a little place to call my own (art and fashion blog)

Easter weekend is upon us, so I'll keep this post short and sweet. These five designs are just something I came up with lately. To be honest, I'm not sure will I be able to make any of them. My sewing skills are pretty basic, but I did manage to make a few dresses in the past. However, until I buy myself a sewing machine, I probably won't do that much sewing as sewing by hand takes forever. However, one never knows. It is not completely out of the question. I might find time to transfer some of my designs from paper to real life.  It would be lovely to make my fashion illustrations come to life. Fingers crossed. The inspiration for this mini collection was ultra violet. The medium is watercolour and markers on paper. First I applied a layer of watercolour and then I added the finishing touches using a purple and pink markers. If you scroll down, you'll be able to see how it went (and you can see how the painting had looked before I added the finishing touches). My ...

This yellow checkered skirt used to belong to my mother. Obviously, that makes it a vintage item and one to cherish. I had originally considered making an outfit proposal post with my old outfits, but then I realized that I have actually worn this yellow skirt at least three times this March. So, instead of sharing old outfits, I'm going to share new ones. Here are the three ways in which I wore this yellow skirt. If you have a similar item in your closet, let me know how you like to style it. Do you have any checkered items? Do you have any checkered items in yellow? Would you wear a yellow checkered skirt? 1. Wear it with a black leather jacket and biker boots If you want to go easy with the colour, why not opt for black clothing items to go along your yellow skirt. You know what they say, black is always a good idea. Black and yellow colour combos have been popular lately, and I have actually illustrated 3 runaways looks in this colour sheme (you can see them  ...

Today just a quick post, as I'm only going to share my fashion illustration with you. The painting process was fairly simple. First I sketched this girl with a pencil, then I filled it in with watercolours. I added the finishing touches with markers and then I added another layer of watercolour to blend the watercolour and markers. You'll be able to see a part of the painting process, if you choose to scroll down. In addition, I made a tutorial collage explaining this painting in 4 steps, just in case that you would like to copy this design of mine or make your own fashion illustration in a similar style.  I'm not a professional fashion illustrator so I can't teach you how to make professional fashion illustrations, but as a hobby artist I can (and will) share my painting process with you. Why not? As long as I'm on this subject, I'll also say a few words about my motivation for this illustration. I wasn't motivated by anything in particular, just spring in...

Hi guys! Today it's time for my regular 'Inspired by' feature. That means I'm back with another fashion illustration of mine. But as you know, when it comes to this feature, it's not going to be just any kind of fashion illustration. It's going to be a fashion illustration inspired by a fashion blogger. Over the years, I've  illustrated so many fashion bloggers. I love fashion bloggers (big surprise!:)).  I've always maintain that when it comes to regular features on my blog, this is my favourite one. Perhaps because it allows me to join two things I love, fashion bloggers and my art. This time I illustrated a blogger from Not Jess Fashion (you can visit her blog here ). The medium is watercolour on paper. I added some finishing touches with coloured markers. I absolutely love this outfit. Well, I obviously love it since I illustrated it and all. I think it's feminine, beautiful and simply perfect for these transitional days. Great take on the ...

When it comes to shopping our own closets, there are many obvious benefits. However, today I would also like to talk about the surprising benefits of shopping our closets, the ones you perhaps didn't think about.  I wanted to write about this subject for such a long time. Today I'm finally taking the opportunity to do it. Personally, I'm a big proponent of shopping our own closets. Some of you have even noticed that. I do like to re-wear clothing items and I know I'm not the only one. A lot of people are advocating shopping our closets these days. There is so much I feel like I have to say about this subject. I'm sure that I'm not revealing anything revolutionary when I point out that shopping our closets makes sense. As someone who loves and possibly even prefers this type of shopping to any other form of shopping, I feel like I have something to say. So today I will talk about 'shopping our closets' in more detail. Nevertheless, I will try to refrain ...

There is a stark contrast between the black marker fashion illustrations/sketches I'm going to share today and my outfit. The fashion sketches are all about spring and summer, while the outfit is all about winter. The only thing they have in common is that they are both in black. So, I figured I can post them together. I made these sketches last summer and originally I didn't plan to share them on my blog, but now I decided to do so because I've spent quite a few hours drawing and painting yesterday and that made me realize how important sketching is. Free styling things is everything when you'e trying to find your own style. Yesterday I've even used markers again (to work on my new illustrations), so that made me reflect not just on drawing with markers but on the importance of drawing from head. I have even made a little drawing/painting video but I'm not sure am I going to post it or not. Would you like to see it? Painting from memory or imagination is...