loving macarons

Macarons
My favorites ever....
and I'll tell you why...

perfect size... small bites, big flavor
colors... incredible, delicate pastel and so desirable
texture...crunchy meringe and soft ganache filling
health... well yes, they are made of almond paste... nutritionnnnn
presentation... are you kidding me? have you seen the delicate fancy and sophisticated little boxes they are packed in?
Good reason to go midtown and visit la maison du chocolat!!... and who knows, may be stopping at bergdorf goodman on the way =)
even better... good reason to go to Paris! The best ones are at La Durée...cravings are cravings =) =) =)


in one word Perfection

prabal gurung fall 2011

Prabal’s pieces speak softness, dreams, and romance... and the color palette, loving it.... in one word

inspiration

that's what I felt looking at  Prabal Gurung fall 2011 collection... so I just let the brush talk for it self
...just a few strokes, just for the fun of it, something quick, strong and inspiring.

For Valentine's

February 14th, meaning:  Valentines!! And believe it or not my first year really celebrating it...Well...I am not getting flowers , I am not getting a box of chocolates and I am definitely not cooking gourmet dinner with heart shape raviolis and fondue&fruits for dessert...

NY style celebration, ordering in with a good bottle of wine... and my beautiful bf will have to be happy to have a mini homemade lemon tart for Valentines.

Cooking hasn't been one of my talents... but I decided to do an illustration for today and this is what I got.

Hope you like it!

PS I posted it big format in case you want to send it and wish your special someone Happy Valentine's!

So, please do so...!

Fashion Week

The whole city getting prepared for it, officially starting today at 9am

Yesterday I was so impressed while reading about the millions generated each year by the 232,000 attendees at Fashion Weeks, for more than $466 million in direct visitor spending and contributing to $1.6 billion in annual tax revenue to the City’s fashion industry, according to Baiganchoka's blog.

OMG...really?!

And of course I wanted to do something for the big event, so I did this illustration of Natasha Poly, Lara Stone, Abbey Lee and Freja Beha Erichsen, they are 4 of the top favorite models from last fashion week.

I did it a little bit in a rush to have it ready for today and wasn't sure how it would turned out... and honestly I really liked it!

Hope you too!

MakeUp Tuesday

Well yes, this is pretty much how we ladies look like before going out looking gorgeous, I shouldn't include my self in the group... I almost never put on any make up... I am sooooo lazy for it!!

Lily Cole was so fun to draw, she has such a "poupé rousse" face. There's something about her that is so eye catching. The illustration comes from "The Glamour Issue" of British Vogue December 2007. Glamorous!

Vogue UK, December 2007

Photo: Ben Dunbar Brunton

Model: Lily Cole

Source and photo credit www.thesugardiaries.com

Vodianova and Texeira for Forum Spring 2011

How has been your week!

Mine totally white... we had 3 days of ongoing snow in NY. The city looked amazing, and I say looked because right now it is starting to melt and is all wet and dirty, but Wednesday night while walking on the street on my way home after dinner I felt like in a fairy tail.

Any way, going away from the snow and thinking of spring, I loved Brazilian label Forum Spring 2011 Campaign with Natalia Vodianova and Marlon Texeira by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott... how incredible are the splashes of paint in the pics!!!

Proenza Schouler Spring Summer 2011

The illustration is one of Proenza Schouler Spring Summer 2011 ad campaign. Models Melissa Tammerijn & Julia Nobis by Willy Vanderperre.

The suggestion to see the campaing came from the Igor+Andre, one of my favorites illustrators' Blog.

And when I saw it I just felt the urge to take the brushes and start.

I love the simplicity of it and yet all the content and meaning in each of the pictures. Masculine and feminine melting seamless, delicate seduction...the ethereal soft feeling.

I used many different media, I think there is a touch of everything I have in it and really like how it turned out!

Ruben Toledo & Nordstrom

Ruben Toledo is one of my favorite illustrators... he has a very interesting and attracting imagination, his characters always have a very particular ease, fun yet dramatic strong look.

And I just found out that now he presents a limited edition book with the illustrated story of 10 years of collaboration with Nordstrom, 

Ruben Toledo's Fashion Almanac Book.

I am ABSOLUTELY buing it!! Can't wait to discover its pages... and while looking for it, I looked at this wonderfull video where we see a life drawing and painting session with Coco Rocha for Nordstrum... iyou should all check it out!


And here is also the link to Nordstrum if you are interested in biuying the book you can access Nordstrum page

Et voilà...


This illustration was planned to be posted a few weeks ago to give you a clue where was I spending my holidays...
Any clue?Guess?


City of lights, love and glamour!!

I am SO SORRY!!

I do have a good reason to be so absent the last weeks!!

Excited going on vacation, I packed some pencils, markers and inks  to paint some nice illustrations for you guys and my new-not-new-camera to also post some pictures...

Well guess what? I got stocked in JFK due to the blizzard the night before... the airport was chaos, flights canceled, air plains broken, tired staff, angry and deseparate customers...some people had been waiting for 72 hours!, sleeping on the floor or wherever they could (me included, couldn't help but falling sleep =))

Any way, after 16 hours of wait and another 7.5 of flight, when I finally landed the pilot announced that our baggage couldn't be loaded for technical reasons (what!!) WellI didn't get my bag until the last day... and on top of using the same outfit over and over I had no paper no pencils no images to work with... 

yes, I had my camera to at least post some pics, but guess where the battery charger was? In the bag!!

It was on the overall a very nice experience, I felt so light living on nothing but what I was wearing...

So back to NY with no new images to post and share with you,  yesterday I finally had time to finish a cute illustration and this morning I realised the scanner didn't send the file to my computer.... =(

So I decided to post an illustration I did last year around this time, it was one of my first ones and I like the way the coat's texture is almost tangible, so soft against the brightness of the jewelry...  and tomorrow the new illustration, promised!

Xo