Glamour-maid

One of my fave things to do in this city is go to the Getty or LACMA, and have a drawing day.  I used to do this often when I first moved to LA years ago, back when I had no idea what the heck I was doing with my life.  And now I try to do this whenever I have the time, because in this career path, scheduling calming activities is a necessity.  

I picked up the ol' sketchbook today and saw that my most recent one was from a couple of months ago when inspiration struck while I was enjoying a chill Saturday at LACMA.  Who doesn't enjoy a good/bad pun?

Vintage Dream

The other night, I had a vivid, crazy dream with this cool image that kept cropping up.  I'm pretty sure I saw an art piece like this in passing somewhere, and it just never left me.  I woke up in the middle of the night with the image still etched in my mind, so I busted out a pencil and bristol paper, got the initial sketch going, and went from there.  By about 4 am, this is what I had:

I wasn't going to add a backround, but lately it's been kind of my thing to fill in a weird, unexpected backround color on my paintings.  Gold felt right for this piece.  I have the sickest shimmery gold shade, but I tested it on this type of paper, and it was horrendous.  So I mixed a deep purple shade and threw some make up glitter on it.  Here's the end game:

This ended up reminding me of my friend Danette, because she loves vintage fashion from this time period.   Danette is my old college roomate.  She has become one of my BFFs, and is one of the kindest, most understanding and supportive people I know.  She's one of those people you can count on for anything.  Over the years, she has proven to be an especially thoughtful and creative gift-giver.  From a pile of amazing books carefully picked to fit my personality, to a Paris-themed gift basket, to a surprise housewarming care package.  I definitely dropped the ball when I got her and her husband a stupid  knife set for their wedding.  So I handed this off to Danette for her early BDay present this year.  It's more her vibe anyway.

Lonesome Town

I'm currently hanging out with my parents in the middle of nowhere, Colorado.  I grew up in the central valley in California, but my family moved to Colorado when my dad got a job transfer.  I spent eighth grade through senior year of high school here.   

Cleaning out my closet in my old room uncovered some long-lost memories.  I dug up some relics: old sketchbooks, band t-shirts (mostly Blink 182), Delia's catalogs, and a pile of late 90s era platform sneakers, my favorites of which were the the Candie's and the pastel blue Vans.  Looking through the sketchbooks was a great retrospective on my angsty, teenaged self.  

I had a really hard time with the move to Colorado.  I think if you pried any California pre-teen from her life in the sunshine state and dropped her in the middle of the Andy Griffith Show, it would have had a similar effect.  One good thing that came out of the move was my discovery of art as an outlet for my disdain for being stuck in a small town.  During my time here, I felt so trapped.  Even as a teen, I knew that I was meant for bigger and better things.  The norm here is getting married and having kids young.  To me, that kind of life would have been hell.  I wanted to travel, to have a bunch of degrees hanging on the wall, to go out to the coolest places in the world, to shop at the highest end boutiques, to meet educated, worldly people, to learn about and to experience other cultures.  It was definitely an unexpected and satisfying feeling, looking at my long-forgotten drawings, and realizing that from the moment I split from this place, I have been doing exactly what my 14-year old self wanted me to do.  Here are a notable few:

1.)  Dated 2001.  I was 15 when I drew this.  I was so inspired by Degas' ballerinas.  I told myself that one day, I would go to the Louvre and see one of these paintings up close.  DONE- visits to Paris in June of 2007, and March of 2013.  Bonus points for seeing one of his pastel ballerina pieces at the Met in New York City last summer, and a few more on permanent display at the Getty in L.A.

2.)  Dated 2002, so I was 16 when I drew this.  Remember those dreadful studded belts? I think this was drawn after I saw a 311 show for this first time.  It was at the Fillmore in Denver.  I hope that place is still open, the wallpaper randomly made it look like a harem on the inside.  After the show, I told myself that I would be down to see this band as much as I could on the west coast.  I always felt like their music had a distinctly SoCal vibe, which is weird because the band is strictly Omaha Stylee.  Maybe that's why I loved them so much, they reminded me of where I wanted to end up, beyond the gray sky of being stuck in this town.  DONE- I have seen them countless times in various west coast locations, including Santa Barbara, Irvine, Anaheim, L.A., and San Diego.  *I riddled this paragraph with 311 references like a big nerd.

3.)  This one is dated 2000.  I drew this when I was 14, and just found out that a childhood friend of mine from California was moving to Hawaii.  I told myself that one day, I would vacation somewhere tropical, go to a luau, and have drinks with colorful cocktail umbrellas and pineapple stuck in them.  DONE- Cancun with my old work crew in 2009, and Maui with my Steven in August of 2012.  

4.)  Dated 2001.  15 and feeling so alone!  Get me outta here!!  DONE- split when I was 17.

5.)  Also dated 2001.  I met a British guy at a museum in Denver, and this is what he looked like.  Only in the early 2000s was it considered stylish to wear long sleeved shirts under button ups. LOL!  He told me a bit about England, and I told myself that I would go one day.  DONE- visits to London in June of 2007, and recently in March of 2013. 

6.)  Dated 2002.  16 and wanted to move away to find love!  The perfect boy had to be worldly, educated, fashionable, cute, and above all, NOT from a small town.  DONE-  My Steven grew up in L.A., he is a lawyer, and is the cutest boy in the entire world   :)

7.)  Also dated 2002.  There have been many versions of this image over the years. I love Indian culture and always told myself I would visit one day.  This one is TBA.  But I think I will make it there soon, judging by the other drawings' predictions. 

Yeah, I think my 14 year old self would want to high-five me. 

Jewelry: Part I

I titled this "Part I" because the discovery that I love jewelry is actually a new one.  So I predict I will have a lot more to say about this in the future.

For the longest time, I didn't wear any type of jewelry outside of watches (which is a staple item for me), or earrings and facial piercings (back when that was a thing).   I just never got into jewelry.  I preferred to make statements with bags, sunglasses, or shoes.

Then slowly, I started paying attention to rings, necklaces, and higher-end earrings more. I think it may have started with a neat pair of diamond earrings my mom gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago.  Then it graduated to a Tiffany necklace that my BF Steve gave me for a birthday.  Then I started scoping out pieces on  my own.

My artist friend recently had an exhibition of his work at a cool little bar/lounge in West L.A.  All can be found at   http://www.neivz.com/ .  I think his work is quintessentially L.A.- lots of personality, unapologetically eccentric, and inherently cool.  The show was pretty rad:

[50% of my friends in this pic are lawyers.  If you have a problem with your image being used on this blog, send me a Cease & Desist.  :)   Note:  My friend also designed and built the furniture displays.]

[The layering pieces on the bottom leftish are modeled by my lovely friend Regina below.]

[Kinda blurry, but cute, subtle pieces.  Perfectly accented with a wine glass.]

[The missing space is where I picked up the wavy-faced ring.]

[Please excuse my chippy mani.  Thinking of getting this item.  Delicate, barely-there jewelry items are the thing again.  But I am really all about statement pieces.]