The lady with birds in her hair

I had to work on this sketch bit by bit over the course of a month or so as I was so busy working 6 or 7 day weeks. Its still not quite done. Its A3 in size, and I kind of made it up as I went along. I call her simply 'bird lady'

I am thinking about inking it and painting it, but less messy and inky than my usual portraits. I might also try to colour it digitally as well as see which one I like most. Basically this is all just one big experiment.

(oh and I have some more pictures still on the go at the moment. I keep jumping from one to another for some variation)

Dita Von Teese

Today is the birthday of Dita Von Teese, one of my favourite celebrities and one of my ultimate fashion icons.
This image is a painting I was meant to give her when I met her at a London book signing December last year, but I became so star struck I totally forgot to hand it to her. I hope I have another chance. I haven't shared it until now. I plan to paint her even more in the future. She is such an inspiration to me.

WIP

I am working on an image, inspired by the current fashion of 'Aviator jackets'. I bought a gorgeous leather one myself a week ago. It has this lovely fake fur collar and its so comfy! I have this image in mind of what I want the final image to look like, inspired by some poster art of the World war 2 era.

I haven't had much time to draw recently, I've been working a lot in various places. I also damaged my back during a gym session which makes most simple tasks very painful. I am still recovering from that.

I am finding the odd day where I have some time to draw, though there are many ideas trapped inside my head at the moment that I can't seem to find the time to get out! no rest for the wicked!

Inspiring Designers/ Artists

This post is not about my own work but the work of some very inspiring and talented ladies I know.

A few weeks ago I had the absolute pleasure of being able to (twice) witness the collaboration between my ex-housemate, friend and photographer Anna Swiczeniuk, aka: Aiko273 and the designer and super multitalented front-woman of the band Angelspit Amelia Arsenic aka: destroyx

These two are a huge inspiration to me and not to mention, two of the nicest and most creative people I have ever met.
This particular shoot was for Amelia's new fashion range 'A is for arsenic'

I was so delighted to be able to watch behind the scenes as the still life product shots and separate model photo-shoots were carefully set up and designed by both Anna and Amelia. The models as well were the gorgeous Nina Kate of Jane Doe Latex and her husband Stitch_D of the band The Defiled. Hair styling was by Ceri of Snarl Hair.

So go here and CHECK IT OUT!

A IS FOR ARSENIC

I even got a mention as an assistant which was far too kind of Amelia as I merely provided some fishing wire, helped hang some props up and looked on amazed as the shoots took place. lol

Also, here are some links to Amelia's other sites:

Blog:'Your daily dose of destruction'
Make-up range: http://www.miss-x.net/
Angelspit band merchandise: BlackPillRedPill
Etsy for Miss X jewelry: Miss X laboratories

(told you she was multi talented!)

Anna's portfolio is linked above and here: http://aiko273.co.uk/

A big thank you to them all for letting me help out.

Going Gaga

For the last few weeks I have been working on some images for gagadaily.com, which hopefully will be used in a section of their website as part of the layout. These images are unfinished starting points, as the brief was also to give them abstract backgrounds with various paint splats and marks too.

I ended up painting loads of images, some of which weren't chosen but I still quite like. The images here, when finished will definitely be used.

I still need to get the others sorted!

Lady Gaga/ gagadaily.com

'The way she moves, the way she walks....'

I am so delighted and excited! or should I say... 'So happy I could die?' ;)

I was contacted by the website owner and designer of www.gagadaily.com a very well respected and trusted Lady Gaga website which has thousands of visitors everyday, (including Lady Gaga herself at least once a week)
and I have been asked to produce some drawings/ paintings that will be used for the layout of the website.

Can't wait to get started on this! I hope it all goes well. fingers crossed!

Burlesque/ Pin up inspired

sometimes the paints/inks just do the talking, more than my brain itself.....