and ostrich plumes, graduating into a full skirt of iridescent feathers. Is this not amazing and for fit a Slytherin ice queen? If Narcissa Malfoy wore a dress to the Yule Ball, this would be it. Also, I'm so glad ERW is over her teenage rebellion and is back to looking (and dressing) lovely and youthful. Remember when she was dating Marilyn Manson? Neither do I.

Delicious Adventures: MerryBerry Pt 2!

2012-01-15T22:39:00.000-05:00

AND NOW, an illustrated play-by-play from our reading date at Merry Berry yesterday!

Alexi always likes to open with a dessert. A few years ago, I used to be totally embarrassed but as it turns out, he was a trendsetter. Now we go to dinner with friends, and on more than several occasions, people have started ordering dessert first like they didn't think it was weird several months ago. I'm looking at you, mom. Merry Berry does not go wrong with their pies. They use a puff pastry crust which is a light and fluffy departure from the usual buttery crust. Superb.

One pie was great, so why not two? We had the Wild Wild West pie - ground bison, cranberries & caramelized onion goodness, which was an amazing remix on the Quebecois tourtière. Comes with a side salad - also great. Normally I don't expect much from restaurant side salads because it's usually unimpressive romaine lettuce with a few pieces of tomatoes and some run of the mill vinaigrette, but their baby green mix was good, and so was their dressing!

About an hour and a half later, we got hungry again, so we ordered their signature Magic Quinoa salad, which is as magical as it sounds. Merry Berry is really, really good at mixing sweet and savoury - something Alexi finds really controversial (for fear of one contaminating the other) but I'm a mega fan of. This organic quinoa salad had pine nuts, red & green peppers with sweet, crunchy whole grapes, smoked salmon rosettes and crispy root vegetable strips. It's pretty major.

I also had This. Behold, the Mother of All Sandwiches (that's what it's called fo real). Meaty portobello mushrooms, sweet and tart strawberries (you don't think it's going to work but it does!) hummus, creamy goat cheese and earthy basil grilled in a panini press. It wasn't even in the Sandwich section of the menu, it was in the Burger section like a boss.

Aaand... we bookended lunch/dinner (lunner?) with dessert. Earl Grey creme brulee. I enjoy a good creme brule once in a while, but I am a major fan of Earl Grey. The smell is intoxicating - it adds a light flavour to the custard without overpowering it with bergamot. I have a food baby and I look like I'm three months pregnant.

Delicious Adventures: MerryBerry Pt 1

2012-01-14T22:30:00.000-05:00

Place: MerryBerry, 559 Parliament Street

This afternoon Alexi and I decided to have a reading date at MerryBerry, a lovely bistro up the street in Cabbagetown. I've been a huge fan of this place for a while, and I love reading dates - the objective is to find a hole in the wall place with delicious food that is quiet enough to basically read and graze. I'm slowly eating my way down their menu, and I've yet to meet a dish I didn't like there. I'm continuing on with my mission to find the best hot chocolate in the city, and MerryBerry nails the basics - it's simple and has a big hit of cocoa, which is great because it tastes like hot cocoa, not chocolate powder and sugar. It wasn't the best hot chocolate I've ever had, which isn't because it was bad, but because everything else we ate there was sooo good. The full play-by-play coming tomorrow!

Alma by Rodrigo Blaas

2012-01-13T23:00:00.000-05:00

I discovered Alma while looking at the incredible work of Carlos Grangel. The vimeo thumbnail (and Grangel's work) made me think this was a heartwarming coming-of-age children's short animation, when in reality that was a total decepticon front. This film terrified me like the posters of all the Saw movies. I am a total sissy when it comes to scary movies. What most people get out of a 120-minute horror film, I get out of listening to the audio from the trailer of that movie when Alexi watches it from 10 feet away.

But I digress. This is about Alma, the directorial debut of former Pixar animator Rodrigo Blaas. All creepiness aside, the development of this short film is phenomenal. Blaas is a veteran of the industry, and when he decided to take on his first independent project, he also assembled a dream team to collaborate: French animator Bolhem Bouchiba, character designer Carlos Grangel and Sergio Pablos, art director Alfonso Blaas, music composer Mastretta and sound designer Tom Myers. I love when friends work together on personal projects! That's like me saying 'I want to develop an awesome project. Get Alber Elbaz and the Proenza Schouler boys on the phone, let's do this!' except we're not friends... sigh.

Clearly, Blaas was on to something. The film debuted a few years ago and skyrocketed to over a million hits on Vimeo almost immediately, scooping up an Honorable Mention at SIGGRAPH and a gaggle of Best in Show awards along the way. In October 2010 it was announced that DreamWorks Animation is developing Alma into a full-length animated feature, backed by Guillermo del Toro stepping in as producer. It's expected to come out in 2015 and while I'm terrified already, I also kind of can't wait.

Getting down to business

2012-01-12T22:42:00.000-05:00

Here's a photo of my home base aka the dining table, which I've taken over as my office/studio. It's so important to have the right setup, and I've gone through a few phases over the last year or two. So happy to have my supplies all around me again and knowing that this time, they're actually going to be put to good use :D

Caitlin McGauley

2012-01-11T22:30:00.000-05:00

I've been a fan of Caitlin McGauley's work before I even knew it was her (and then I became a fan of Caitlin McGauley AND her work)

She is the amazing illustrator behind many of Kate Spade's lovely graphics, the illustrator on staff for Lonny magazine, a blogger and a new mom. Somehow, she found time in her schedule to write an email back to me when I gushed about how much I liked her work, which has elevated her from awesome to legendary status in my mind. This woman is invincible as far as I'm concerned.

Caitlin went to Syracuse College of Visual & Performing Arts and started out as an illustration major, but switched to Advertising because (ironically) she never thought she could do illustration full time. After doing a little bit of everything, including textiles, which is how she landed a job working as a bedding designer for Ralph Lauren.

At one point, she decided that she wanted to paint everyday (or try to) because she wanted to do something that was 'her own' outside of work. A few people started following her blog, including Michelle Adams, former market editor of Domino Magazine, who was at the time starting a new online magazine called Lonny, and asked if Caitlin would come on board as the illustrator. Through Lonny came jobs for Tory Burch, Kate Spade, Hermes, and more. She started getting so much illustration work that she left RL and devoted herself to illustration full time, which she says is the best decision ever.

Caitlin can often be found wandering the streets of NYC with her red notebook (and now a baby carriage!) drawing everything that inspires her. We love so many of the same things - pretty interiors, prints and patterns, yummy things found in the window of a bakery, s fashion, Dries van Noten, colorful flowers, Dr. PH. Martins watercolors (I recently bought my first as an homage to her) and blogging.

It took me forever to make this blog post because I literally combed the internet looking for her work one night. I was hooked. I have now a huge folder of illustrations, and I plan to refer to them as inspiration basically between now until forever.

I love the vivid colors and the natural ease of the brushstrokes in her drawings - I've experimented with a lot of mediums, and I always found watercolor to be the scariest because when you put a stroke down, you're committing to it, there's no going back! I love the everyday ordinary moments that she makes extraordinary. She makes everything look awesome, including shots of her work in progress (mine would just be a messy desk, but hers is a gorgeous splatter of color and inks and happiness). I love this woman. I want her to be my friend!

Cartooning with Anthony (again)

2012-01-10T22:33:00.000-05:00

I enjoyed my Saturday morning class so much that I decided to take a Tuesday night one on a whim. Both classes are taught by Anthony Harrison, which I find totally serendipitous. I first met Anthony in like 1994. I was going to Summer Studio, a summer arts daycamp when I was in elementary school. He taught me cartooning when I was 7-8 for several years, and he was a major influence because at that time I had decided I wanted to go into cartooning or animation. Almost 15 years later, when I walked into into the School of Design on my first day, I ran into him and now we work together. And almost two decades later, when I decided I wanted to learn character design, guess who's classroom I'm sitting in on Tuesday nights? Life is funny. This was our in-class assignment to learn how to draw character sheets. Here is my life plan for the next 6 months:

January-April
- Work
- Teaching + class prep
- Draw every night
- 2 classes w/sketchbook assignments and projects
- Try to maintain some kind of household (ie groceries, showering)
- Have a shred of a social life
- Go to the gym (can this be outsourced?)

May-June-ish
- All of the above
- Plan wedding

August
- Get married

Materials List

2012-01-09T01:18:00.000-05:00

Wheee! This Saturday was my first day of classes since 2007. I'm taking Life Drawing for Illustrators and I'm so excited! And the first assignment of any art/design class is always going over the materials we'll need for the course, which makes me even more excited. Here's an overview of some of my arsenal for the next 14 weeks:

- Faber Castell TK4600 technical pencil - this is one of my favorite tools of all time
- A loaded palette of pencils, from the barely there 4H to the shit-it's-all-over-my-hands 8B
- Faber Castell PITT artist India ink pens
- 513 Hunt Globe extra fine bowl pointed pen, for small details
- 102 Hunt Croquill, which is the general, all purpose crowd-pleaser
- #3 and #10 paintbrushes for inks and gouache
- White gouache
- Dr. Ph. Martin's Black Star Hi Carb waterproof India ink. Hi Carb is for high carbon content, meaning this stuff is hardcore and I'll probably get it all over myself the day I decide to wear white

I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on traditional media again. It's been a while since I've drawn and while I love working with the tablet, there's something tactile and more personal with pen on paper. Can't wait for next week!

Delicious Adventures: Nutella Edition

2012-01-08T23:27:00.003-05:00

Place: Cafe Crepe, 246 Queen Street West

I'm on a mission to find the best hot chocolate in Toronto, and when I'm craving Nutella, there's only one place I know that can give me a fix. Cafe Crepe is one of my favorite places to eat. It's my spot for date nights, dinner with girlfriends, or by myself with a good book. I love the huge vintage illustrated ads on the walls, and feels like a Parisian Cafe in a Woody Allen movie - when I'm inside the doors past the chef making the crepes in the front window, it feels like I'm transported to another place beyond Toronto. I always get a corner booth, and I always order a Nutella latte or Nutella hot chocolate, which is fucking delicious. It comes in a small bowl, is just the right thickness, and hits a good balance between sweetness and chocolatey-ness. Unfortch, the only thing is it always seems to disappear too quickly!

Portraitdex Pt 2: Lexicorn!

2012-01-07T12:04:00.000-05:00

Lexicorns are a legendary pokemon. They have incredible self-discipline and teach themselves attacks by observing their peers, and can evolve on their own. They're usually brooding and anti-social, rarely seen in groups, and are anti-authority, thus being incredibly difficult to catch and train. They are highly susceptible to bother attacks by P.Lis and seek to avoid them at all costs.

Portraitdex

2012-01-06T22:31:00.000-05:00

Portraitdex is a tumblr of designers and illustrators who created self portraits in Pokemon form! P.Li is a Snuggle Pokemon. It evolves from Lil'Li when levelled up with super happiness, and evolves into P.Lizzle when exposed to rap music from Snoop Dogg or Jay Z. P.Li's rarely attack, unless exposed to Lexicorns or something yummy. Remedy this with a snack or a nap.

Picture Book Report!

2012-01-05T19:31:00.000-05:00

My friend Mel and I have been talking about creating an illustration project to redesign the covers of our favorite books for a while, so I was unspeakably happy to discover the Picture Book Report project, which was initiated by the inimitable Meg Hunt. 15 illustrators re-imagined their favorite books, and made me fall in love with many of them all over again. Here are some of my favorites:

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Illustrated by Jeremy Sorese

The plump little woman beamed at him. "Why, Charlsie, my pet! Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connait point, French, Pascal. 'The heart has its reasons, wherof reason knows nothing.'"

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Illustrated by Emily Carroll
The lift was crowded with men from the Alpha Changing Rooms, and Lenina’s entry was greeted by many friendly nods and smiles. She was a popular girl and, at one time or another, had spent a night with almost all of them.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Ronald Dahl
Illustrated by John Martz

I, Willy Wonka, have decided to allow five children — just five, mind you, and no more — to visit my factory this year. These lucky five will be shown around personally by me, and they will be allowed to see all the secrets and the magic of my factory. Then, at the the end of the tour, as a special present, all of them will be given enough chocolates and candies to last them for the rest of their lives!

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

Illustrated by Lizzy Stewart

On Wednesday, July 19, the Council, having gleaned and discerned, released its official verdict: the fall of the tile bearing the letter "Z" constitutes the terrestrial manifestation of an empyrean Nollopian desire, that desire most surely being that the letter "Z" should be utterly excised - fully extirpated - absolutely heave-ho'ed from our communal vocabulary!

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Illustrated by John Martz

Arthur didn't notice that the men were running from the bulldozers; he didn't notice that Mr Prosser was staring hectically into the sky. What Mr Prosser had noticed was that huge yellow somethings were screaming through the clouds. Impossibly huge yellow somethings.

The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien
Illustrated by Sam Bosma

Quickly now to the top of this rock the eagles swooped one by one and set down their passengers. "Farewell!” they cried. “wherever you fare, till your eyries receive you at the journey’s end!” That is the polite thing to say among eagles. "May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks," answered Gandalf, who knew the correct reply.

Cinderella Story

2012-01-04T00:07:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking about shoes lately. My friend Nancy and I went shopping on boxing day and she was on the hunt for a bag, but ended up finding a pair of Cole Haan black suede boots that were killer on her. (These are not the boots, that's just me playing in Painter. But aren't they sick? If I was channeling Charlie's Angels, I'd totally wear them)

Nancy always said that she was a shoe girl and I was a bag girl. When it comes to shoes, I am decidedly more uniform, my shelf has Nine West pumps and ballet flats in every color. That conversation made me decide 2 things: 1) That I'd find shoes I always dreamed about, and 2) I still want those Louboutin boots when I want to channel C-3P0

These Thakoon mirror mosaic ankle boots are pretty badass also. Less R2D2, more Sasha Fierce. I would happily wear them to work (who am I kidding, I'd wear all of these to the office)

But lets be honest: If I was hemorrhaging money, I know exactly what shoes I'd run and get. An entire collection of Finsk concept boots, which are so Lady Gaga I die.

If we're getting into this fantasy, I'd probably also own a pair of Nicholas Kirkwood shoes (or twelve)

And there's these gorgeous McQueens. I wouldn't wear the alien shoes from Plato's Atlantis - those shoes are a whole other level of crazy that I leave to Gaga and Daphne Guiness - but I would feel like a mermaid princess every time I wore these. Until I can find shoes like this in Toronto, in prices that don't equal my entire rent for a month, I'm going to keep my uniform pumps. But I'm a strong believer that a pair of shoes can change your life. Just ask Cinderella.

Interiors: Frida Giannini

2012-01-03T19:30:00.000-05:00

Alexi has decided to do his own 100 challenge, and has decided to read 100 books in the next 365 days. So far he's been almost going through a book a day on his Kindle, which is inspiring me to pick up a book as well. Unfortunately, yesterday was the first day back at work, and I'm discovering that I can't draw and read and work out and hang out with friends and have a full time job! I think I'm finally going to start House Of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed which has been on my reading list since the summer. But talking about Gucci with me always leads to the lovely and badass Frida Giannini, who I think is one of the most gorgeous creatures on the planet.

Frida studied fashion design at the Academy of Costume & Fashion in Rome. At 25, she was hired at Fendi as a ready-to-wear designer for three seasons before being promoted to oversee all of the company's leather goods. In 2002, she joined Gucci designing handbags under Tom Ford, and two years later she was appointed to a newly created post as the Creative Director of Accessories, where she assumed unprecedented control of bags, shoes, luggage, small leather goods, silks, fine jewelry, gifts, watches and eyewear. A year after that, womenswear was added to her roster, and in a year after that, she took over menswear, becoming the Creative Director of the entire label at 32.

Since assuming the label, and in spite of the economic downturn, Gucci has been turning out close to $3 billion a year. Clearly, Giannini's not lacking for brains or talent (or hotness, lets be honest) and has enough clout that in 2009, she convinced her bosses to relocate her design offices to Rome from Florence, where the company HQ has been since 1921. And she runs a tight ship: "If one of my design kids comes in wearing Birkenstocks, I tell them to go home and put on a pair of suede loafers. We're working for one of the most important luxury brands in the world. There should be a minimum amount of decorum and respect."

These pictures from are from her place in Florence, which was built out by her father, who is an architect. Giannini has a reputation as a workaoholic ("I don't have a social life. I don't do anything else," she says matter-of-factly) but found the time to furnish the place herself, sourcing her '30s and '40s art-deco pieces from dealers in Paris, Florence, and Rome. Among her treasures: A 1968 Arne Jacobsen Egg chair in its original leather, which took five years to track down.

Then there is her infamous record collection. She has said that music is a huge source of inspiration for her as she's designing, and she has about 8,000, the bulk of which was inherited from her uncle, who was a DJ. For someone who keeps a meticulously organized life and schedule, I can only imagine how crazy it would be to organize that wall, but apparently this is the one collection that is in no particular order. "As you know, vinyl records can be very heavy, so every time I have to move into a new house, I need to build a complete new wall of shelves to put all these records, which is a nightmare for the architect. But I have to say, I’m so proud because it’s really special for me to have this collection. I have many memories of the music of my uncle, and also because there are so many beautiful covers. I love the covers of vinyl records."

One of my favorite Frida quotes: "When I joined Gucci in 2002, I immediately wanted to make a research trip into the archives because I’d heard about how incredible they were, but I never had the opportunity to visit them. But, I tell you, I was shocked when I got into them, because the Gucci archives are full of all these incredible objects and items from about the ’40s through the ’60s and ’70s. There are these incredible handbags and pieces of home furniture or objects for lifestyle, like tennis or golf. They did many designs for cars and seats in the ’70s, and there are all these original drawings of prints and flowers, which are also tremendously inspiring for me because I can pick some older design or object and rework it—bring it to new life. In designing for Gucci, I always love to make some sort of stylistic marriage between past, present, and future, because this brand has a huge history. There’s 90 years of tradition and ideas about excellence and expertise in luxury goods and craftsmanship that have been handed down over generations. We still have some suppliers working with us today who are the sons and daughters of the old suppliers who used to work for the original Gucci family at the beginning of the last century. So it’s nice to always create this balance between what has been done in the past and what you want to do in the future."

Lucy Knisley

2012-01-02T20:42:00.000-05:00

I write about a lot of people who inspire me, but once in a while I discover someone and am so in awe of their talent and incredible accomplishments that I'm consumed by covetous jealousy and starstruck admiration at the same time. Lucy Knisley puts me in this paradoxical duality.

Lucy is an illustrator, comic artist and author. I discovered her work because she had masterfully illustrated all 7 Harry Potter books with an infectiously addictive combination of awesome cartoons and witty puns (See Goblet of Fire Yule Ball scene: "Cho the one that I want"?!) I was an instant fan.

She's a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she went to study painting, and ended up making comics. She went on to study at the Center for Cartoon Studies, where she received a scholarship to pursue her MFA. Her first published book, French Milk, is a drawn journal about living (and eating) in Paris with her mom. She now lives in New York, working on her second major graphic novel. She teaches a class on comics at a local elementary school. Also, she's my age.

I want to hate her, except that I LOVE HER. I love how talented she is and that she's worked hard pumping out comics and refining her craft. I love that not only does she clearly love what she does, but she's finding a way to make a living doing it. I love her go-getter attitude, and that she's so involved in her community, that she'll sell her art and enter competitions and contribute to fantastic online collaborative projects like the Picture Book Report and work on wonderful events like Drink and Draws at the MoCCA.

I love that I feel like I know her because she's so open and friendly about her work. and her life. I teared up when she had her heart broken and again when she bravely shared all of the personal reasons why in her humorous, self depreciating way. I cheered when she found the roommate of her dreams, and started a blog together to share their creative collaborations and shenanigans. If she lived in Toronto, I'd want us to be great friends.

But then I look me and think, look at your life/look at your choices. We both draw travel journals, but mine are still in my journal, and hers were published through Simon & Schuster. She has a literary agent and a convention circuit and a Wikipedia entry. Do you get where I'm going with this? So you'll have to excuse me while I go sit in my closet in the dark (Alexi and I decided that's my 'time out' station) in shame. Then I'll probably come out and read her blog.

Minimal Gangster

2012-01-01T18:52:00.000-05:00

There are a lot of things that I love about Cushnie et Ochs co-founder Michelle Ochs' badass closet and home, profiled in the Coveteur. There are the YSL Palais mohawk suede pumps, her giant New York City windows, the fact that leather, metal and plexiglass make up most of her accessories. But most of all I love that she can sum up her style in two words that speak directly to my heart:

"If you are true and consistent to your style, dressing becomes so much easier... My style can be described as Minimal Gangster. Its clean, sharp, edgy and architectural." - Michelle Ochs in the Coveteur

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T23:36:00.000-05:00

2011 was really, really good to me.
I challenged myself and started teaching, and every semester I think I learn more from my students than they do from me.
I had the privilege of working on some pretty amazing projects with Alexi.
I got to interview the incredibly talented Kid Koala and he liked my drawings.
I was adventurous and went to Africa, and met wonderful new friends.
I was surprised and got engaged to the guy of my dreams.
I produced my first wedding film for one very special wedding.
I found my inspiration and started drawing again, and I'm not looking back.
Cheers to all of the happy, incredible, beautiful moments of 2011, and here's to more challenges, adventures, and opportunities in 2012.
See you next year! xoxo

Delicious Adventures: Vegetarian Haven

2011-12-30T23:04:00.000-05:00

Place: Vegetarian Haven, 17 Baldwin St.

I'm on a mission to find the best hot chocolate in Toronto. I discovered Vegetarian Haven's by chance when I had lunch with some childhood girlfriends. I had the matcha green tea almond latte, which was lightly sweetened and kept my energy levels high all day, but it was my friend Ameeta's hot cocoa that brought me back to basically every Sunday of my childhood since 1991, when I would take skating lessons every Sunday afternoon at Don Mills Arena. In between learning crosscuts and waltz jumps and mohawks, I would put on my skate guards (I had the ghetto white ones until I earned my custom-colored guards, which was a rite of passage) and get the hot chocolate from the snack bar, which cost $1.00 and is still the best hot chocolate I've ever had. I would burn my tongue every time because I was so excited to drink it while watching the zamboni clear the ice. Years later, my first job was working as a rink marshall, and one year on Valentines Day, Alexi and I passed by after dinner to say hello. The arena was scheduled for a hockey game that night, which was cancelled due to flooding in the bathrooms, and there was a freshly conditioned, empty rink. Angelo the maintenance guy told me to run home and grab my skates. We came back and had the entire rink to ourselves, and I taught Alexi how to skate. It is to this day my favorite Valentines Day memory. This cup of hot chocolate isn't Don Mills arena, but the next cup's got some pretty delicious shoes to fill.

5 Ways to Warm Up!

2011-12-29T23:40:00.000-05:00

The first few snowflakes are starting to fall and the temperature has been dropping quick! The last days of Christmas break are going by in a blink for me, but I've been looking forward to these next few days because they'll be filled with get togethers from good friends and family. For today's experiment in Painter, I put together a list of my favorite things to do in winter (and then I realized it could probably apply to almost any season) but here are my favorite 5 ways to stay warm!

Ever since I saw the Cocoa Chronicles from the fashionable staffers over at Kate Spade (See Chapter 1: Downtown NYC, Chapter 2: Brooklyn, and Chapter 3: Uptown here) I've been inspired to find my favorite cocoa spots around the city. The Cafe Crepe on Queen St. makes a killer Nutella latte, but I discovered an unexpected frontrunner today at Vegetarian Haven on Baldwin St. - it reminds me of the hot chocolate they used to have at Don Mills arena in the 90s when I would go skating every Sunday afternoon. BlogTO has a roundup of the best cocoa in the city, and I'm determined to try all of these spots before the weather warms up.

After conquering Skyrim, Alexi has made it his personal mission to finish all three books in the Hunger Games trilogy before the new year. He started yesterday, and finished all three by this evening. I'm embarrassed to say that I still have a huge chunk of my Summer Reading List left unread (hey - lots of things have happened since then!) but I'm looking forward to reading The House of Gucci, The Brain that Changes Itself, Moonwalking with Einstein, and The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which are at the top of my 2012 reading list.

I am a bag girl myself, but I have a few girlfriends who are die-hard scarf lovers and will pull them out at the first sign of leaves changing colors in the autumn. There are great lightweight silk or linen ones for the summer, but in the winter I like a good cotton, cashmere or wool blend scarf. Artemis Wragge, We Are Owls, and Anthropologie all have lovely prints in luxurious materials, but I love the colorful borders & stripes from the Gap just as much. You could also cuddle up in the extra long scarves by Little Factory, which also feature cheeky designs.

This afternoon I had lunch with three childhood friends. We've literally grown up together, and no matter where we are in the world, we always get together around the end of the year to catch up. My sister slept over for Christmas and whenever we get together, it's non-stop giggling and chatter. Tomorrow night, Alexi and I will be taking our nieces to Medieval Times for our first knight tournament ever.

I subscribe to the Jonathan Adler philosophy: color is the most instantly available over the counter anti-depressant. It's 100% true. I love wearing colorful dresses and shoes in the summer time, but winter is the time to bust out the colorful jackets and coats! J.Crew leads the pack for colorful coats - if I was haemorrhaging money like Blair Waldorf (does she not always have the best winter gear? Seriously) I'd have one in every color!

Why I Love Deborah Lloyd

2011-12-28T19:59:00.000-05:00

Photo by Jin Lee

The internet is a library at my fingertips, which is a wonderful thing, because I can find out more about things and people that inspire me. Deborah Lloyd is one of those people. As Chief Creative Officer & President of Kate Spade, she is doing for Kate Spade what Jenna Lyons did for J.Crew - transforming it from a brand once known for colorful, minimalist handbags coveted by suburban moms to a lifestyle brand that also appealed to younger women, combining uptown sensibility with downtown edge:

In 1997, after earning her Masters in Fashion Design from the London College of Art, Deborah's career took off at Burberry (cutting her teeth with some pretty iconic checked cloth!) where she was a self-described outcast. "It was just before Rose Marie Bravo arrived.. it was an old-fashioned company, it was run by old members of the family there, you know, men in suits, women two years before had been sent home because they all wore trousers to work."

Frustrated with the way the business was being run, Deborah created a capsule collection of clothes she'd want to wear, putting the iconic Burberry check on the outside, which at the time had never been done before. Her bold foresight caught her boss's eye (she is credited with putting Kate Moss in a plaid bikini in an ad campaign) and she quickly climbed the ranks, reviving Burberry from a stuffy Brit label to a global brand.

After Burberry, Deborah spent six years as the Creative Director at Banana Republic, before she got a call from a headhunter to take the lead at Kate Spade. Founded almost twenty years ago by then-Mademoiselle editor Kate Spade and her husband Andy, the brand had lost it's lustre after it was bought by Neiman Marcus, and then Liz Claiborne. When she arrived at Kate Spade's Chelsea headquarters for her first day not he job, she discovered that her staff consisted largely of an army of interns, and her design team was only one person.

Determined, Deborah found her match in Craig Leavitt, the company's CEO. Together, they reinvented Kate Spade, injecting it with color and happy-go-lucky graphics and doubling sales to $185 million, making it the best performer of Liz Claiborne's collection of brands, which include Juicy Couture, Mexx Europe, and Lucky Brand.

In spite of all this, Deborah is still incredibly down to earth, preferring to subway from her Brooklyn home to work rather than a town car. I am thankful for women in the industry like her and Jenna Lyons, and I have tremendous respect for them not only as fearless trailblazers, but as women who have such a strong sense of self and weren't afraid to push the boundaries when they thought they could do better. They brought head-to-toe technicolor and high-low dressing to the masses - "People tell me that what I wear every day is what most people would wear to a wedding." That's a woman after my own heart :D

Boxing Day redemption

2011-12-27T17:24:00.000-05:00

Are you going boxing day shopping? I am not excited about the insane crowds, but each year on December 26th, my heart is filled with hope for one last chance to see the items I hesitated on during the year and missed an opportunity to give it a good home (in my closet).

I have a list of things that got away - that I either found out about too late or didn't act fast enough, and they haunt me. These adorable Fifi Lapin cotton tees top my 2011 missed list. They were limited edition through a collaboration that Fifi did with Pimkie, and they sold out in the blink of an eye. I didn't find out about them until months later, and have been regretting this oversight ever since. The two Fifi tees that I found by luck at Delias on a shopping excursion in Buffalo are super soft and a wardrobe staple (add a blazer, jeans and some chic flats or pumps and I'm ready to go to work!)

Fortunately, the end of the year is when many retailers try to push any outstanding/unsold merch out the door. Therefore, Boxing Day is one last chance to see the ghosts of shopping past, and redeem myself. And I did. Months ago my friend Mel showed me this laser cut petal dress from BHLDN and by the time we saw that it was on sale, it was gone. By total good fortune, it's reappeared this morning on their site, and it's now on it's way to me! Sometimes, good things come to those who wait (and never give up!)

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

2011-12-26T23:35:00.003-05:00

Tonight Alexi and I went to see Hugo. The film was visually stunning, inspiring, poignant, beautiful (I watch maybe 2 or 3 movies a year in theatres and this is by far my favourite movie of the year) but unbeknownst to me, it was also incredibly significant for many reasons which were not apparent until tonight.

Hugo is Martin Scorcese's film adaptation of The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. Months ago before I had any idea that this was being made into a movie, I came across this book and fell in love with it. Brian Selznick an author and illustrator, but Hugo Cabret is the longest and largest project he's ever worked on. The story is not quite a picture book, graphic novel, or flip book, but a combination of all those things culminating in an epic and fantastical tomb - the book is 526 pages, and 284 of them are full page illustrations. Seeing this book months ago was an inspiration and part of the reason I started drawing again. I never got a chance to read the book, but when Scorcese's movie came out, I jumped at the chance to watch it on date night with Alexi, with no idea what the story would be about.

The book (and movie) are fiction, but its primary inspiration is the true story Georges Méliès, a film maker at the turn of the century France and a pioneer in the earliest days of cinema. He was a prolific innovator of special effects and his work considered among the most important early science fiction/fantasy films, a genre that is dear to Alexi. Méliès' film A Trip to the Moon is a central part of the plot of Hugo, and is considered to be the first science fiction film, using innovative animation and special effects, including an iconic image of a rocket landing in the eye of the moon. This film also served as the basis for the Smashing Pumpkins' award-winning music video for their song Tonight, Tonight.

In 2000, over a decade ago when Alexi was working at the DXNet and we were falling in love, I would find music to accompany him while he was working long nights. One of his challenges was to find a live, unplugged version of Tonight, Tonight - a feat he thought would be incredibly difficult to accomplish. Certain that I wouldn't be able to find it but wanting to motivate me nonetheless, he said, "if you find this version for me, I'll marry you." About twenty minutes after he issued that challenge, I did. And more than a decade later, we are.

A beautiful movie adaptation of a book. A book, that inspired a girl, about a filmmaker. A filmmaker whose work influenced an entire industry, and the life of a boy. A film that inspired a music video for a song. I wouldn't have known how any of these things were connected until watching a movie tonight. Every once in a while you have a moment in your life where many different interweaving stories and moments from the past come together and you realize that life is a crazy, beautiful, miraculous force. Tonight was one of those nights.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T23:03:00.000-05:00

More Adventures in Painter with Vegetables, Pt II

2011-12-24T20:14:00.000-05:00

Adventures in Painter with Vegetables!

2011-12-23T19:39:00.000-05:00

YAY it's the holidays! I'm off for a week of winter break, so I've decided that my last goal of 2011 is to learn Corel Painter before 2012. I've had my tablet for a few years and up until basically a few weeks ago, it's been collecting dust on my shelf. I started doodling with it in Photoshop, which is lovely, but I found that it lacks in realistic brush detail. So I've decided that I'm going to master how to paint in the next 7 days. And then I'm going back to school in January and taking some Illustration classes to beef up my portfolio!

One of the first things I noticed with Painter is the insane amount of customizable palettes. There are almost 900 brushes and dozens of canvas options, which react differently together. I spent an entire evening feeling like an art student in Aboveground again, trying every single brush and paper :D

Unfortunately the learning curve when working on your own is still not as intuitive as Photoshop - there are certain key functions that feel totally nonsensical, which is where lynda.com comes in handy. The Essential Training tutorials are done by John Derry, who was one of the original authors of Painter. I'm on Chapter 4 of 20 and I'm learning tons of new tricks.

I decided to do a series of vegetables (I always wanted to do that) inspired by my Smithsonian book of Natural History, which was a Christmas gift from my boss last year.

You can't see up close here, but Painter is able to accurately simulate the appearance and behaviour of acrylic paint and pastel so realistically it blows my mind. More tomorrow!

Interiors: Dear Hancock

2011-12-22T23:27:00.001-05:00

Yesterday after Lisa showed me the work of Dear Hancock, I discovered this gem - a house tour that they did for Design Sponge. Nothing makes the shameless voyeur in me happier than people who post copious amounts of their work online willingly opening up their homes and taking gorgeous photos so I can admire them!

Dear Hancock is an LA-based stationary company by husband and wife duo Gwendolyn and Earnest. They met each other in grad school at Cal Arts, and five years ago, they moved into this LA bungalow and set about transforming it into a functional and creative work space that would double as their studio and living space.

Most creative people who want a studio in their homes have to choose between a dining and work space (Alexi and I included) but Gwen and Earnest decided to make the best of both words. The couple put two drawing tables at either end of their dining table, and they paint across from each other. Collective aww. I know.

Gwendolyn's desk and inspiration board, which includes her painting and illustration heroes David Hockney, Mary Blair, and Feodor Rojankovsky, and cute notes that her and Earnest used to leave for each other at their Cal Arts studios (more aww). Love the technicolored Eames chairs all over their house, makes every room happy and bright!

The couple's open, casual, no fuss living room with their three adorable Frenchies and lots of greenery. The book on top of their stack is the Pictorial Webster's: A Visual Dictionary of Curiosities which has been on my wishlist for a while.

Even their kitchen is colorful. Gwendolyn is a big fan of Nathalie Lete and has a collection of her hand-painted plates for Anthropologie. In addition to being super talented, they're totally one of those couples that gets to spend most of the year outside in their backyard, where they grow their own vegetable garden, have a lemon tree (I was really impressed by this fact) and have cute cafe lights and a farm table on their patio, which allows them to paint outdoors. Jealous yet? I know I so am.

Dear Hancock Desk Collection

2011-12-21T22:14:00.000-05:00

Lisa, who I love and who is so funny all the time, shared this with me today (on a side note, I never realized until I took a look at her pinterest that we love so many of the same things. I think that means we need to hang out and look at girly cute things, which will probably happen as she's procrastinating her thesis)

Anyways, this collection is by Dear Hancock, who is an LA-based husband and wife team with the awesomest modern-Victorian names, Gwendolyn and Earnest (Yes. But together as a couple!!!) They specialize in hand-illustrated stationery, custom invitations, greeting cards and prints, and their Desk Collection has been getting rave reviews.

I don't remember a time I didn't love paper, and this in part is probably from my Chinese genes. When I was younger I collected stationary and stickers like crazy, but I'd never use them because they were too beautiful, so I'd carefully file them away in folders and save them only for special occasions. When I was in high school, I would draw my girlfriends custom stationary as Christmas gifts, and one summer when I was bored, I briefly contemplated a career as an entrepreneurial card & stationary designer. That seems like ages ago...

I think this is totally my desk. Stacks of books I've read and haven't read and are pulling for inspiration. A mug of tea. The "messy/neat stacks" The only thing that's missing is a laptop with a blog open!

Jason Freeny

2011-12-20T21:20:00.000-05:00

I found Jason Freeny's work while I was looking for inspiration on what you could do with a Munny doll. I saw lots of very cool graphics, augmented heads and body parts.. but none quite like Jason's, which brought me to his website. Are these not ridiculous?

He explains on his website, "During the day, Jason works in Manhattan as a mild mannered interface designer. At night, after the kids go to sleep, he can be found hunched over his computer developing works of candy colored madness. Armed with a youthful, overactive imagination, Jason creates smart, intricate illustrations that tickle the deviant intellect through a mix of hard graphics, pop iconography and wit."

Jason studied Industrial Design at Pratt Institute in NY. He spent most of the 90s travelling working as a muralist and theatrical designer, before landing a gig at MTV in the special events dept. In 2002, after the birth of his son, he did a brief stint as a toy designer. The job didn't stick, but the influence that those two events had on his creations is apparent, resulting in a highly unique and witty style that brings a very Teletoon at Night/Adult Swim-cartoonish view to beloved children's characters.

I am an instant fan of Jason's work because he's achieved what I've dreamed of having my whole life: One of my greatest wishes as someone who works in a creative industry is to have a trademark, to have mastered a specialty or style so that someone could look and say 'that's totally PLi' the way I could point out a Pucci print or a Jordi Labanda illustration. Jason Freeny is 'that guy that does awesome anatomical decompositions that blow my mind.' I love the fictional anatomy! I've always wanted to learn how to draw people the way they studied anatomy in Da Vinci's time, by peeling back their composition layer by layer and learning to draw nerves, muscle, bone, etc. and this makes me look at characters I've known all my life in a whole new way.

Miyuki Ohashi: A Mega Picture Post

2011-12-19T23:54:00.000-05:00

I discovered Miyuki Ohashi a few months ago and have been thinking about sharing her work for a while. Not much info about her life is online, and I thought she was totally elusive until I realized that I kept mispelling her name. The syllables sound pretty straightforward, but you would be surprised how easy it is to accidentally switch some letters and ended up Googling a Japanese adult film star. Moving on...

Miyuki is an illustrator who was born in Tochigi, Japan. She's quite young, and after graduating from Saitama Dokkyo University with a degree in French (!), she enrolled in Setsu Mode Seminar in Tokyo, which from what I gather after Googling the school and discovering a plethora of eye candy, is famous for turning out tons of talented illustrators.

Since she graduated (Her eponymous first exhibition was held at a cafe in 1999) she has been in an exhibition every single year, which is an amazing achievement! Since 2001, her drawings have regularly appeared in department stores, advertisements, magazines, fashion & products, and she's been published in several independent illustration books.

Her work is instantly recognizable, and her weapon of choice (pencil & acrylic) is so simple but so effective. "Sometimes I do sketches, but generally I draw directly on the rough layout. I love all colours… I love the texture that black pencil lines draw on white paper."

She can capture dynamic movement with a dozen brush strokes. I think part of being a successful illustrator (and designer) is understanding not only when and where to add, but when to pull back and stop. Many people try to achieve the minimalistic style that is her signature, few people manage to pull off with ease as she does. She's an active Tumblrer, which is great because I love people who put their work up all over the internet for me to oogle (now that I'm no longer finding films titled Delivery Soap Land) I've never tried drawing like this and I think she's inspired me to try!

Fashion Moment: A Cate Blanchett Mega Picture Post

2011-12-18T23:22:00.000-05:00

I think Cate Blanchett is one of the most gorgeous creatures on the planet. I don't remember a time I wasn't into fashion, and I don't remember a time I didn't admire her for her choices on the red carpet. Here are not one but four reasons why. 1) she is a chameleon that can pull off anything gracefully (see colorful bohemian or pistachio ballerina dresses above, which she wore to promote the Aviator)

2) My dream has always been to have something in every single color of the rainbow and I feel like I'm living vicariously through her. She doesn't shy away from experimenting with different styles - a classic Grecian goddess dress, an artsy amethyst-hued Dries van Noten, a vintage yellow ball gown, or an ethereal periwinkle number, which looks like something Galadriel would wear IRL. My favorite is her ruby Donna Karan dress when she was preggers at the Golden Globes. Expectant mothers are hard to dress, but she chose a dress that would accentuate her curves and she was unforgettably radiant.

3) She knows what works. Her relationship with Armani has been incredibly successful and has produced hit after red carpet hit. From lovely to avant garde (do you remember when she walked out wearing that black and green dress? I died) she trusts her friend to produce something stunning and supports his work. Well, when your friend is Giorgio and you have him on speed dial, wouldn't you feel the same? Yeah.

4) But most importantly, I love that she doesn't care what you think about her clothes. You know how fashion magazines always say "all you need is confidence"? They're talking about her. Here she is in two futuristic McQueen dresses (♥) if I could dress like this in real life (as in if I could afford McQueen's pieces and have her killer body) I would totally find any excuse to wear them. To work. When I'm teaching. To do groceries. I'd start going to places like the opera or theatre, etc. FOR REAL. Cate Blanchett, I aspire to be but a portion of your excellence.

Treeson

2011-12-17T13:40:00.000-05:00

Well this is basically the cutest thing ever. My sister and I discovered these at the Magic Pony because she was looking for Unicornos. Both types of vinyl smini-figurine are in blind boxes, which are sealed so you can't see what you're getting. Unfortch, we're both OCD so we proceeded to spend twenty minutes strategizing about how to get the exact vinyl figuring we wanted - scrutinizing the ones on display to form a hypothesis on how they would feel in terms of weight distribution, shaking every single box, creating if-then scenarios, etc.

This is Treeson. I'm still trying to figure out the gist of the story, but my understanding is he is a kind creature (and not a yeti as I had previously thought) who was raised by trees in a forest. The boy in blue is his friend Ren. Treeson and his friends are the creation of Bubi Au Yeung, an illustrator based in Hong Kong. Lots of stories about friendship, caring for the earth, and cuteness ensues.

I'm not sure how the rest of the friends or the star catching figures into their stories, but the figurines have a very Le Petit Prince feel and the stars remind me of the little star friends from the Care Bears, which brings me back to my childhood. I have Ren and his friend the Red Riding Hood, and but I'm totally hoping that Santa-slash-my-sister will deliver the Yeti/Treeson and the net of stars for Christmas!

BONUS LEVEL Draw a Niece a Day!

2011-12-16T23:07:00.000-05:00

You thought 5 days, 5 nieces was over BUT IT AIN'T! I drew Lily first, which meant that she was my guinea pig - I used the illustration style I developed with her to create the other girls. Lil was my second tablet portrait ever! Naturally, the pictures afterwards got progressively better technically, so by time the I was done Chloe and I put all the girls side by side, she was more simplified (or maybe I elaborated on all the other girls!) I gave her an update so she didn't look like a 6 year old girl. Here she is as the swim champ, aged 5 years!

Chloe (inspired by Julia Denos)

2011-12-15T23:24:00.000-05:00

Of all the nieces, I would say that Chloe surprises me the most. A year ago she grew out of her princess phase and into a Hannah Montana phase, and since then every time I've seen her, she has been constantly discovering and changing and pushing her comfort zone. I saw a picture of her recently with a giant snake around her shoulders, which reminded me of Bindi Irwin. You would not believe how hard it is to find a non-sexy Playboy "safari outfit" which I needed as a reference picture. I think what inspires me the most about Chloe is that skepticism doesn't exist in her world - she does what she wants, and doesn't let anyone tell her that something can't be done.

Hannah (inspired by Julia Denos)

2011-12-14T23:26:00.000-05:00

Hannah is the oldest of my nieces and is number four on my Draw a Niece a Day project. Some of the girls have taken longer than others (I was up until 2am drawing Isabel) but this one was pretty straightforward from the get-go. Hannah is a dancer, so I knew I had to draw her with flourish! Here is the most stylish 13-year old I know striking a pose with a scarf inspired by Marc by Marc Jacobs, which is her signature accessory.

Isabel (inspired by Julia Denos)

2011-12-13T01:56:00.000-05:00

Isabel is number three on my apparent Draw-a-Niece-a-Day project. Iz is the love of my life, and I knew exactly how I wanted this picture would look from the moment I thought of her - playing dress up in the biggest, prettiest, frothiest party dress ever with oversized heels. Getting her face down was a challenge - it took me four or five tries of completely redoing it. I'm very happy with how this turned out, even though it's totally past my bedtime, and I'm thought it was also very fitting that she was playing dress up in Valentino couture pumps (only the best for my girls!)

Brooke (inspired by Julia Denos)

2011-12-12T01:15:00.000-05:00

I came across an adorable picture of my niece Brooke cutting up chives on her deck and somehow got it into my head that I would do a gardening picture inspired by Grandma's Gloves, and a bit of Junie B. Jones. I like that I'm starting to play with paintbrushes in Photoshop to create watercolor like effects on the flowers. I'm still not finding anything that comes close to what I could do with actual watercolors, but this is a start. I also love the oversized rain boots on her here. Brooke is so tiny and so cute that sometimes I forget she is a real human being and not a doll.

Lily (inspired by Julia Denos)

2011-12-11T22:54:00.001-05:00

My niece Lily has been swimming and wants to join a competitive swim team. Inspired by the storybook style of Julia Denos, this is Lil bringing home her first (of many!) gold medals

Julia Denos

2011-12-11T18:41:00.001-05:00

I'm going to gush for a moment about how much I love the work of Julia Denos. Not like, LOVE.

Julia grew up in Connecticut before earning her BFA at the the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University. She specializes in publishing for children, editorial and advertising, magazine covers, and novels for tweens (!!!) Her clients have included American Girl, Candlewick Press, HarperCollins, Highlights, Little Brown, Penguin, Random House, Simon & Schuster, and more.

I also love her character studies, which are minimal and simplistic, but so effective and accessible. I've been talking about picking up drawing again for months, but when I saw her pictures, I actually picked up a pen (well, a tablet pen) and started drawing.

But here's the reason why her work resonates with me so much. I have a deep appreciation for a lot of illustration - glamorous fashion sketches, architectural renderings, contemporary drawing - but children's storybook illustration holds a special place in my heart.

All of the iconic children's stories I remember growing up have memorable characters that are brought to life by brilliant visuals. Julia is someone whose work I deeply admire for her ability to sweetly create these charming and tender worlds with exuberantly loveable characters, lush backgrounds, joyfully vibrant colors, and a buoyant range of styles to suit the story, whatever the subject may be. These are books I'd want to have not only on my children's shelves one day, but on mine right now.

Here's a wonderful interview with Margaret Cardillo and Julia abut the making of Just Being Audrey, and her official portfolio, which is an absolutely beautiful thing. If anyone is curious about what to get me for Christmas, it's all three of these books! Now if you'll please excuse me - she's inspired me to go draw ♥

Update: Inspired by her lovely renditions of children, I looked at my nieces, who are the loves of my life, and did a Niece a Day challenge to get back into drawing! See Lily, Brooke, Izzy, Hannah, Chloe (and a bonus Lily: the remix!)

Back to Basics

2011-12-10T22:56:00.000-05:00

Not bad for my first ever portrait on a wacom tablet! I'm going to try to draw something every night (in addition to my 100 entries in 100 days, apparently I'm not busy enough) Inspired by a classic shot of Lida Kebede for J.Crew, here is my tribute to some tried and true wardrobe staples that will never let me down - classic black pants, a crisp white shirt, and a sharply tailored navy blazer.

Hanukkah time!

2011-12-10T15:19:00.001-05:00

It's the holiday season, which means there's a family Hanukkah party this weekend! I love shopping for my nieces, but I do not love the mob of frantic holiday shoppers at the malls. Thankfully, with the help of the internets, I've streamlined this process over the years, and all my shopping was done online, which left me plenty of time to figure out how to wrap a present that would be torn open in about three seconds. This week it was my friend Mel's birthday, and I had so much fun customizing a giftbag for her that I decided to do 5 more!

This one is for Chloe, who astounds me with her partying stamina - she was at Hannah's bat mitzvah dancing on stage with all the big girls long after her bedtime (when all of us were nursing our feet on the banquettes!) so here is a circus-themed bag for a girl who can get down with the best of them.

I met Isabel when she was two days old, and made her family debut at Passover. For some reason, I was convinced that she would be a tomboy, but as it turns out, she became the girliest girl ever, and we both love the same things - dressing up and things that sparkle. At any given family get together at her place, Izzy will go through two or three outfit changes (like I do every morning before going to work!) Izzy is a girl after my own heart, and she would probably be my best friend if I were 7. I think I see references from the opening theme song of My Little Pony here :D

This is for Brooke, who is the youngest of the girls. This bag is also a tribute to Mel, who loves Alice in Wonderland. I co-opted a more elaborate version of an Alice bag I made for her birthday for Brooke, who to me is the living embodiment of a mini Alice. Not only does she look the part with her fair hair and huge blue eyes, but her sense of curiosity and finding laughter everywhere in the world around her is refreshing and a joy to watch.

I think everyone will agree that Lily is the most chipper of all the girls. If she was a pony, she would be Applejack. Lily has always been friendly and bubbly, but she's also growing up to be an exceptionally mature, kind, helpful, nurturing and selfless young lady. She'll be the kind of girl that her friends' mothers are relieved their daughters are spending Friday nights with. I was drawing from imagination instead of reference (hence the koala/sloth/monkey hybrid - what is that?!) but she's exploring the jungle!

Hannah recently celebrated her Bat Mitzvah, making her the oldest of the girls. All five are creative and artistic, and Hannah is no exception - somehow she juggles Hebrew school, dance lessons at one of the city's most prestigious studios, and classes at Claude Watson School for the Arts. She is also a fellow Davids Tea afficionada and is also the most stylish thirteen year old I know. In the spirit of Anthropologie, I found antique keys and experimented with creating a pattern with them on her bag!

Interiors: Jennifer Fisher

2011-12-09T12:30:00.000-05:00

I am a fan of Jennifer Fisher's jewellery, and a fan of the Coveteur, which makes the Coveteur's coverage of her place a double rainbow of things that make me happy!

Jen (can I call you Jen?) started her career working in LA as a wardrobe stylist. When her son was born, she wanted a piece of jewellery that would be an emblem of both his name and her unique style. Unable to find anything that fit the bill, she decided to make her own, and found her calling. "I wanted to create jewelry that signified my own personal style, incorporated all things I loved, and could be worn all the time."

What I really appreciate about the Coveteur's photos is Jake Rosenberg's talent for creating unique narratives for his subjects. Jennifer is a stylish mommy, and I love that he put her Opening Ceremony x Tron shoes with her son's robot.

I don't know if I'd be able to pull off having Louboutins, Prada clutches, and YSL bags AND children, so I'm happy living vicariously through her!

I love this photo series. Her jewellery with her children's toys. Aww...

Jennifer's caption: "I had foot surgery last year so I lived in sneakers for what felt like forever. All of my sneakers are men’s. There is something about the cut of a men’s sneaker that appeals to me more than anything that is out there for women."
Okay, I'm nuts about this photo. She's so right!!! I've been looking for women's sneakers for months and haven't liked anything I've seen. I think my 5.5 shoe size is probably going to make this dream impossible, but I am dying for a good pair of men's sneakers. My friends are going to raise their eyebrows but I don't care. Maybe I've been listening to too much Watch the Throne, but check out those Jeremy Scott for Adidas 3 tongue shoes, and the gold Nikes. I want these silver+black wing tipped shoes for Hannukah!

Teagan White, Pt 2

2011-12-08T02:03:00.000-05:00

I came across the work of Teagan White on Behance, and she was literally unforgettable to me (I thought about her work for days)

She's a graphic designer and illustrator from Chicago. She'll be graduating in 2012, but she's already been tapped to work for Target, Nike, the NFL, Coca Cola, Anthropologie, WIRED, and more. Seriously? What did she eat growing up? I'll have ten of whatever she had.

She has a great sense of color, fantastic renderings that are so realistic you swear you could touch them, and a signature style that can morph to create adorable, ephemeral, whimsical, modern or vintage-inspired. That's a pretty dynamic range.

What impresses me as much as her portfolio (which is incredibly polished for an undergrad) is her resume, which reads like someone with way more years of industry experience. As someone who is surrounded by creative people every day, what makes me proud of Teagan (not just as an admirer of good illustration but as an educator) is that she is involved in everything - competitions, group exhibitions, publications, scholarships, internships. I cannot stress how important it is for young people to get out there and actively immerse themselves in their local design community. This talented young lady is making a name for herself and I can't wait to see what she produces in the years to come.

Teagan White, Pt 1

2011-12-07T13:37:00.000-05:00

Teagan White makes me want to illustrate children's storybooks. More specifically, I want her to finish illustrating what looks to be an excruciatingly adorable alphabet series, so that I can buy it!

Happy Birthday Melissa!

2011-12-06T11:03:00.000-05:00

Maki Kahori

2011-12-05T23:13:00.000-05:00

I am a big champion for digital painting - I really believe that it takes as much skill as traditional painting, but the tablet platform has made the creation of art so much more accessible to the masses. Still, it's really nice to see someone kick it old school. Maki Kahori does just that, and her work impresses me so much.

I always enjoy hearing how people got to where they are today. Maki was born in 1969, graduated from Art Department of Japan University in 1992, and lived in New York for two years before returning to Tokyo. Her portfolio is fantastic mix of illustration, installation and painting.

She draws inspiration from nature, animals and fashion in the world her, but what I love is that she can take all of these visceral elements and create this really delicate yet dynamic world that is a stunning blend of fantasy and reality. It's like Neverland for the fashionable set, and she's been asked to paint for Comme des Garcons, Chanel, Harpers Bazaar, Vogue Nippon, Nylon, and more.

In the lovely book that Mel got me, Maki shares her work process, which sounds deceptively simple when you break it down!

I use a pencil, from 4H to 6B, sharp pencil 0.5 and 0.3, from 2H to 4B. I stock them separately.
1) I use a sample photo that I took myself, or sometimes pick one from the internet
2) 6B for the darker pats, 4H for light parts
3) Fine parts using 0.3 sharp pencil. It takes so much time for one flower…
4) A printing company scans my drawing, then I cut it on the computer
5-7) Then I compose everything on the computer - Photoshop CS3
8) Finished.

Woodbury Chronicles

2011-12-04T12:12:00.000-05:00

We came, we saw, we shopped! Brad, Denise, Kristen and I spent the weekend just south of the border in the land of fantastic deals. Hours in the car don't sound like fun, but it's exponentially more bearable when you're not the one driving (K and I were napping in the back) eating junkfood and singing along with the radio. There were many great moments from this weekend, but here are a few highlights:

1) Hitting Woodbury, the mecca of all outlet malls, which is literally in Central Valley, NY - we drove for hours in spaghetti-swirling highways into the middle of nowhere. We weren't sure where we were (GPS lady sounded pretty sure) but suddenly the trees parted and there it was. Chloe, YSL and Prada at triple-digit prices. Had I not just bought my Marc bag, I would have been insanely tempted to snatch up a Miu Miu bag. I still was. I almost did.

2) It sounds really jet-set when I casually say that we dropped by New York to have dinner, but that's exactly what we casually did. After accidentally dropping in on a super sketchy side of Jersey City, We met up with Kristen's friends in the Lower East Side and had some wonderful tapas, octopus, paella, flan and sangria at La Bota.

3) Ending our trip with a last-minute detour to the Walden Galleria for some cheesecake and giggles (and a last-last minute hurrah at the J.Crew, where I found some new sparklers!) I can't wait to go back :)

Cocoa Chronicles

2011-12-03T11:51:00.000-05:00

I have been craving some good cocoa all weekend - Starbucks' deliciously festive peppermint mocha to be exact. But now that the cold weather season is upon us, I would love to curl up with a good mug of something yummy and spend the afternoon reading at a cafe. The girls over at Kate Spade know what I'm talking about - they've scoured the city looking for the best hot chocolate New York has to offer. It reminds me of last New Years when I was also on the hunt for something yummy and stumbled upon Jacques Torre on Hudson Street, where I spent the afternoon with a mocha that blew my mind. I think someone has to start a Toronto edition of the Cocoa Chronicles, and I'm willing to step up, because I'm a team player like that.

Off for the weekend!

2011-12-02T11:04:00.000-05:00

I'm off for the weekend with some dear friends on a road trip! We're heading to the US of A, staying in Pennsylvania and visiting Woodbury (the mecca of outlet malls) and maybe stopping by NYC. Back seat napping, junkfood and Target await! See y'all next week!

Jacquelyn Jablonski

2011-12-01T11:40:00.000-05:00

Dear Jacquelyn Jablonski,
I want to pull a freaky Friday with you. I don't need the glamour of being a J.Crew supermodel or anything. I'm not in it for the photoshoots or access to all the free clothes. Nope, I just want your alabaster skin and ridiculously toned legs, mostly so I can wear head-to-toe orange as preppy chic as you can. Just for a day. In exchange I can offer Canadian winters and a chance to live the simple life - you know, so you can get away from it all, 'cause I'm sure that's exactly what you want. I would really appreciate if you would consider my request.
Thanks!
Priscilla

Frances Mak for J.Crew

2011-11-30T11:11:00.000-05:00

Will you please take a look at these gorgeous sketches from Frances Mak, senior design at J.Crew? I'm a total aficionada, the dorky kind that refers to products like "the Blythe blouse, please" and not "the silk blouse with the pockets." I love receiving the catalogues in the mail, and when I see some of the sketches from the design team, it's an extra treat. Frances has an instantly recognizable style, fantastic use of pigment and pictures that are simple but alluring. I could look at her stuff all day, and it makes me want to spend all my days in a studio drawing pictures (and start keeping a sketchbook again). See a cute little Q&A with her over on the 770 Blog.

What you are afraid to do...

2011-11-29T23:51:00.000-05:00

This has been on my mind a lot lately

Paula Sanz Caballero

2011-11-28T22:29:00.001-05:00

Oh my goodness, Paula Sanz Caballero's client list reads like a who's who of Fifth Avenue - American Express, Anne Taylor Loft, Bloomingdales, Elle, Marie Claire, Neiman Marcus, the New Yorker, Vogue, WWD.

I am kind of crazy about her elegant, textured stories, which feel like an adult version of those baby touch & feel books (except instead of feeling baby bunny ears you're feeling gorgeous shimmery tinsel tweeds, creamy wool crepes, and gem-colored silk taffetas)

Paula has great sense of the anatomy and the human figure in movement (a skill for any artist working in pencil, much less one cutting tiny pant legs out of chino!) but what I love is her ability to juxtapose these characters, who are so sophisticated and cultured, with this very simple backdrop that creates such a convincing story.

Her fashionistas feel like someone you'd recognize shopping on 5th Ave before ducking into their town car. Her businessmen look like the kind you see in the American Express lounge at the airport. It's so amazing how much textures bring images to life.

Hard to think that were it not for a fateful flight, her richly layered embroidered illustrations might have never seen the light of day. "I started 10 years ago, on a long flight to Toronto. I had no book to read, no pencil to draw, but I had a piece of fabric and a hotel sewing kit. I enjoyed it so much and the flight seemed so short in time to me, that I thought I had found an interesting way of expressing my world." Which is a wonderful thing, because it's quite a fantastic world she's created.

John Galliano

2011-11-27T13:29:00.000-05:00

On February 25, Dior announced that it had suspended it's creative director John Galliano for going on a drunken racist tirade outside a Paris cafe, which was caught on camera and broadcasted to the world. He was fired from Dior and his namesake label a week later. He was subsequently arrested, found guilty and charged, went to rehab, and has been keeping a low profile since. The brand remains decided on who would replace the designer. Endless speculations continue about who would be appropriate to fill a position that was so controversially vacated and one that would be so prominently scrutinized. It is said that LVMH executives are paralyzed by this decision, but have adamantly stated that they would not rehire Galliano.

The entire scandal has been meticulously documented. Galliano's actions have understandably drawn outrage and disgust, but people have been more outraged because many of his peers have appeared sympathetic. Vogue Italia's editor in chief Franca Sozzani is one of the most requoted on the matter: "I am against and I condemn any kind of racism.. But I would like to say that I'm just as disgusted by these people who saw what state John was in and took advantage of the situation.. It's obvious that this was a bit inauthentic in the sense that if you are truly fighting with someone, you don't have time to pick up a mobile phone, turn on the video giggling and mockingly film what he is saying [and then exploit] someone's notoriety to have your own moment of fame.."

I want to stress the importance of considering the situation from an objective perspective. First, what he said was unquestionably horrific and absolutely unacceptable. But the second, more controversial debate is whether or not it's justifiable for his actions to be defended, and the answer is no. Manolo Blahnik said, "what he said was horrific, but said under the influence of drugs and alcohol, that is no reason to destroy talent." The problem with this statement is that his genius and his actions are presented as inexplicably intertwined, and they are not. It's not a question that John Galliano is incredibly gifted, and just because he said some really ugly things does not mean he's any less of a great designer. These are two separate arguments.

The fashion industry is openly mercurial, and is known for a level of 'tolerance' for contemptible behaviour if it comes from someone who is deemed talented because it is rationalized as part of their 'genius'. No, this is not okay. But the same principle should apply to those who are condemning him more because he is a genius, and there is a failure on both camps - those who denounce and those who defend him - to separate the man from the legend. What we need to evaluate is what actually happened, separate from all of the stories and opinions we associate with Galliano's tortured genius and the fashion industry. Ashley Cardiff says this more eloquently:

Frankly, what I find more offensive than Galliano’s drunken foolishness [is] trying to say this situation is anything but what it is: a bombastically creative and original artist having too much to drink and exposing a kind of bitter nastiness within him that surprised us all. I don’t think this means he’s a horrible person, because I don’t believe that John Galliano actually loves Hitler... But I don’t think anyone can watch that video and see a man who is serious and in his right mind. He’s being a drunk asshole. Most of us have been drunk assholes. Maybe the character of our drunken stupidity hasn’t been as awful as slurring “I love Hitler,” but maybe it’s been even worse. Most of us just aren’t famous enough to be filmed while we embarrass ourselves.

The consequences of his actions are not lost on anyone. Karl Lagerfeld rightfully summed up, "We are a business world where, especially today, with the Internet, one has to be more careful than ever, especially if you are a publicly known person. You cannot go in the street and be drunk — there are things you cannot do... I’m furious with him because of the harm he did to LVMH and [chairman and CEO] Bernard Arnault, who is a friend, and who supported him more than he supported any other designer in his group, because Dior is his favorite label." Galliano embarrassed not only himself but jeopardized his company, and his friend, mentor and boss. Bad behaviour is bad behaviour - it is not defendable by celebrity, drugs, or alcohol. Those things have nothing to do with it.

Therefore at the same time, he should not be punished or hated more because of how famous or talented he is. What he said isn't less offensive because he is "usually such a nice guy and this is so out of line with his character" but nor is it worse or uglier because the situation was exponentially propagandized due to his public persona. Bad decisions, whether they are made by famous or normal people, should not be excusable, but they are forgivable based on how much the offender recognizes his error, and how actively he tries to make amends, and this is where Galliano's actions should be evaluated: He took ownership of his actions, apologized to those he had affected, and sought to seek help for the circumstances which led him to this outburst. These actions are indicative of someone who thoughtfully reflected on the cause of his blunder and is actively taking measures to ensure it does not happen again.

Which is why I am sad to echo WWD editor Bridget Foley's sentiments: "May this not offend those who love Alexander McQueen, but I feel not unlike I did last year when I learned the news of Lee’s death: One of our rare geniuses, a man of unique and irreplaceable talent, has destroyed his career." Which is a shame, because Dior has been without a creative director for 9 months and they are struggling to find a substitute for an archetype that is unreplicable. Franca Sozzani said that "Dior's solution and salvation would be to bring back that man" and from a business standpoint she's right. From a PR perspective, hiring him back would send the wrong message, but I also believe that it wasn't Galliano's time to go (were it not for this bombshell). Most importantly, I believe that people deserve second chances if they actively seek to earn them. What remains to be seen is how this has affected his judgement going forward and what he will do to re-earn the trust of his supporters.

Mega Wedding Moodboard

2011-11-26T19:04:00.001-05:00

Mel has been gently pushing me to create a mood board to visualize my thoughts for our wedding. We always stress the importance of creating a compelling narrative when our students design - it's nice if each individual piece looks great, but they needs to come together as a whole and create a cohesive story. I've collected all of these images slowly over the last few months but last night was the first time I put them all together on the same page which was quite exciting.

The visual style of the wedding is very happy graphic, inspired by Kate Spade, Jonathan Adler, Marc Jacobs, etc. (which, if you read this blog, will not come as a big shock LOL)
It's clear that I'm partial to the warm side of the spectrum. Big bold colors that make a statement (no pastels) and geometric shapes (hearts, circles, squares, stripes) clean lines, cheerful illustrations that make you smile, and a mix of modern fonts (san serif)
It's not fussy or girly (ie no roses, romantic lace, eyelet, gingham, floral patterns, ethereal, pearls, veils, etc.)
Tech/AV that is out of this world - laser shows, 3D projection mapping, the slick lighting featured in Phoenix's 1901 music video!
We'll be tying the knot in the summer, so it will be a casual vibe. No tuxedos or black tie - bring on the khaki and and light grey-colored J.Crew summer suits!!!
I love cake too much to commit to just one giant multi-tiered confection - there might be a dessert station. Maybe a cupcake ferris wheel. Anything can happen. It's going to be yummy.

What I love about seeing all of these images together is that I can see both parts of Alexi and myself represented but more importantly that those parts complement each other so well. To see Star Trek pins on the same page as J.Crew suits makes me very, very happy :D

KHUAN+KTRON's Jetset World

2011-11-25T20:22:00.000-05:00

Check out these gorgeous maps by Belgian graphic studio KHUAN + KTRON! The series, which the designers described as "brightly coloured, eccentrically themed pictures of the floating world" is a collection of seven cover illustrations for Weekend Knack magazine.

The hip trio that make up KHUAN + KTRON includes (NTD) Ningtiendo Sehgah,   (STBZ) Steebz, and   (MXM) Mikail Mitmalka. They produce some fantastic illustrations and infographics, but the majority of their other work focuses on the arts, culture, education, and other non-profit causes. Check their technicolored portfolio on Flickr!

I'm so sad that of all the European countries represented on these covers, I have unfortunately only been to France. Last week we considered honeymooning in Asia. Maybe we should honeymoon in Europe?

I would love see the Greek islands, which remind me of sun-drenched beaches, azure waters, and fashion designers and their million dollar yachts.

Or Italy, which has four of my favorite things - amazing art and architecture, gorgeous fashion houses, deliciously fresh carbs galore, and the birthplace of the bellini. I would happily spend a summer there geeking out over the Orsanmichele, eating fresh risotto and shopping the Marni outlet.

Or, we could just wait for a couple to get married in the ruins of a historic church in Portugal and film their wedding! Can you imagine what an epically romantic film that would make?

KHUAN + KTRON's website also features an extensive, random list of inspiration, which includes early Renaissance master Hieronymus Bosch, some distinctly Asian influences (the Book of Changes, fungal tea or Kombucha, and black bean sauce), heterochromia, Tuvan throat singing, Himalayan brownies, keeping stacks of unread philosophy books unread, playing music backwards, and travelling off the beaten path - super appropriate since all of these images are making me want to pack a suitcase right now!

Whether or not you reach your goals...

2011-11-24T23:30:00.000-05:00

Eldon Dedini

2011-11-23T22:30:00.000-05:00

I have been on a self-imposed book buying abstinence. No more buying books until I finish the ones I have slash bulk bought on my late night Amazon binges. But the other day I saw An Orgy of Playboy's Eldon Dedini and waived that policy. I have been a fan of Dedini's for years, and his work for Playboy is legendary. But this isn't a story about just his work - it is a story about his tenacity and unwavering commitment to his craft.

Eldon Dedini grew up in the farm ranges of California in the 1920s-30s. He knew he wanted to be a comic artist before he reached high school, and began rigorously pumping out work, sending batches of cartoons to magazines in New York or Chicago, hoping one would bite. Dennis Renault described freelance cartooning as a trapeze act without a net, unpredictable and irregular. But for a boy in Monterey County, thousands of miles away from the major centres for publishing, the odds were exponentially more challenging. Dedini had to rely on the postal service and complete with local illustrators who could meet with publishers in the city.

Initially rejection slips piled up, but what he lacked in location or experience, Dedini made up for in dedication and resilience. He got up every morning at 5am to start drawing. While he was a freshman at College, he caught a break with Esquire as a cartoonist - an incredible accomplishment for a 19 year old still living on the farm! He went on to work for Universal Studios and Walt Disney's story department, and his career took off. Incidentally, Hugh Hefner had been a copyboy at Esquire, and was a long time fan of Dedini' s work. When he began Playboy, Hefner reportedly spent three years asking Dedini to come on board as a contributor. Finally in 1959, Dedini said yes, thus began a partnership and friendship that would last 45 years and about 1,200 cartoons until his death.

Dedini's work was groundbreaking at the time. It elevated Playboy from your run-of-the-mill men's magazine with larger than life characters that lived the post-war American dream. His work addressed the business of politics, current events and taboo subjects with mythological and allegorical lady killers and femme fatales, leering satyrs and gorgeous young nymphs in the joyful pursuit of love and sex and magic. He was truly one of a kind, and he is missed.

Dear Marc: A Love/Apology Letter

2011-11-22T22:24:00.000-05:00

Dear Marc by Marc Jacobs Memphis color blocked pouchette,

Thank you for introducing yourself when I passed by earlier yesterday. You caught my eye with your insanely vibrant poppy red and magenta combination, which made my heart burst with happiness and my face look like this:

Please accept my apologies for putting you back on the shelf. I am supposed to be in 'wedding saving mode' and I couldn't bring myself to purchase you at full price the week you came out. I am sure that you are worth every one of the 29,800 pennies you cost. I did notice that you coordinate perfectly with my red winter coat, in addition to being buttery soft and making me automatically 200% more cheerful every time we went out together.

Instead, I disappointed you. I saw you and fell in love, held you for 20 minutes, put you down, walked around to rationalize my decision, and stood in front of the mirror with you for another 15 minutes until the sales lady gave me a dirty look. I should have brought you home with me, but I sadly said goodbye and you watched as I walked away. I want you to know that I haven't stopped thinking of you since and immediately Googled the highest resolution image I can find of you the minute I got home. I will probably oogle at you for days if I haven't already made you my desktop image, and check back incessantly for the next 90 days to see if you have gone on sale.

Please don't give up on us. I sincerely regret that we couldn't begin our relationship immediately but I am hopeful that you'll give me another chance, as I strongly believe we would have a bright future together (pun intended).

Thinking of you always,

Bro Art

2011-11-21T22:18:00.001-05:00

I always blog about the artists and illustrators that inspire me, but tonight the work moves me for a different reason - because they remind me of my fiance. Alexi is always impressed at the fact that I can remember details about anyone after one conversation with them (which is helpful when you are working at a school and come in contact with hundreds of people!) but he has encyclopaedic knowledge of the DC and Marvel universe. In honor of my future husband, here are three artists who have taken a subject he loves dearly and created something truly remarkable:

ARIAN NOVEIR

An Iranian-born artist raised in France, Arian was inspired to tap into his passion for super heroes (his favorites being Wolverine and Batman) after watching Thor, and created this gorgeous series. I love how tactile it looks, a testament to how far fantastic illustration and rendering applications have come.

DANNY HAAS
I think what makes all the best superheroes so endearing is the delicate balance between their split personalities. Although there is this element to them that is so extraordinary and super, there is a core that is very vulnerable and longs to be ordinary. As a result, they are constantly battling this demon that is so integral to their evolution - there would be no Wolverine, Superman, or Batman without James Howlett and Logan, Kal-El, or Bruce Wayne. I think many fans form an intense emotional connection to both facets of their character, not just the part that is super, and it is important to recognize the Bruce Banners, Peter Parkers, Tony Starks, and Hal Jordans of the world. Which is why I love the work of Danny Haas, Creative Director at Warner Music in Nashville by day, and self proclaimed husband, father, artist and geek by night.

LIAM BRAZIER
I never tire of studying the incredible concept art of, well, basically anything, comics included. But it is so refreshing to see such a hyper-stylized take on comic book culture, and UK-based illustrator and animator Liam Brazier delivers. I am a huge fan of the geometric/crystallized style, which is surprisingly effective when conveying shadows and depth (look at the stormtrooper and superman's thighs! LOVE!) see his impressive portfolio and demo reel here!

Paris vs NYC: A Mega Picture Post

2011-11-20T21:05:00.001-05:00

I discovered Society6 tonight (and there went the entire evening) while I was looking at the work of another fantastic illustrator (more to come on that later) came across this series and was instantly obsessed. Paris vs New York is a brilliant visual tally of two cities by Vahram Muratyan, cofounder of Parisian art direction & graphic design studio ViiiZ. I am loving the vibrant minimalist illustration style which reminds me of Tyler Brûlé's work with Porter, no? When most people are asked what their favorite city is, I often hear praises for the City of Lights or the City that Never Sleeps, and I also hope to experience living in both places at some point in my life. Here's my take on the two!

PART 1: ARCHITECTURE & LANDMARKS

The Institute without Boundaries is currently working on a multi-year project called City Systems which explores the design of the built environment and examines its tangible and intangible systems. One line that particularly resonated with me is the idea that a city is a system of humanity, integral to the development of civilization. The ability to not just live but to thrive, expand and innovate in dense quarters has defined us as a species and shaped our culture and our lives, and this is something both cities have done very successfully. What I love is the pride that its citizens have for living there - I have yet to hear someone say "I hate living in Paris" the way I hear Torontonians bemoan their home on a regular basis. Both know that they are world-class cities and actively seek to preserve their heritage while investing in leading-edge sustainable restoration projects, architecture and infrastructure that continually keeps them at the forefront. Winner: Tie

PART 2: GETTING AROUND

I think my sentiments echo Part 1 here - if we're talking public transit systems, neither city can beat Asia (Japan and Hong Kong are undisputedly the most effective) but both Paris and NYC have incredibly accessible, robust, and among the most heavily trafficked public transit systems in the world, which is great to offset their carbon footprint. In the US, I read somewhere that 1 in every 3 mass transit users in the entire country use the NYC system, carrying more than 4.5 million people a day, which has allowed New York to be the only city in the US where more than half of the households don't own a car. Up to 75% of the population of Manhattan doesn't own a car, which is a great statistic. But I think my perspective is probably going to be biased simply because I've had the good fortune of being able to spend more time in NYC than Paris (bonus points for being a Porter flight away!) so Winner: NYC

PART 3: THE ARTS

Both are fashion capitals of the world - Paris renowned for its stunning couture and NYC for its Ready-to-Wear clothes, ie I could actually afford and wear. But Paris is a no brainer here. They have an incredible respect for their heritage in both the arts (Delacroix, Fragonard, Renoir, Manet, Seurat, Van Gogh) and fashion (Hermes, Vuitton, Balenciaga, Dior, Lanvin) When I think of New York, I keep coming back to the words neurotic and aggressive - I'll take Amelie over Carrie Bradshaw any day. I also really appreciate the Parisian perspective toward fashion, the idea that women really make an effort to make themselves presentable before leaving the house (I'm thankful that no atrocities like Juicy sweatpants and Ugg boots are seen in Paris) Winner: Paris

PART 4: SOMETHING YUMMY

Oh, this is hard for me. I really appreciate a good Croque Monsieur and would love Pierre Herme's macarons over a Magnolia Bakery cupcake, but I really love eating in New York for the same reason I love eating in Hong Kong - they are both gastronomic metropolises, which means you could find good food from any part of the world in the city - Italian and Indian, fast food and slow food, really expensive and really affordable. I am notoriously fickle about my food, and I am pretty sure that if I had to choose one city to teleport to any given night for dinner, New York would have exactly what I am looking for, whatever it may be. Winner: NYC

For more illustrations or to purchase a print, hit up Society6 or preorder the book on Amazon!

Lulu Frost SS2012

2011-11-19T14:27:00.000-05:00

I'm sure you already know how I feel about Lulu Frost. So imagine the other morning when I woke up and found this surprise from Moda Operandi in my mailbox! Lisa Salzer cited that her inspiration was the endless summers of her childhood, spent in the sun and sand of Long Island. Oh honey, I can totally relate (in my dreams). There's something for everyone, or more specifically, lots of stuff for me!

James Jean: A Mega Picture Post

2011-11-18T23:34:00.001-05:00

If you've heard of James Jean's work, it may be because a few seasons ago, he did a massively successful series with Prada as a part of a multimedia collaboration with 2x4. James developed a wallpaper that would span the length of the Prada Broadway Epicenter store in Soho, and from there, Trembled Blossoms project crept into Prada's SS08 textiles, handbags, an animated short, backdrops for the runway and ad campaigns and more.

What is so amazing though - and what you can't see in these gorgeous and surreal illustrations of woodland nymphs, lush flowers, galloping stallions and voracious dragons - is that it is ONE massive panorama. You can see it in it's entirety here, original size 11x30"

Here's the other one, original size 11x81". I'm a little torn as to which I love more. But I am so humbled by and envious of his ability, which reminds me a little of Takeshi Murakami's, to create this meticulous and encompassing universe with distinct characters. If I created a fraction of what he made for Prada, I'm pretty sure that would be my magnum opus, but it was one of dozens of other projects for James. Which brings me to his extensive, hallucination-inducing, hauntingly gorgeous body of work. I'm speechless and thunderously applauding at the same time.

-UPDATE-

Melissa's totally right, I am totally The Secreting through my blog. I have my sights set on this piece for my dining room. I have been hunting for one since I got myself a dining room and I am kind of in love with this piece, in a I-want-it-I-need-it-I've-already-taped-off-my-wall-and-loaded-it-into-my-shopping-cart kind of way.

Age of Feminine Drawing

2011-11-17T23:07:00.000-05:00

This weekend (yay!) I was sick (boo) which meant that I had to stay home from work (yay!) which made me fall really behind (boo) and feel awful (boo) but also gave me time to read (yay!) which meant that I got to start and finish the lovely book that Melissa gifted me for my birthday (yay!)

This book is a black hole for me in terms of time spent obsessing over fashion illustrators - I could literally go through and spend each of the remaining days of this project talking about an individual illustrator. All my old friends are there including Laura Laine, Fifi Lapin, James Jean and Cecelia Carlstadt, but also some new favorites:

Izumi Idoia Zubia

Maki Kahori

Ryo Sakuma

Miyuki Ohashi

Paula Sanz Caballero

Expect many more beautiful blog posts soon!

Grandpa

2011-11-16T23:03:00.000-05:00

In memory of the first man I ever loved.
I wish we could have spent holidays and normal days together. I wish you could have told me stories of your life. I wish you could have spent more time in Canada because you so loved being here. I wish you could meet the man that will be my husband.
I miss you, not just today, but all the other days a granddaughter should get to spend with her grandfather.
I love you ♥

Fashion Moment: A Camilla Belle Mega Picture Post

2011-11-15T22:46:00.000-05:00

Camilla Belle in Armani (L) and Gaultier (R)

Camilla Belle has had a fashion moment on this blog already, when she wore a Gaultier stunner to the MET Gala, which is my favorite fashion event of the year. In my opinion, this was the night she went from being that girl that was in that movie I never watched to someone who I'd watch for on the red carpet, and girlfriend didn't disappoint. The next year, she wore an ocean breeze Armani confection to the MET, and in the last few years she has been rolling out hit after hit.

In Jason Wu (L) and Victoria Beckham (R)

What I love is her effortless to look several things at once: ladylike, fashionable, and age appropriate. It's refreshing to see a young girl look lovely without having a nip-slip or an up-skirt. Isn't it nice to see that girls can be sexy without being skanky?

Which is probably why all the fashion designers love her. It's not fair. Who gets to wear this much awesome McQueen? Who gets to have such gorgeous long legs? Someone's probably going to tell me she's super nice, and has a PhD in astrophysics or something. Not fair.

Monique Lhullier shift (L) and Marchesa gown (R)

What I also love about her? That she doesn't shy away from bold colors (like me!)

Both Gucci

This is perhaps my favorite ensemble of all. When I saw the technicolored Gucci Runway for SS2011, I hyperventilated from excitement and couldn't wait to see who would be wearing them on the red carpet. And C.B. delivered, which means she gets an A in my books. Excellent work!

Through the Seasons: A Mega Picture Post

2011-11-14T20:14:00.001-05:00

I am a huge fan of beautifully organized spaces and, so finding the well-documented evolution of Sheila Vu's workspace was a real treat. I've ditched my desk in favor of our dining table which has become my de-facto work station, so I am trying a minimalist workspace for the first time ever (I usually have a desk filled with tear sheets and work in progress, so this is making me a little nostalgic) This is her desk in January 2008.

October 2008 - I like that in all the pictures, one that is constant which is her monogrammed mugs from Anthropologie. Such a great way to keep things uncluttered.

December 2008 - This is what my desk looked like from my OCAD years..

February 2009 - There is a little garden on her desk! White and yellow roses, daisies, orange Crush colored tulips, and in a mix of vases and lavender Dry Soda bottles. The lamp has also been switched up for one that brings a lot more character. Feels Paris in the spring n'est pas?

March 2009 - I love everything about this month's desk - the little ipod dock, the fresh flowers from the farmers market, and her mugs doing double duty as bookends! The rainbow print is a handy list of Adobe shortcuts by Design by Vent

April 2009 - Lovely irises in sleek vases make me happy!

November 2009 - I like mood boards that always change to keep up with the pace of your work. This month includes a fuschia Hilfiger jacket that she cut out from the NY Times Sunday Style section. Two little chocolate boxes sit on the ledge

December 2009 - I LOVE that this is December, because the sunny yellow tulips scream SPRING IS COMING, and the motivational poster

January 2010 - I love that the magnetic board is gone in favor of using the entire wall. The images tile perfectly and creates a streamlined, clean, uncluttered work station, and the champagne roses add a lovely, classy touch (which reminds us during crazy times to stop and smell the roses, literally)

July 2010 - It's a month of pink! Love the different punchy hues - a lovely bouquet of multi-colored carnations and the electric pink tape. Her mugs have also multiplied!

October 2010 - A custom calendar keeps things organized, I can imagine it being filled with more sketches and images! Keep up with Miss Vu on her lovely blog here

The Diving Bell & The Butterfly

2011-11-13T20:11:00.001-05:00

I've been sick all weekend, which ironically afforded me the luxury of having some (forced) down time. I was able to draw some pictures and finally re-read a book that I had started probably over a year ago, which is the incredible true story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, called The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Jean-Dominique was a well-known journalist, author and successful chief editor of the French ELLE magazine. In 1995, he suffered a massive stroke and woke up 20 days later, confined in his body by a rare disease called locked-in syndrome, where his mental faculties were completely intact, but his entire body was paralyzed, save for his left eyelid.

This is where the story actually begins. Undeterred by insurmountable obstacles (ie, not being able to move anything, breathe or eat by himself) and with the help of an editor, he was able to write this book, using only his ability to blink. Using a rearranged alphabet where the most frequently used letters appear first, someone would read off the sequence and he would blink to signal which every letter. Every night, he would edit his thoughts and carefully compose each sentence, which he then memorized so that he could dictate them in the morning, blink by blink to create word by word, eventually creating a book over 130 pages long over two months. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a formidable, heartbreaking, inspiring peek into the mind of a stroke patient who knows he will never speak or laugh again, and the amazing triumph of the human spirit to overcome that.

Wedding blog!

2011-11-12T23:17:00.000-05:00

Dear Blog,
I'm not cheating on you, but you should know that I am working on another project. This doesn't change how I feel about you, but I felt that I should be honest with you. I kind of thought of you the whole time, mostly when I was thinking of clever things to write, like "You had me at http." Obviously, it's a work in progress. See you tomorrow xoxo
Love,
Pris

The Cutie Pox

2011-11-11T21:51:00.000-05:00

One more day until S02E06 of My Little Pony: The Cutie Pox
"Apple Bloom finally gets her cutie mark! But joy turns to panic as she gets a second, then a third, then a dozen cutie marks." CAN'T. WAIT.

The Bewundering World of Bailey Fort

2011-11-10T23:13:00.000-05:00

I realized the other day that I blog about a lot of talented people and work, but I've never shared some of the work produced by the people who inspire me on a daily basis: My talented students at the School of Design. This is some of the work that I've had the privilege of seeing first hand from concept to implementation, from January to April each year, and it never fails to wow me. So that obviously had to change asap!

It's no secret that I am a fan of illustration work, good graphic design, and children's books, and that makes Bailey Fort's work a triple threat. Part graphic designer, part illustrator, part author and all exceptional, what makes her work especially special to me is the fact that Bailey was a former student of mine, and one that I had been wanting to work with for a while. This children's book was done as part of her editorial class, and I was thrilled to (finally) see it in its entirety the other day.

Bailey actually started off at Queen's University studying Geography before coming to the School of Design, and we were so lucky to have her. She has a maturity beyond her years, and talent to boot, but what makes her (and only a handful of students I've seen over the years) really exceptional is the fact that she understands the content she's working with. Many graphic designers focus on arranging items on a page so it looks pretty, without acknowledging it's appropriateness to context. Bailey strives to understand what she's working on and does her research, and it makes a huge difference. I'm so proud of her (and this book!)

Bailey has also produced gorgeous packaging work and a beautiful and thoughtful thesis, but The Bewundering World of Bewunderbeests is what many people have considered her magnum opus at during her time at the School. It scooped up the Akran Marketing Award for Book Design at the RGD Student Awards and Best Editorial Design at the Applied Arts Student Awards. Watch for this name in the years to come - she'll be doing big things!

Fashion Moment: Lauren Santo Domingo

2011-11-09T23:08:00.000-05:00

Photo of LSD by The Coveteur (see their feature on her amazing closet!)

Here is a crucial piece of info that you should know about me if we're friends: One of my favorite books in the entire planet is Bergdorf Blondes. It was published around the same time as Confessions of a Shopaholic around the height of the chick lit craze, but it is the real deal and way, way, better. The main character (Moi)'s best friend is Julie Bergdorf, department store heiress and alpha Park Avenue Princess.

This is relevant because a while ago I posted about a 5 Days, 5 Looks, 1 Girl feature that Vogue has. They covered one of my favourite people in fashion: former Accessories Editor turned Special Events Director Sylvana Ward Durrett. Last night when I couldn't sleep, I was surfing the web (and not shopping) and discovered that they had just done a feature on one of my other favourite people in fashion: the inimitably fabulous Lauren Santo Domingo, who is the real life embodiment of a Bergdorf Blonde.

Day 1 - I just want to point out that this woman had a baby not 6 months ago. I'm pretty sure she looked like this three days after she gave birth. This was taken during fashion week, wearing a mustard-yellow Carven jumper, Balenciaga pants, an Hermès Kelly bag (an anniversary gift from her husband) and Céline shoes.

Day 2 - At the J. Mendel show at Lincoln Center. "The designer, Gilles Mendel, is a master of silk chiffon (note my nude dress)- and orchestrating a front-row seating chart. I completed this look with a Roger Vivier bag and Chloé heels."

Day 3 - When in doubt for what to wear, LSD has always taught me to err on the side of being overdressed, citing Oscar Wilde, who once said that one can never be overdressed or overeducated. White shirt dress by Derek Lam, sequin jacket by Ferragamo, shoulder bag by Proenza Schouler, and a pair of pink suede shoes with mirrored heels.

Day 4 - Backstage at the Proenza Schouler show wearing a dress and shoes by her favourite label, and an Alexander Wang clutch. "The three of us basically grew up together. They launched their line when I was in my early years at Vogue. I vividly remember calling in clothing from their first collection for a magazine shoot, and of course we became great friends over the years. It seems their collection always corresponds perfectly to where I am in my life. Or perhaps, my life readjusts to suit their clothes. It's hard to say which!"

Day 5 - "After a week of seeing color and prints all over the New York runways, I needed a palette cleanser. So I decided on a Stella McCartney LBD with a custom le smokingmade by my favorite Hong Kong tailor, Ying Tai. I have most of my suiting and men’s shirts made to measure. It takes time, but the perfect fit and low price make it worthwhile."

A (Drawing) Party!

2011-11-08T23:00:00.001-05:00

Tonight I finally drew a picture with my Wacom tablet! I bought this tablet, oh, I'd say when I was a student at OCAD, and never figured out how to use it properly, so it's been sitting in my drawer collecting dust. My sister, on the other hand, is a genius at drawing with the tablet, and she finally told me to just ignore all the instructions on the driver manual. So tonight is my first night drawing with it and it is awesome! I am super excited about the Wacom Inkling but I figure I have to earn it first by at least mastering this one! Here's a picture of my favorite party girl to demonstrate how I feel about this :D Hopefully this blog will have a lot more illustrations (from me!) from now on! xoxo

Priscilla Lives

3. Delicious Adventures: Bonjour Brioche

2. Tarts

1. Body Parts

100 Days

Delicious Adventures: Bonjour Brioche

Yo Miss - Ironic Hipster Edition

Yo Miss - JCY Edition

Yo Miss - Gina Edition

Spectacular Achievements..

Yo Miss - Gamer Edition

Aloscar

NYC Brownstones Part 2!

NYC Brownstones

Park Avenue Princess

Lately Lily

Malfoy Love

Yo Miss - JAP Edition

Golden Globes: A Mega Picture Post!

Delicious Adventures: MerryBerry Pt 2!

Delicious Adventures: MerryBerry Pt 1

Alma by Rodrigo Blaas

Getting down to business

Caitlin McGauley

Cartooning with Anthony (again)

Materials List

Delicious Adventures: Nutella Edition

Portraitdex Pt 2: Lexicorn!

Portraitdex

Picture Book Report!

Cinderella Story

Interiors: Frida Giannini

Lucy Knisley

Minimal Gangster

Happy New Year!

Delicious Adventures: Vegetarian Haven

5 Ways to Warm Up!

Why I Love Deborah Lloyd

Boxing Day redemption

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Merry Christmas!

More Adventures in Painter with Vegetables, Pt II

Adventures in Painter with Vegetables!

Interiors: Dear Hancock

Dear Hancock Desk Collection

Jason Freeny

Miyuki Ohashi: A Mega Picture Post

Fashion Moment: A Cate Blanchett Mega Picture Post

Treeson

**BONUS LEVEL** Draw a Niece a Day!

Chloe (inspired by Julia Denos)

Hannah (inspired by Julia Denos)

Isabel (inspired by Julia Denos)

Brooke (inspired by Julia Denos)

Lily (inspired by Julia Denos)

Julia Denos

Back to Basics

Hanukkah time!

Interiors: Jennifer Fisher

Teagan White, Pt 2

Teagan White, Pt 1

Happy Birthday Melissa!

Maki Kahori

Woodbury Chronicles

Cocoa Chronicles

Off for the weekend!

Jacquelyn Jablonski

Frances Mak for J.Crew

What you are afraid to do...

Paula Sanz Caballero

John Galliano

Mega Wedding Moodboard

KHUAN+KTRON's Jetset World

Whether or not you reach your goals...

Eldon Dedini

Dear Marc: A Love/Apology Letter

Bro Art

Paris vs NYC: A Mega Picture Post

Lulu Frost SS2012

James Jean: A Mega Picture Post

BONUS LEVEL Draw a Niece a Day!