Something New

This is a sneak peek of something new I may be offering to my clients in the future.  It is my very first "portrait" ~ I say that loosely, as I am still refining.  It is also a sneak peek of her wedding, which I will be posting in the months to come.  This will be a gift to the bride.  She was so precious to work with ~ truly a dream client! and I am most grateful she is allowing me to "practice" on her as I develop my technique (I have another of her in the works). It originally started out that I was going to do a loose sketch of her gown...then I attended a watercolor class on portraits...

When I took my first watercolor portrait class from Janet Rogers a few months ago, I never dreamed how much I would enjoy it.  I painted this bridal portrait, when I returned home, with Janet's encouragement, after showing her some of the sketches I had done of the bride and the gown.  Janet is one of the most amazing and inspiring teachers I have ever had!!  I highly recommend her. I originally signed up for the class because it was florals and portraits, and I was really only interested in the floral portion ...until we got started ~ now I love faces.  I was most afraid to paint the eyes, as there is so much of the personality there, so I started with the eyes looking down on this one, but now I love painting eyes!  My goal is for my next portrait to be a lot looser and livelier.

So, more to come on this later, as well as some exciting classes I have signed up for next year.

Spooky Couture

The dark, whimsical charisma of Tim Burton is captured by photograher, Tim Walker in this quirky photo shoot for last year's October issue of Harper's Bazaar ~ Magical Fashion. "In anticipation of his retrospective at New York's Museum of Modern Art, filmmaker Tim Burton reimagines the season's dark delight." Harper's Bazaar

Tim Walker is my all time favorite fashion photographer. He creates magic, combining the conventional with the adsurd.  His photography is among the most imaginative that I have ever seen.  He has inspired many of my shop's store front windows ~ only dreaming I could create his lavish sense of style.

I thought it would be fun to show the collaboration of the these two brilliant and creative minds again this weekend ~ as every day is probably like Halloween for these artists.

 

~~Have a magical, fashionable Halloween~~

Silhouette Seating Chart

Last year I was asked to create a seating chart for a bride that would incorporate the couples' silhouette and the feathery theme she was using throughout her wedding. The bride did wear feathers in her headpiece, but I saw no parrots flitting around the groom. 

It was one of the most unique weddings I have ever been asked to work on.

I started with the draft above, using the photo the bride sent to me below.

The bride is an artist and was a student at Parson's School of Design at the time we were working on this and had a very strong idea of what she wanted, so I was ecstatic when my sketch was approved! It is so hard working for another artist; trying to imagine what they visualize ~ but this bride was fantastic!

...and voilà ~ here is the final piece.

It was such a fun and lively wedding! As soon as I receive some of her wedding photos, I will do a featured wedding and tell you all about it, post her invitation suite ~ which was one of my all time favorites and show you the large, oversized menu I designed.

Invitation Suites ~ Brier and McDonald

On this first day of Fall, I thought it would be the perfect time to share two invitation suites I created for autumn weddings. Normally, I do not like to do the same, identical design twice but one bride wanted the same flourish and motif I had designed before ~ so I did. She asked that her leaves include more reds ~ so there is a slight variation ...and of course, the words are always different! So, I guess it really is not exactly the same design!

They are both printed in chocolate, on Italian paper, and individually hand-painted.

~~Have a lovely, fall day!~~

Meet Lucy Lambchop

 

Introducing our newest little family member ~ Miss Lucy Lambchop

It is an amazing story of serendipity and how Lucy found her way to us.

We had been considering purchasing two Miniature Pinschers from a breeder who shows her dogs at Westminster Dog Show.  She had two that were not quite show quality, and we didn't care, we just wanted to love them.  We were about to call to let her we would take them, when Gigi's oncologist called to say that she had rescued a Miniature Pinscher and wanted to see if we would like to adopt her - knowing how much we loved Gigi and missed her.  We went to see Lucy (who they were calling Pixie and we had even considered that name for one of the new puppies - another coincidence!) and knew she was ours from the minute we saw her.  It seems that we are meant to rescue these little Min Pins (a two hundred year old breed - a cross between a Dachshund and an Italian greyhound - not a Doberman as some people call them), that often find themselves in shelters. We had rescued Gigi, as well. They are very hyper little dogs, with a very unusual and unique personality that does not suit all.  They are very protective and territorial and are usually a one to two person dog - very curious, playful and comical.

Lucy has made herself very much at home, in the same spot Gigi liked best - on the fluffy sofa, that desperately needs replacing, in our sunroom. She loves to sunbathe with her blanket.  It took her a few days to trust us, but she is now totally Queen Bee of the house.

We feel so fortunate to have her and feel that Gigi had a hand in Lucy becoming ours.  She has helped fill the huge hole that Gigi's passing left in our hearts.  They are so much alike it is really eerie. 

We are head over hills in love with her. 

Looks like another little angel has found us!

Invitation Suites ~ Snipes

I had so much fun creating this invitation suite. 

The bride was using eggplant and mossy greens throughout her wedding and asked me to incorporate these colors into her wedding invitation suite.

It was printed in eggplant on gorgeous Italian paper.

It is difficult to see the true colors of this suite, as I am having some camera issues, but the eggplant ink is truly beautiful. I mixed an ink to address in the same color.

The bride also asked me to illustrate an antique hydrangea for the formal invitation.

After it was printed, I hand-painted each flower.  No two were alike ~ ranging from various shades of purple to dark eggplant.

~Have a lovely week ~

Real Wedding Weekend: Dianne & Peter

This is my last post about this fabulous wedding I had the privilege to be a part of.  Dianne and Pete's photographer, Mike Steelman, so generously shared these gorgeous photos with me, how can I NOT share them all with you ... well there were actually more, but I chose some of my favorites ~ love the one above of the happy bride! Mike really is one of the kindest photographers I have ever worked with. He even took the invitation suite I designed and shot it in various locations for me. I loved them all, as you can see, since I included them in my last three posts!  I especially like these with the misson in the background.

Thank you, Mike!!!

Dianne and Pete chose to have a destination wedding in beautiful Monterey, California. They wanted a small intimate wedding of only 65 of their closest friends and family members and thought this would be the perfect location. Their ceremony was held at this historic Carmel Mission in Carmel. Dianne's cousin was married in the Basilica the year before and Dianne has visited the mission during family trips since she was a little girl.

 

Dianne’s wedding gown was designed by Lazaro. She met him the day she picked up her gown. After taking pictures with the designer, Lazaro drew a sketch of her gown as a special wedding keepsake.

  

 ~so sweet! 

The Knudsens wedding reception was held at Monterey Peninsula Country Club on Pebble Beach. Dianne and Pete knew the picturesque surroundings would create a fairytale setting for their friends and family to enjoy and remember.

 

The couple took eight family members and friends with them on a portion of their honeymoon in Napa Valley. After a few days touring through wine country they took off by themselves to San Fransisco, Big Sur, and back to Carmel.

I have no doubt these two love birds walked off into the sunset...

 

...and will live happily ever after.

~xoxo~

 

invitations and programs ~ a fine line

photography ~ mike steelman