Pencil Portrait Numero Dos

I completed this portrait for my boyfriend's mom tonight...it is of her three grandkids Matthew, Ryan, & Lauren

Finished Portrait

One Portait Down..


The Three Js Justin, Jaelin, & Jeremy Ages from left to right 3,2,&1 Pencil on Charcoal Paper


One To Go (For different family)... (Wish me Luck)

Sneak Peek: Pencil Portraits

I am currently working on a portrait of three kids dear to my heart. Here is a sneak peek as to what I've been working on. I also have one more commissioned portrait to finish up before Christmas (picts of that coming...also a trio portrait). The brothers are done, and the sister should be done tomorrow night at the very latest. I will reveal the final trio when it is closer to Christmas (some things must remain a secret after all) but I couldn't resist showing you these tidbits:




little J...


big J

& middle J is coming soon! :) Wish me luck I will be furiously drawing & shading! :)

Ice: Inspire Me Thursday

color pencil on paper

inspire me thursday


i took this photo of people ice skating at rockefeller center the other night after work (i steer clear of that place on the weekends), this was my favorite shot because of the family holding hands!!! (oh & santa!)

The Little Things: Illustration Friday

"The Little Things Are Love" Color Pencil on Paper

ilustration friday

Studio Inspiration Board

I completely changed my inspiration board tonight on a whim. I think it illustrates my obsession with the past...both nostalgic and historic. How else could you explain Marie Antoinette (as played by Kirsten Dunst), Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, and the Little Mermaid appearing in the same collage? Then again, this board only has to make sense to me. :) Nevertheless, I really love it especially from my view right here at my work table!



Detail Shots:
{top}

{bottom}

The First Snow of the Season

It snowed here in NYC, here are some of my photos I took yesterday:

Hope you're staying warm wherever you are!

Excess Baggage: Illustration Friday

One thing I always have a problem with during the holidays is excess baggage (that is if the airlines don't lose it all together). I really need to learn to travel lighter (or just ship my bags before hand) as does this girl below:

color pencils on paper


As i was drawing this, the Coconut Records song "West Coast" starting playing in itunes. sometimes things just are too perfectly paired. I love the very middle of of the song best:

" And i miss you/I’m goin back home to the west coast/I wish you woulda put yourself in my suitcase/I love you/Standin' all alone in a black coat/I miss you
I'm goin back home to the west coast/And if you shake her heart enough she will appear/Tonight i think i'll be stayin here/And you never did like this town/I talk out loud like you're still around"

Take a listen:



illustration friday

Handmade Polymer Clay Christmas Ornaments

Today I completed a set of various handmade Christmas ornaments. I made the ornaments out of polymer clay and started shaping whatever came to my head. I kept getting more & more ideas for ornaments, so I'll probably make a few more before Christmas. These are going to be shipped out to holiday ornament swap partners. After flipping through the Holiday Ornament Swap flickr group, I'm so excited about what might me arriving in my mailbox! My tree is going to look fabulous this year!



Now all I have to do is set my tree up up! :)

Butterfly Girl

"If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies."
~Author Unknown

Butterfly Girl
ink on paper

Sisters Ink Illustration

“The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.”
~Audrey Hepburn

This illustration is a gift for an undisclosed(& top secret)recipient:

Original Illustration, Ink on Watercolor paper

Spread Cheer!

my girl needs some cheer...i think this would be a funny christmas card!


'tis the season!


(micron pen on paper)

The Zoo: Illustration Friday

Whenever I visited the zoo as a girl I would always find a new animal to fall in love with. I would then go weeks daydreaming about making that animal my domesticated pet. I was convinced I would be the coolest girl on the block if I had a giraffe or elephant in my backyard. I'm sure even now that I would have been a big hit with all the kids, but am unsure about the other homeowners! :) A zoo animal as a domesticated pet is (and should be) only a good idea to a child with an active imagination.  The reality was I had nothing but an endless supply of failed attempts at getting a pony, I would have better luck aiming for getting a kitten!! What can I say?  I always had lofty aspirations...


Color Pencil in a Moleskine Sketchbook

Illustration Friday

Self Portrait Challenge: What I Wear

I wear dresses! I am dress obsessed. Today I am wearing a Lux dress from Urban Outfitters in a pretty shade of royal blue, silver ballet flats, tights because it is so damn cold,  & pretty makeup applied using Sephora's smokey eye brush set.  Besides the color, I really love the floral details on the dress.

If there is one thing I love more than art & photography it is fashion and dressing up! Thanks to SPC for such a fabulous prompt!

Fall Photo Series Week 8

"Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile."

~William Cullen Bryant

It has been a joy to share my fall photo series with all of you. Thank you for looking, and please stay warm this winter.

Black Friday Illustration

The Day After Thanksgiving is the biggest shopping day of the year, so of course I had to honor the shopping holiday with an illlustration

color pencil & micron pen

Thanksgiving Morning Edition of The Fall Photo Series (Week 8)

Lonely Girl

"We're all lonely for something we don't know we're lonely for."
~Unknown

indian ink and colored micron pens on paper

La Bella Vida

indian ink & colored micron pens on paper

Inspire Me Thursday:Gratitude

"There is no better friend than a sister. And there is no better sister than you." 

~ Unknown

This Thanksgiving I am grateful for my little sister Dani. It has been a crazy year with a lot of changes and we have been there for each other even though we are living 2000 miles apart. I am lucky to have such a good friend in my sister.

color pencil & indian ink on paper

inspire me thursday

Illustration Friday:Superstition

Since the time I first heard the phrase "Step on a crack, break your mother's back" I have avoided the seams, cracks and crevices of the sidewalk. I also never open an umbrella indoors and I don't walk under ladders but I"ll leave those illustrations for another day.

color pencil and indian ink on paper

illustration friday

Fall Photo Series Week 7

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Self Portrait Challenge: What I Wear

New York City has been graced with cold cold November Rain this week, so I have been wearing cozy knits paired with girly dresses. Even my headband is knitted!



more wardrobe choices here:
Self Portrait Challenge

Illustration Friday: Scales

i have a mini obsession with mermaids. the little mermaid is my favorite disney movie, so i am BEYOND excited that the little mermaid just opened here on broadway! i am such a kid! i'm dragging the boyfriend with me (LUCKY HIM!!!) anyway, i thought a mermaid would fit this weeks topic nicely!


color pencils in a moleskine sketchbook


(in other news because i upgraded my macbook to leopard, my HP all in one printer is not scanning (it prints but doesn't scan) I tried installing individually via the subinstaller folder but my scanner still isn't working, so i snapped a photo instead. i do have my old ibook with tiger installed so i suppose until HP updates their software I'll be reverting back to my former love. anyway, that explains the odd crop (i cut off the bottom of the drawing), but you get the picture. ) this is what i get for bragging about having no problems doing a clean install of leopard! anyway, thanks for looking & listening/reading!

Windy Day

micron pen on paper

Santa Bunny Lino-Cut Block Print Gift Tags

hand printed in silver on red & white gift tags.

they will be available in the shop at 5pm EST!

Fall Photo Series Week 5

Photos I snapped this weekend during an afternoon walk through the park:



View my entire Fall Photo Series Here

Handmade Holiday & Christmas Cards Part 2

A new edition of the lino-cut block print Christmas cards are now finished! This time silver bunnies on white & red cards and a new fawn by a tree design on red & white cards using silver ink!







I am really excited about these new editions, and they will be in the shop tomorrow at Noon Eastern Standard Time, the gold bunnies are there now!!

Illustration Friday: Hats

I LOVE hats! It is becoming a problem. They are also one of my favorite things to draw! Right now I'm loving the hats seen in Marc Jacobs F/W 2008 collection (as seen in my inspiration art journal pages), so I used that collection as an inspiration for this drawing


micron pen & colored pencils in a moleskine sketchbook

illustration friday

Perfume Girl

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Fall Photos Week 4

I'm a little behind, I took 3 days off from work to relax & to house sit. I decided I want to be a freelance house sitter. It is the best thing ever! :) :) It wasn't a big weekend for photos, I hated half of the photos I took, but these were pretty sweet...


1. sophie giving me kisses (black & white), 2. heaven on earth, 3. foxtail, 4. FETCH!


Sophie also loves house sitting so long as there is a yard! What a great way to end October!

Self Portrait Challenge: What I Wear

This week (yesterday in fact), I wore blue tights:

I've been playing around with colored tights. Purple tights are my favorite (that was last week), so I thought I would try something new. I was really daring because I wore this to work at my white shoe firm here in Manhattan. I figured, you can wear a bright colored sweater why not tights? I pulled it off! It was fun, what color should I try next?!
more wardrobe choices here

Trick Or Treat: Happy Halloween!!

color pencil & micron pen in a moleskine sketchbook

while you're here check out my bunny pumpkin i am entering into the pumpkin decorating contest at work right here.

Have a Wonderful Halloween, I hope you have fabulous costumes & lots of treats!

Self Portrait Challenge Food 5

when life gives you lemons, make lemonade!

self portrait challenge

Bunny Lino-Cut Block Print Christmas Cards

My first set of Christmas cards are finished and I'm quite pleased with how they turned out. These are Lino-cut block prints using gold ink on white cards with matching envelopes. What is sweeter than bunny triplets wearing santa hats showing off their cute little cotton tails?







Card sets are now available at my shop!

A new holiday card design and gift tags will be featured in the shop next week, so stay tuned!

Halloween Pumpkin Decorating: Bunny Pumpkin

My office is having a Halloween pumpkin decorating contest next week, so they started handing out pumpkins to anyone willing to enter. After a quick brainstorming session yesterday I opted to turn my orange pumpkin into a white girly bunny with floppy ears. I finished the pumpkin this morning:



Materials used:
1 orange pumpkin
acrylic paint in Titanium White, Unbleached Titanium, Mars Black, & Primary Red
2 sheets of White Felt, 1 Sheet Rose pink Felt
Pink Satin Ribbon
a handful of cotton balls
Glue

Ready For Some After School Shopping...

micron pens in moleskine sketchbook