Kiss kiss kiss

A quick and belated Valentine's pattern for your smartphone!

Download for iPhone 4/4S

Download for iPhone 5/5S

Affirmations.

We're currently in the middle of ANOTHER polar vortex in NYC (the remix) and I am hoping and praying and wishing for spring earlier rather than later.

One of my resolutions or goals for 2014 is to be positive, more-so than I am already. Saying yes to things, being more proactive, not choosing to be lazy about things. I've sort of accomplished that by the regular upkeep of this blog (ha!) but I want it in all things.

I love the trend of hand-lettering in terms of typography lately and it makes me feel better about not being a full fledged calligrapher (yet). I decided to try my hand at some cute and fun phrases. Some of them (aka 2) are affirmations and reminders to keep on the path I'm heading.

         

La Nuit est a nous - "The Night is ours"

Dark Girls, Pt. 2

3 more looks of my series below. I finally got the third girl's face the way I wanted, after a couple drafts. I DO realize one of the girls features a skin tone is closer to white skin and what is mainstream and at first glance, doesn’t speak to the overreaching title of my series. I’m working through it though! Not sure whether to continue showing the full spectrum of skin tones or to move forward with using a darker hue on that particular face.

 

Dark Girls Pt. 1

My medicine cabinet is filled to the brim with beauty products despite the fact that I only wear two makeup looks; winged liner with a strong lip and a strong brow with a strong lip. Groundbreaking, really. I've been thinking a lot about representation in the fashion industry and how that relates to my experience as a black girl. The industry is still very behind in terms of diversity. Representation matters. Partially inspired by face charts used by beauty brands, I've started a new series called Dark Girls. I've created 3 girl faces (still working on the 3rd girl) and will try to make at least 5 looks for each. I plan to go beyond 15 pieces but I thought that would be a nice body of work to start with.

4 looks below.

Tom Ford Lipstick in Rouge Fatal, $48

Underthings.

Drawing lingerie is oddly soothing. Lace is so hard to paint though! 

Spring Blush

It's dipped below freezing temps in New York and I'm actually hating it. I usually like colder weather but it came a little too fast. Here's a sketch of brightly colored blushes for spring.

Simple.

Blind drawings are very much an Art School 101 exercise but I've recently rediscovered how soothing they are. It's nice not to be so caught up in getting things exact. 

from top to bottom: the flowers from my coffee table / zara court shoes (seen from above) / rose from my drawing table / Saint Parfum White Tea & Paper White Reed Diffuser