Cool graffiti in Valparaiso, Chile

I went to South America in February and one of the places I visited was Valparaiso, Chile.

It's a coastal town, 1  1/2 hours drive from Santiago. The town is so cool because it's covered in the most awesome graffiti.

There are also loads of individual little boutiques, cafes and bars. The food is excellent and very cheap and the red wine is by far the best in the world!!!

Have a great weekend.

x

Another day, another sketch.

Not the best but I think there's a slight improvement. I'm going to work on this on Adobe Illustrator now and see what magic I can come up with.

I did a fashion figure drawing course at Central St Martin's several years ago, it was really enjoyable and the tutor was very experimental. We were sometimes told to keep drawing without removing the pencil from the paper at all,  he also used to tell us to love every bit of our drawing! 

There are loads of really good evening / short courses at St Martin's, ranging from fashion design to millinery and pattern cutting. Have a look :)

On the way home...

After a lovely weekend in Somerset and Dorset, I saw two inspiring sites on the drive home...

Sorry about the blurred photo, I was moving in a car. Stonehenge is one of my favourite sites, I always enjoy driving past it towards the South West, I know I'm on my way home.

I then saw this very sweet, old bus in Surrey. I adore the old style, you can just imagine what fun it would be to catch this bus somewhere. I'm guessing it's from the 1950's?  Why don't they make them like this anymore? I hate those new bendy buses!

English Country Cottage

I just had to take some snapshots of my parent's beautiful country cottage as there are so many lovely things that I would like to share.

My Mum is extremely creative and also loves to collect unusual bits and bobs, as you can see.

My Mum the artist

I love this painting that my Mum has created, she's entering it into a local exhibition and I hope she gets first prize!

It's a scene of two wealthy woman in their fur coats, staring into the Cartier window, deciding which jewels their suffering husbands will have to buy them this week. 

To the right is a very modest lady with her checked shopping trolley who happens to come across these two lavish women and is probably a little jealous but also a little disgusted by their lavish attire and hair do's.

Keep up the good work Mum!

Catsuit Girl

Chloe jumpsuit girl has a friend, her name is catsuit girl!

My sketching has become rusty of the last few years but I have really enjoyed starting it again and know that I've got a long way to go before I'm really happy with the finished drawing.

 It's weird, it takes me ages to find a model pose from a magazine that really inspires me. I tend to go for a slightly retro look, you know, girl with big fringe and quirky shoes. Vogue and Lula tend to have the best poses for me.

This weather's amazing, hope you are enjoying it too wherever you are :)

 

Sketch of the day, Chloe Jumpsuit.

Dreamy, soft pencil, Vogue April '09, Chloe Jumpsuit.

Reminds me of a 70's inspired summer's day.

Hampton Court Palace

Hampton Court Palace is a great day trip location. You can buy a ticket to view the palace itself or you can just wander around the huge gardens.

As you can see from the photos, there are loads of interesting things to see and it gets even better in the summer with horse and carriage rides, Hampton Court Flower show, and live music and dance in the evenings by lots of top names. I once saw Jouquin Courtes dancing there, it was magical and he is gorgeous :)

There are several cafes and gift shops in the grounds if you fancy a rest and a cuppa.

It's easy to get to, by train it's only 35 minutes from Waterloo. By Car it's 5 minutes off the M3 junction 1.

Lula

Lula Magazine

Issue 8

www.lulamag.com

This is the most beautiful, quirky, magical fashion magazine in the world. It's full of inspiring photo shoots, interviews and articles. I just love it.

Here's a taster of what's inside this gorgeous magazine.

 Magical, cool, beautiful images.