Sisters

If any of you are wondering if I fell off the face of the earth, well you just might be correct. I've been up to my neck in exciting illustration work all while taking care of a hyper active toddler and moving across country. Jon was hired to be in the Santa Cruz Shakespeare festival so we are going to be living out there for the next few months. Atti and I decided to stop off in Colorado to visit my family and are currently staying at my sister's home (hence the name of this post).

I did this sketch a while back and really liked the relationship of these two girls. While staying with D-lyn, my older sister, and her three girls the memory of this sketch came back to me. These girls make me think of her eldest two girls, Mickey and Lil. They love each other yet there is definite mischief behind their eyes accompanied by some serious sibling rivalry. I can say that D-lyn and I know this look well :). We are also happy to say that sisters do grow out of it and can look back fondly at the stages of clothing tug-a-war and cat fight scratching and know that it is all apart of growing up with your best friend(s).

So here's to my SISTERS! I love them!

Ooh La La

These Parisian chairs are simply wonderful. I want every single one of them in my house. The Bright pink set of drawers is to die for as well. Viva la Paris!

J'adore Parisian Windows

Hello all! So it's been a while since my last entry but we are back from the magical city of Paris and life is starting to get settled once again (which will be short lived as soon we'll be packing up and moving to California for the summer...but that's another story). Well Paris was beautiful and everything I'd dreamed it would be. I will be posting more photos and inspiration but I wanted to start with this lovely window display. I love these silhouettes. I had purchased some black wall sticker material to make some of my own previously and then seeing these windows has inspired me to make my profiles more stylized like my characters. Should be fun!

Favorite look of the day

Marni fall 07

Manish Arora

The latest issue of Selvedge magazine spotlighted Indian designers and in particular Manish Arora. I had a lot of fun looking through his various collections. He has so much fun with color and pattern. There is a huge part of me that loves bright colors and patterns yet when it comes to dressing on a day-to-day basis I like a lot more subdued colors mixed in with a pop of color here and there. This is so much fun though! I think Bjork would be a fan :).

Favorite look of the day

I think I'm going to start posting my "favorite look of the day". Today it's this Balenciaga's look from their fall 07 line. This makes me wish it were fall again and not so humid like it is here in TN :).

Chantelivre

I'm really excited to visit the Parisian children's book store Chantelivre. Here's a little pic of the place. I hope to come home with a lot of great French children's books!

On My Way to Buy Eggs

I check out a lot of children's books from the library and I recently checked out the book On My Way to Buy Eggs. It's a lovely book with beautiful illustrations by Chih-Yuan Chen. I have chosen some of my favorite illustrations to share with you.

The Paper Dress

I've been into paper dresses lately and have designed my own that I really want to create. I originally came up with it for an Ugly Betty contest where thy had viewers enter ideas of what sort of dress could be designed using only things found in the office. I came up with this paper butterfly dress. (I never actually entered it, btw, I missed the deadline). But I want to make this myself. It could be so beautiful and simple. White cut-out butterflies on a white jumper. I've noticed too that dresses made from paper or found objects seem to be all the rage. I really adore this plastic wedding dress from the cover of the latest I.D. magazine. I also enjoyed an article in the latest British Vogue all about craft work in fashion.

Jacadi Paris

I've been doing some pre-Parisian research por mon enfant and thanks to the help of my new French friend Nadja, I have discovered Jacadi Paris (their nurseries to be more precise). I absolutely love how they styled these rooms. I'm a big fan of the use of one color of paint over ornate detailed trim work. Very fun.

looking back...

I've been looking through my old files and came across this painting I did 4 years ago. I'm very sad because I never got a high res scan or photo of the painting before it sold and I have no idea who I sold it to (this was before I was knew what I was doing ;) ). Oh well, it's fun to remember. I still am very inspired by this look. Taking a trip down memory lane has inspired me for future work.

Martha Moth Makes Socks

My good friend Cambria Evans Christensen has a wonderful book out called Martha Moth Makes Socks. I believe it's doing really well and has received great reviews. You should all run out to your local bookstore and snatch up this little gem. Expect more great work from her in the near future.

I will be continuing to highlight my friends and their fabulous work so stayed tuned!

Giselle Potter

Giselle Potter has got to be one of my favorite children's illustrators. Her characters and colors are so charming and her style naive yet sophisticated. I particularly love her book The Year I Didn't Go to School which she both wrote and illustrated. In this book she tells the story of a year from her childhood when her family went to Italy where they all paricipate in her parents traveling theatre and puppet troupe. It sounds like something I've dreamed for my life with my children. I'm sure Atticus, with an actor as a father and an illustrator as a mother will have similar experiences. He's been on an airplane at least 8 times, been to 5+ diff states (the "+" referring to the ones he's driven through on a 3 day road trip), has a passport and will be traveling to Paris in May and Santa Cruz in June...and all this in the first year and 1/2 of his life! He'll either grow to love the arts and travel or to loathe it! Only time will tell :).

Sabyasachi

Ok, but my new favorite fashion designer has got to be, Sabyasachi Mukherjee. He is like an Indian version of Anthropologie. I absolutely adore the mixture of textiles and colors and I love his librarian chic take on today's trends. Very fabulous.