Shop Your Closet! Special Guest Edition!It's another edition of "Shop Your Closet", and it's a special guest edition, featuring my buddy Anna. We recently got together for our friends Rob & Michelle's going away send-off, and I decided to wear an item I've never worn before, even though I've had it for a couple of years!

It's a super-cute Mexican dress that I got at, of all places, Disney World. It's bright red with white flower embroidery, but worn by itself it's a little but too "abuela" for going out to a hip bar, so I put one of my many American Apparel jersey scarves to use and wrapped it around my hips to add a little more shape to the dress. The bright turquoise scarf looked killer against the red and white of the dress. And I had the perfect necklace to match– a really cool turquoise resin "invisible" necklace my hubby Tom had gotten me as a Valentine's Day gift from the MoMA store. Add casual leather flip-flops and I was ready for margaritas outside.

My friend Anna works in the fashion industry, and she's always looking cute. That night was the first time I saw her new bleach-blond 'do, and it looked great with her cropped cut. I'm sure some details of her outfit are off, but from what I remember she had on a cute strapless maxi dress in an orangey-red with an off-white pattern. She wore a white crochet vest over the dress and a brown belt cinching the vest at the waist. The new 'do and the breezy summery outfit Anna had on were also perfect for drinking outside on a hot summer night, and saying farewell to good friends.

So if you have something in your closet you've never worn– get it on! You just might get a few compliments.

Wonder Woman!

Everyone's buzzing about the new Wonder Woman costume, but have to say, I'm not crazy about it. So here's my version of a Wonder Woman redesign. Okay, so this actually isn't much of a redesign, more like an adaptation or modernization of the current costume– which is how I feel it should be. Wonder Woman is an icon. Regardless of how "silly" or non-functional her costume is, she's been an icon for so long, I don't think it's possible to completely change her look and still have the same effect.

I think we have to keep the eagle/WW breastplate; it just fits so naturally and nicely over Diana's endowments! I think the star granny-panties do have to go, but I don't think pants are the answer, either; everyone wears pants...a superhero shouldn't look like every girl out there wearing leggings or skinny jeans– or heaven forbid– "jeggings". So, hot-shorts to the rescue! Low-cut and very short, in a dark navy. Add a white belt with a gold star belt buckle and you have some nice shapes and colors breaking up the form. And what powerful woman with strong, thick legs wouldn't look amazing in hot-shorts + over-the-knee boots? But just so they're not too ordinary, keep the red with white stripe color scheme. I see no need at all to change the bracelets– they are sweet. I did think the star tiara was a little on the silly side, but she is a princess, right? How about a call back to her regal Greek roots with a golden Grecian headband? Add a golden lasso and we're done!

Simple, I know, but when it comes to an icon, there's only so much we can do!

Roaring Vamps

So it's been a while since my last post (my bad!) but I'm coming back in style with a sketch of Pearl from the new Vertigo series American Vampire. So far it's a pretty cool story, with cowboy outlaws, Hollywood damsels, old-world Euro-trash and good amounts of bloody gore. Something for everyone! The art by Rafael Albuquerque is pretty awesome, as well.
I certainly love 1920's style (my wedding dress was by Jenny Packham :) so it was lots of fun to come up with an outfit for Pearl. I'm sure I'll be drawing more of her in the future.

Shop Your Closet!I love to shop for clothes (as long as it's not too crowded!) but since I need to save money for bigger and better things, I'm going to have to shop my closet for a while. Which is okay, because I have a lot of clothes I really do love. Above are a few sketches of my favorite outfits.

The left ensemble is an outfit I recently got from Uniqlo and I wore it out for my birthday this year. It was my first time at Uniqlo and I loved it! I got an awesome tribal printed tunic with ruched sides and semi-shiny black leggings with gold zippers at the ankle. I wore beautiful antique gold and black gem earrings by La Vie Parisienne and a chunky emerald green gem and gold chain necklace sold by Guru at the Brooklyn Flea. I used my grey coach wristlet (a gift from my sister-in-law) which is a great bag because it goes with everything I wear, practically. And maybe my favorite part of the whole outfit was my MaryRoks shoes by Jeffrey Campbell in grey suede! Love them!
The center outfit is a lot simpler, but super cute and comfy. The top is a really interesting ruffled bubble tank from Victoria's Secret (on sale, of course) and the bottom is a acid wash grey denim mini from Uniqlo. I love the contrast of the really feminine top with the slightly edgier skirt. The top is great too because it has a built in bra– ladies, you know you love that. I wore this with my Natural Comfort gold platform sandals I got a few years ago, and another great pair of antique gold earrings from La Vie Parisienne.
The right look is an outfit I got from Forever 21 a couple seasons back. I loved the top the minute I saw it because the stripes and colors really reminded me of the beach. I think it also reminds me of one of my mother's tops from when I was a kid. I also love the back because it has a V neck, which shows off the tattoo on my back, and a there's little sliver that shows a peak of the lower back, which is pretty hot. The shorts are standard dark denim bermudas, which are great because they're classic and I'm not really one for short-shorts (on me, anyway!). I usually wear white lattice-work style earrings with this outfit to complete the beachy look.

The Future is Sexy...Who doesn't love green alien babes and cocky-yet-goofy space captains? I know I do!

Sketch Mondays: It's Hot in NYC!No day off for me! ;) Another ice cream-themed sketch for your viewing pleasure. Maybe I need to get myself a creamsicle. Happy start of summer, everyone!

Ice Cream Season Has Begun!

Just a quick sketch to celebrate the kick-off of summer! Hope you are enjoying the beach, a park, your yard, or at least an ice cream cone this weekend!

LOST!

LOST is actually over– I can hardly believe it! Here is a quick copic marker and pitt pen sketch in honor of the finale, which I loved. I know a lot of people probably didn't like it, but I thought is was a really beautiful goodbye to some of the most memorable characters ever on television. And of course, the story centered on Jack, who was official protector of the island only for a short time, but that short time had a huge impact. And a special note to all the complainers: please try and think of another recent piece of fiction that had you so moved, so interested and so stimulated for so long. That's extremely rare, and as a creative pro myself, I hope to achieve even a fraction of what LOST has done in the future. If the finale didn't fit your list of questions to be answered, or your specified number of fight scenes– give it a break and try writing your own perfect show! I'm going to be enjoying LOST on DVD.

Sketch Mondays!

So, I've been neglecting the blog for a bit. Busy with the yard, family, business etc. But in an effort to be more consistent with blogging, I present to you all "Sketch Mondays"! I will be posting a sketch, whether it's just pencil rough, or a more finished Copic marker & Pitt pen character study [such as Snowbird here], every Monday for sure, and hopefully in-between Mondays as well. Let me know whatcha think!
Snowbird is a Marvel comics superhero and a member of the group Alpha Flight. I grew up perusing my older brothers comics, and Alpha Flight was a book that was always around. I guess I took to Snowbird because she's a pretty girl who can turn into cool animals, like snow owls, foxes or polar bears. I just read the Wikipedia page on her and found her origin story completely convoluted (not surprising!) so I won't even try to get into it. But she is sort-of Native American, I think, so I tried to give her features a very slight Native look.

Foodie Buttons!

I recently created these new buttons for Whole Foods Market Chelsea Team Members to celebrate Team Member Appreciation Week. Each Team Member's name was placed in the center of the button. Don't worry– this is not the only thing done for the Team Members– there was food, massages, gifts and, oddly enough, karaoke. The people I spoke with really did seem to enjoy their new buttons, and that's pretty cool. They were fun to make of course, since I love food. My favorites are the sushi and the avocado. Pop quiz– the one on the top right may look like cake, but it ain't– what foodie item is it?