Bowerbird

If I had to choose a favorite bird based on its behavior this amazing bird would be it.

EDITORIAL: Wang Xiao in L'Officiel, February 2011

Model: Wang Xiao (Wilhelmina)
Editorial: Aphrodisiaque
Magazine: (Paris) L'Officiel, February 2011
Photographer: Mason Poole
Stylist: Vanessa Bellugeon
Hair: Eddie Santos
Makeup: Euridice

Source: ForChicSake @ tfs

Colorful Morning

AD CAMPAIGN: Liu Wen for Estée Lauder, Spring/Summer 2011

Model: Liu Wen (Marilyn)
Ad Campaign: Estée Lauder, Spring/Summer 2011
Photographer: Craig McDean
Stylist: Marie-Amélie Sauvé
Hair: Orlando Pita
Makeup: Tom Pecheux

Source: Beauty Is Diverse via Estée Lauder

Desert Specimens

I'm working on a small collection of flora & fauna you might find in the desert
for a new Tiny Book I want to make.
I made this digital collage with my watercolor images and vintage maps.

CALENDAR: Shu Pei in Maybelline 2011 Calendar

Model: Shu Pei (Next)
Work: Maybelline 2011 Calendar
Photographer: Kenneth Willardt
Makeup: Charlotte Willer

Source: yoka.com & 163.com via shunichiro @ tfs

AD CAMPAIGN: Edwin Kadarisman for Shanghai Tang Men, Spring/Summer 2011

Model: Edwin Kadarisman (Car-Carries Shanghai)
Ad Campaign: Shanghai Tang Men, Spring/Summer 2011
Photographer: Richard Ramos
Stylist: Dennis Ho
Makeup: Candy Law
Hair: Dicky Chui

Source: Car-Carries Shanghai

Simple

At the blue house. Playing around with Photoshop and my birds.

My friend Oliver found the coolest online sketch tool. Go have some fun at this link.

AD CAMPAIGN: Liu Wen for ck Calvin Klein Accessories, Spring/Summer 2011+

Model: Liu Wen (Marilyn) & Sean O'Pry (VNY)
Ad Campaign: ck Calvin Klein (Accessories), Spring/Summer 2011
Photographer: Fabien Baron
Stylist: Emilie Kareh

Source: FashionGoneRogue

Facebook giveaway

Come and play with me at my Facebook page!

To participate in the giveaway you must "Like" my Facebook page first
and then leave a comment at this Facebook link.

***Make sure you leave a comment at my Facebook photo to participate in the giveaway. I cannot include the comments you leave here (my blog) at the giveaway over there (Facebook page) :p Thanks!

****The winner is Lori Miller!! Congratulations!!!*****

Print Table Of Love

The studio is humming this week!

 

But the news that I'm having the most fun with this week is that I've found a brilliant way to utilize wasted space.

For a long time, I've had a small homemade table, approximately 31" x 46", sitting at the end of my primary work table. I've used it mostly as horizontal drying space and horizontal storage space... frankly, it was simply too low and I am too tall for it to be of much use for anything else. (Ten extra Brownie points to anyone who remembers what I used to have in that space and how I rigged it to provide a flat surface when needed!)

Last year when Greg and I originally built the table we used half inch melamine-covered plywood cut to size (any Hardware Big Box store will do this for you for free), and four telescoping legs from Ikea. The whole thing cost less than 50.00 and because the legs came with all their own hardware, took all of about 30 minutes to assemble. Of course, then I threw a tarp over it and forgot about the legs. The ones that, yanno, telescope.

This weekend, giving in to the demands of my back, I put my mind to the task of devising a tall print table. Predictably, it took me most of a full day to remember the table with t-e-l-e-s-c-o-p-i-n-g legs. Greg and I flipped the table over, pulled the legs out to their furthest position, and locked them in place. Presto, instant tall print table with bonus mondo storage space underneath.

Ok, so here it's not shown being used a a print table so much as an ironing station. Did I forget to mention how handy it is for that? As well as for photographing stuff. Painting stuff. Admiring stuff I've painted. You get the idea: basically it's just handy as snot.

Something fun I did this week on my shiny wonderful miraculous new print table with the telescoping legs was a little bleach discharge with a Thermofax screen and a Clorox Bleach gel pen.

While the pen does provide a narrow point that you could, if you were careful, write onto fabric with, I found it more useful to squeeze the gel out of the container into the well of my screen and pull it across the fabric with a squeegee. The consistency of the gel is absolutely perfect for this application.

(the pale brown areas were "discharged", or had their color chemically removed)

And it discharges hand-dyed fabrics beautifully. Of course, it's bleach so it still needs to be treated with care... If you're going to try this, wear a mask and gloves, please, and work in a well-ventilated room! The bleach also must be neutralized when using it to discharge fabric or it WILL eventually eat through the fibers. 

And yes, that's stacked journaling in the photo shown above. Fun, fun.

I feel like I'm back in the saddle again! Happy creating!

NEWS: All Asian Cast at Givenchy Haute Couture, Spring/Summer 2011, Paris

An all Asian cast at Givenchy Haute Couture, Spring/Summer 2011 in Paris this week.

Models: (back row) Ming Xi (Ford), Hye Park (Trump), Liu Wen (Marilyn) & Ai Tominaga (Marilyn)
(front row) Shu Pei (Next), Tao Okamoto (Ford), Sun FeiFei (Women), Jiang Xiao Yi (Silent), So Young Kang (Marilyn) & Du Juan (IMG)
Show: Givenchy Haute Couture, Spring/Summer 2011, Paris

Source: modernparty.cn via Aja Mok @ tfs

NEWS: Danica Magpantay won Ford Supermodel of the World 2011 2010

Model: Danica Magpantay (Cal-Carries Phillippines)
Photographer: Doc Marlon Pecjo
Makeup: Grace Deang

Source: cal-carries via lanvinray @ tfs

Birdroom

Our birdroom, I mean bedroom ;)
Specimen 652 Large Format print by the talented D. S. Brennan.

EXTRA: Du Juan at Prada (Re-staged) Spring/Summer 2011 Show in Beijing, China

Prada re-staged its Spring/Summer 2011 show in Beijing, China earlier this weekend with Asian models Du Juan, Liu Wen, Emma Pei, Tao Okamoto and Sun FeiFei walking the runways.

This image of Du Juan simply begs to be added as an EXTRA feature on this blog.

Model: Du Juan (IMG)
Show: Prada, Spring/Summer 2011 re-staged in Beijing, China

Source: Rock The Trend

Liu Wen in Editorial for Vogue China, February 2011

Model: Liu Wen (Marilyn)
Editorial: Classic Re-Presented
Magazine: Vogue China, February 2011
Photographer: Victor Demarchelier
Stylist: Nicoletta Santoro
Hair: Didier Malige
Makeup: Fulvia Farolfi

Source: Scanned by Push via Gilsa0870

I'm Moving!

As you all know I'm hosting an ACE Camp's workshop early next month at my studio. Sixteen lovely women are flying down to Mexico to play with me at La Casa Azul!
The space I share with my boys right now is not big enough to host a workshop
so I'll be trading spaces with my Manolo. His studio space downstairs is still empty so I'm going to set up shop there this week until after the retreat...unless I convince Manolo to make the swap permanent. He's not budging, but I'm working on it ;)

So Young Kang, Hyoni Kang, Tao Okamoto, Sun FeiFei and Ming Xi in Editorial for US Vogue, February 2011

Bravo, Anna for including so many Asian girls, as well as new faces, in this issue of US Vogue. Keep up the good work.

Models: (left to right) So Young Kang (Marilyn), Hyoni Kang (Ford), Tao Okamoto (Ford), Sun FeiFei (Women) & Ming Xi (Ford)
Editorial: Gangs of New York
Magazine: US Vogue, February 2011
Photographer: Mario Testino
Stylist: Grace Coddington
Hair: Orlando Pita
Makeup: Linda Cantello

Source: mariotestino.com via Rosalinde @ tfs

MAGAZINE COVER: Liu Wen for (HK) West East Magazine, Spring/Summer 2011

Model: Liu Wen (Marilyn)
Magazine: (HK) West East Magazine #32, Winter 2011
Photographer: Daniel Garriga
Creative Director: Daniele Kim @ CXA Inc.
Stylist: Christine Lynch
Hair: Noah Hutton
Makeup: Hiroko Takada
Set Design/Props: Lou Asaro @ 11th Street Workshop
Photo Assistants: Max Sevostianov, Young Jeohn

Source: FashionGoneRogue

Bonnie Chen in Editorial for Vogue US, February 2011

Model: Bonnie Chen (Next) with boyfriend, Rock Ji
Editorial: Love in the Trenches
Magazine: US Vogue, February 2011
Photographer: Patrick Demarchelier
Stylist: Tabitha Simmons
Makeup: Yumi
Hair: Unknown

Source: Models.com

The Bird on the Moon

Some people see a man, others a bunny. I just see a bird ;)
Taken a few minutes ago...it's stunning tonight.

Dragonfly

Last year I illustrated this bejeweled dragonfly for the cover
of a novel called "The Coffins of Little Hope" by Timothy Schaffert.
The cover was beautifully designed by Kathleen Lynch.
It will be released this spring.

Ling Tan in Ad Campaign for L'Oreal Youth Code, Spring/Summer 2011

An earlier images from the ad campaign was posted here.

Models: (left to right) Elsa Benitez (Elite), Ling Tan (IMG), Jacquetta Wheeler (IMG) & Yasmin Warsame (IMG Paris)
Ad Campaign: L'Oréal Youth Code, Fall 2010/Winter 2011
Photographer: Vincent Peters
Stylist: Laura Ferrara
Hair: Ward Stegerhoek
Makeup: Fulvia Farolfi

Source: Bryan Bantry Inc.

Tiny Booklets

Recycled some of my discarded prints to make some tiny booklets
to go with the tiny books.
I realized how much I enjoy making tiny things :)
And speaking of enjoying...my friend Yvonne Eijkenduijn
over at The Yvestown Blog
made a beautiful blog book that you can preview here.

Ming Xi & Sun FeiFei in Editorial for V Magazine #69, Spring 2011

Models: Ming Xi (Ford) & Sun FeiFei (Women)

Editorial: New Vision, New Faces, New Fashion
Magazine: V MAgazine #69, Spring 2011
Photographer: Daniele & Iango
Stylist: Sabina Schreder
Hair: Luigi Murenu
Makeup: Virginia Young

Source: Fashion Gone Rogue

Again With The Good News, Bad News Thing!

Well, things have changed pretty substantially since I blogged at the beginning of the year. The bad news first: I won't be attending Jane Dunnewold's Art Cloth Masteries class, after all. It feels awful to even type that, but there it is.

The good news is that I will once again be able to blog at will and read my favorite blogs again, something I had given up simply due to time constraints. But those constraints are no longer an issue, and you should start seeing me pop up in your comments more frequently than I have for the last few months.

I'm still weighing my options for what my future might hold and where I'd like to take my career, but for now, for a few days at least, I've been taking some "me" time.  That's very good news for my sketchbook, as is has been welded to my hand for the last few days.

I'm working through my ideas for where I want to take my stacked journaling design idea, and what better place to do that than in the pages of a good, loyal sketchbook?

 

The page above was created with Fineline markers and stacked journaling- the word green, to be exact, which is what created the loopy bits to the outsides of the leaves and the great texture in both the leaves and the stem. So far I haven't found any design that I haven't been able to enhance with some form of stacked journaling.

Here, stacked journaling was screened onto a previously painted sketchbook page using a Thermofax screen and black textile paint. 

Stacked journaling was used here to create shapes on fabric which was then mounted into my sketchbook with fluid matte medium and "coffee stained" with fluid acrylic paint.

Creating contrast against a brightly painted background....

More screening of stacked journaling, adding depth to a previously sketched, screened, and painted page...

 

Stacked journaling on top of the existing text and Notan-like design of an old, yellowed telephone book page, cut and mounted into my sketchbook....

As you can see, I use my sketchbooks to do more than sketch. They are the incubator of ideas which will grow and develop organically, as I work each page in my own particular way. 

I hope you'll come show us some of your sketchbook's "particular ways" at The Sketchbook Challenge.