list list list list list

i am in list hyperdrive.
it is now 26 days until we fly out to Hong Kong and i am very excited.
of course about the holiday but also for all the planning to be done and all the lists to be made. i've got a list for everything and most of them are in their 3rd-4th draft. toiletries list. make up list. shoe list (i'm going for 3 weeks and so far i've narrowed it down to eight pairs. no thats a lie. it's actually nine but one is a small pair!) things to buy list. hand luggage list. how to keep ross busy for a 12 hour flight list.
i'm in heaven. sorting and organising and shopping!
one of my favourite ways to prepare for a holiday is the mad dash around boots/superdrug for all the fancy dan holiday luxuries i treat myself to.
my number 1 purchase today? my flight bag...it's mahoosive and light as a feather (without all my crap in it of course) and it's just the right shade of grey that looks awesom with my orla keilly scraf tied to one of the handles to funk it up abit. i'll add some sparkly reptile broaches as well and suddenly...voila.....super chic.

most wanted

oh.me.oh.my
look what i've got my eyes on! a new season brings new stock and these kg mary janes are ticking all the boxes for me. they are similar to my current favourites but these are NEW and i don't have them so that makes them better.
they aren't uncomfortable and they look amaaaazing and are already proving to be very popular with the paying customer.
i love them
they will be mine
i'll probably need them for my holiday........

collage vs photoshop

i completed these illustrations a while ago with a view to getting a publisher to buy the license on them but they never got sent out. they took so long and i got so attached to them that i just put them away in my portfolio and looked at them occasionally.
this is when the great photoshop or not debate hits me. these drawings were first sketched, then traced and duplicated. then coloured with watercolours and inks. this was a long process as to get the right tones, lots of layers of colour was needed. then she was cut out and laid on a piece of (in this case) leopard print paper. The leopard print background is a photocopy of a piece of fabric that i hand painted with inks to achieve the texture and colour variation that i wanted. i find the thing i 'm not keen on for my illustrations is the flatness that photoshop can create. i prefer the realness of a collage......but just think how much simpler these girls would have been if i hadn't been so bloody stubborn!





i still really like them and now i've freed them from the portfolio i might frame them and let them belong in my flat where they can be seen.
or maybe i'll put them away again!

new girl in town

i'm loving drawing girls in their underwear at the moment. i think the minimal clothing works well with the simple style of the drawings. they're quite sexy but not slutty. and i think palest pink and blackest black is the best colour combination i've evr tried. these girls are going to form part of a series which i will photograph properly and post together when they are all done.

this time last year

this time last year i was in new york.
what an amazing 5 days.
we stayed in the waldorf astoria and was astounded by the old glamour. getting dressed up and walking through the lobby to dinner was like a dream.
stumbling upon china town, magically on the day that town was celebrating chinese new year! so many streamers and confetti bombs and pig racing!!! buying cups of icecream with $10 found on the floor! eating icecream on one of the coldest days EVER!
visiting ground zero and feeling haunted by the ghosts of what used to be. reading peoples thoughts and prayers and conspiricy theories left me cold and upset and tired.
but then walking through central park and watching the iceskaters falling over cheered us up.
an absolutely amazing 5 days that i will never forget.

my very unromantic romantic day

hello?
is anyone still reading?
i hope so.
it's been a while since i've written a post or visited my usual blogs but as i'm not especially keen on valentines day i figured it was time to step back. i seem to be the only person in blogland that dislikes it!?!
everywhere i looked was hearts and flowers. and it was driving me a little bit mad.
i'm not anti-valentine because i'm lonely or single or an anti-consumerist (is this a word?) but it's just that my idea of romance is different. any monkey can send a token of love when they're told to... and boy are we told! - restaurants,card shops,bars,the post office,supermarkets....PUKE
i like my romance a little more real. when my hunk brings me tea in bed, or cleans the bathroom when it's probably my turn, or gets up from watching the football and rubs my feet because i've got cramp (this happened 2 mins ago when Liverpool just scored their 2nd goal)
this is our valentines day...
i offered to do the late shift at work so finished at 8pm
get home via supermarket for provisions.
ate hotdogs
drank wine
ate ice-cream
drank beer
watched dirty sanchez
and i loved it.
and i still hate valentines day

i love a quiz - any quiz!

I am a Canna What Flower Are You?

i stumbled across this one at chocolate canary.
try this out - is it you?

mike - barman extrodinaire and shrinking violet!

never one to be outdone - my best friend mike upped the style stakes with this fabulous handmade by himself jacket. i can't remember why he made it but when something looks this good - why ask???

long live london

my trip to london was awesome. the meeting on regent street was excellent if a little spoiled by the bomb scare 2 doors down (no bomb thankfully, someone had cut through a power line apparently and caused an explosion - wouldn't want to be that person!) oxford circus was strung up with illuminated chinese lanterns and the weather was amazing. my old flat was very welcoming and the views still stunning from the balcony...



oh how i wish i still lived here!!!
when i go back i sometimes forget that it's not really my flat anymore! i just wander around like it's my own and slot right back into old habits. helping myself to stuff in the fridge, coming and going as i please and drinking far too many champagne cocktails laced with too much cognac. to make these matters worse mike has invested in a wine chiller which means there is a constant supply of cold champagne and hangovers!
a success indeed
long live london town x

i'm going to london - LONDON!

woo hoo!
the day is finally here. almost. tomorrow i go to london for a meeting with work - well, i say 'work' but we just really get together and talk about shoes and fashion (it's absolute bliss!)
and then i'm not coming back. well not immediately anyway. i've torn up my train ticket for my return journey and i'm winging it. plans are to meet best-of-friend and ex flatmate mike for some drinks in covent garden and then who knows? hopefully i'll get to meet up with loads more other people as well but this decision is so last minute it literally was made 1 minute ago!
heavenly
i think mike and i are then gonna drive back up to newcastle (BOO HISS!) on friday night so he can spend the weekend up here with us.
oh good lord
i'm far too excited and will never sleep tonight now.
added stress? i have to style my new hair tomorrow early doors for the first time AND on a day that i want to make a good impression.
it's going to be a great weekend.

she is finished after all

so i played around with a few ideas for her - maybe a background? possibly some butterflies around her head. but i bottled it.
these are the times that would be alot easier with illustrator!

hope you all like her! she might make an appearance in my etsy shop. i haven't set myself a deadline on getting this up and running yet because i'm not a big fan of deadlines (especially self imposed ones!) but i think as long as something is happening by summer time i'll be happy. plus that gives me loads of lovely sketching time.

to fringe

to fringe or not to fringe - that is the question?

so. i have a fear of hairdressers. a phobia. absolute horror at the thought of getting my haircut. palms that sweat. feet that fidget. and the worst thing? having to stare at yourself being hacked at for an hour or so.
tomorrow i am getting the first and only haircut in 1 year - almost to the day.
i can't put it off any longer
also - i have to go to london for work on thursday (WOO HOOOOOOOO) and i like to look my best for my city, my love.
i currently have very long very thick straightish brown hair (if you're curious i am pictured in a dec post) and i have done since i last tried something radical 8 years ago and ended up looking like a boy - hence....the fear!
so i think i'm gonna try something new.
A FRINGE (god - i think i'm gonna faint with nerves)
but my reasoning is that i've done my homework. i have the same face shape as the delightful Ms Jane Birkin (i only wish i had her handbag!) so why shouldn't i be able to pull off her fringe?
thats the theory.
and if i can look 1 x tenth as good as this?
i won't cry on the way home.......like last year.

i wasn't finished - my pen just kept going!

does she look ill? i can't help but think that the black hair is to black? i know you can't really see her in this picture but thats because i think she still needs work. a background perhaps? maybe i'll stamp print a background on her tomorrow?? i can't bring myself to do anything more to her tonight because i'm scared i'll ruin her. you know if you look at something for too long you can't see it anymore? well i've looked at this bloody illustration for hours now and i'm sick of the sight of her.
tomorrow i'll probably see her differently

new girl in town

this is my latest offering. she started life as just a sketch - something to keep my hands busy. but i like her legs - they're shapely and i think i've got the proportions right - limbs sometimes can look odd!?!
so anyway, i like her legs hence they are inked in. i like her overall - not sure about her face though, maybe she should have been faceless?
too late now!