Shop Your Closet: Guest-Starring Caitlin!

When I married the wonderful Tom Valente, I not only got a great husband, I got his great family, too! And the best part is, after always being the youngest (of three brothers, of all first-cousins) I finally had two younger sisters. Okay, Vanessa is only 6 months younger than me and is definitely more mature than me, but Caitlin is 12 years younger than me. Whoo hoo! Someone to torture and boss around as had been done to me as a child! Except that Caitlin is a super-cool kid and we get along great. Oh, well. I guess I'll have to save the torture for my future children. Anyway, now that Caitlin is growing up, she's getting more sure of her personal style, and I have to say, I approve!

One of the trends I like right now is the shorts-with-tights look, and it's a great way to Shop Your Closet, since you can keep wearing your shorts in a new way for another season. I have a cute pair of trouser-like tailored shorts that are off-black with golden pinstripes. Last year I found a really cute tee at the Brooklyn Flea that's black with a sparkly gold silkscreen of an cartoon child and panda on a rocket (awesome, right?). I cut a wide neck and cap sleeves on the standard box tee to give it a better shape. Add fishnets and my old brown motorcycle boots and bam! you've got a cute fall/winter outfit.

Caitlin's look is also a cool trend right now–the romper–another all-season pick, because as fun as it is in the summer with cute sandals, it's pretty awesome how Caitlin wore it this Fall. She paired her dark grey/black romper with a white ribbed tank, sheer dark hose, light grey leg warmers (another fave of mine) and awesome super-shiny patent leather heels. Perfect! I'm looking forward to seeing what new outfits Cait comes up with, and I'm sure she'll be guest-starring on Shop Your Closet again soon.

*Disclaimer: while I draw myself much skinnier and prettier than I am in real life, I assure you that Caitlin is more beautiful than my drawings of her. ;)

Sagittarius!

Happy first day of Sagittarius! This piece was a lot of fun, especially the sequined Native American-inspired shirt. Sagittarians are said to be optimistic, good-humored, moral, honest, straightforward, intellectual and philosophical. On the not-so-great side they can be impatient, boastful, blindly optimistic and tactless.
Yesterday was my mom's birthday, so while technically she was a Scorpio, those on the cusp of the change in signs are known to take on some traits of the sign coming before or after them. I wish I could show her this, since I think she would have said it was beautiful; she always said all of my work was beautiful...I guess that was either honesty or blind optimism. Either way, I was always happy to hear it.

Zodiac Series: Sagittarius Sketch

Here's my sketch for the latest piece in my Zodiac series. From here on I will be doing the pieces as the signs are coming up, and Sagittarius is the sign that falls from November 23rd – December 21st. Sagittarius is a fire sign and the symbol associated with it is the archer. Can't wait to paint!

Purr...

...Ms. Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman, is very content with herself after a hard night's work collecting some shiny, sparkly baubles. Not to mention getting home safe to her kittens after a run-in with a nasty Bat. ;)

Meow!

This is the sketch for my new Catwoman piece, which will be completed by this weekend, and you can grab (but not steal!) your very own print of it at KING CON Brooklyn! Hope to see you there, hepcats and cool kittens!

Zodiac Series: Taurus

Taurus is the second of the Sun Signs and it's the first associated with the element Earth. You are a Taurus if your birthday falls between April 20th to May 21st. Those born under the sign are generally described as being determined, slow, sensual, stubborn, romantic, artistic, loyal, materialistic, practical, and most importantly: appreciators of beauty, taste and touch. Taurus is also associated with the Emerald. Being a Taurus myself, I can say I definitely buy into the description...both the good and bad qualities, of course!

This is just the first of a complete series of Zodiac paintings that will be available for purchase soon as greeting cards. So, what's your sign?

Vive la France!Charles-François Lebœuf, Eurydice Mourante

Pierre Legros, L'Automne

View of the cat at my feet, cafe on the Mediterranean.

View of Notre Dame from the banks of the Seine.

I've been a little absent from the interwebs of late, but for a very good reason: I just went on an amazing trip to France with my husband! A friend of ours currently has an address in the City of Lights and she and her boyfriend generously offered us an air-mattress, maps, milk & cookies and their company during our visit. Of course, when traveling things don't always go according to plan, which is part of the adventure. My husband and I had grand plans for doing lots of artwork on this trip. We packed sketchbooks, pencil cases, new watercolor moleskin pads, palettes and brushes. And...we barely used any of it! It was our first trip to Europe, and we definitely underestimated how tiring it would be.

After some delays (thanks, American Airlines!) we got to Paris, and got settled in at my friends' place (i.e. took up all the space in their studio apartment). We toured the city by boat ride on the Seine, saw the Eiffel Tower up close, went to the Louvre, spent a day at Versailles, wandered the Marais and visited Notre Dame over four days. Then we took a three hour train ride to Marseille, where we stayed at a little B & B on the outskirts of the city. We took it easy the first day there; then we went into the city and trekked up to the highest point (another Notre Dame) for a 360º view; the next day we hiked the calanques (large limestone fjord-like cliffs) and took a dip in the Mediterranean; then we trained it back to Paris. In Paris once again we went to the Musée d'Orsay, the Louvre a second time (to sketch, finally!), saw Les Halles, did some shopping, went to Montmartre and saw Sacre Couer, grabbed macarons at the oldest Ladurée, strolled the Marais again, had a picnic on the Seine, went to a British pub and saw a real, live French bar fight, all in another four days in Paris.

In conclusion, unseasoned travelers that we are, we had a lot to learn about traveling Europe, and learn we did! For example:

• every French girl owns at least one striped shirt and loves wearing it.
• everyone does walk around carrying baguettes.
• men do say "ooh-la-la" on the street.
• most Parisiennes do have an effortless sense of style...
• and even their graffiti is neat.
• an urban public transport system actually can run on time! (and now a big F-U to the MTA)
• yes, you actually do need to make reservations for dinner before your trip...every interesting restaurant is booked every night...
• however, standard brasseries and bistros may not be exciting, but they know how to cook food well.
• unsurprisingly, New York is considered very cool...
• surprisingly, comic books and super-heroes are, too.
• the French love terrible pop music.
• everyone is friendly and helpful, as long as you are polite, too...weird, huh?

Now, back to Brooklyn living, which really is pretty cool.

Zodiac Series

One of my next projects will be a series of Zodiac pin-ups, done as vignette-style paintings. I'm doing this project for a few reasons: I love drawing and painting sexy girls with a twist, I get a kick out of the Zodiac and horoscopes (maybe because, as any of my friends or family could tell you, I am *slightly* bull-headed and I just so happen to be a Taurus) and it requires research on animals, nature and fashion.

Sounds good until I start my next musician/band illustration...will it be Peaches, of Montreal, Die Antwoord...or perhaps something a little more classic, like Springsteen, Bowie or the Clash? I dunno, but in the meantime, check your horoscope!

The Dead Weather

I am happy to finally present my illustration of Jack White & Allison Mosshart, aka "Baby Ruthless" of the Dead Weather. This was a ton of fun to work on, since it was inspired by an awesome, hard-rocking band and two performers with tons of stage presence and charisma. I've had the pleasure of seeing the Dead Weather twice now, recently right in my backyard of Prospect Park, and they don't disappoint.

The Crucible

Recently (okay, over 6 months ago) I did a project for SparkNotes, which is kind of like the Cliff's Notes I remember, but more hip, and I was just informed that the project is now live on the website! SparkNotes is so hip, in fact, that they are now creating Video SparkNotes, to make studying "faster, prettier and sound-ier". I was asked to create illustrations for the Video SparkNote for Arthur Miller's classic play The Crucible. It was a lot of fun to work on, even if I had more than a thousand things going on at the time. I hope to work on more Video SparkNotes in the future– you know, to help the kids with the "book-learnin".

Check out the video here, and take a look at my 5 favorite pieces out of the 30 illustrations that I did below: