Esther Quek

 

Disclaimer, I will sound unusually fan-girlish in this post. But allow me to tell you… I find Esther Quek’s fashion sensibilities inspiring. She embodies something that I’ve always tried to implement in my own sense of fashion. Her sense of somewhat androgynous clothing is powerfully dandy with it’s ties, snappy suits and coats. But that’s not all, her use of color, texture and shape is remarkable. The way she pairs her pieces shows her natural sense for fashion that is much larger than the trend grabbing fashion of so many. This picture of her emulates what I’m talking about. I’m not a purple person, but she creates a rich palette in this outfit, that even I can appreciate, ranging from deep petunia to plumb. The drape of each layer creates a gorgeous silhouette while the various cuts and textures create visual interest. And thus, I was inspired to illustrate it and share it with you. Cheers, Esther, stay stylish!

Drawing at the Art & Ale Walk 2012

Last night I had tons of fun sipping hard cider and drawing at Proper & Prim for Fargo’s first annual Art & Ale Walk. Lots of people came through to try out the hard cider, it was the perfect drink for a fall evening. Nearly everyone who saw my work had something really nice to say about it. It was fun to see people light up as they enjoyed not only my art but the cute clothes and accessories throughout the store. Proper & Prim was a great location to draw as it was well lit, and I was always surrounded with the warm smiles of good company. Many people were surprised when I explained that most of my work is digital fine art. They were able to see how my drawings usually start out as line work in pen or pencil with more or less shading depending on the piece. I explained how  the next step is scanning them into my computer where I add paper and photo textures and apply many layers of color. To me there’s really no limit to the tools that could be used to create art, I’ve done plenty of napkin sketches. But I love the ability to work with many layers, and sometimes I spend hours tweaking colors and rearranging visual effects to achieve the specific look I want digitally. The question that people always ask is wether my pieces are portraits of someone specific. The answer is usually, no they’re not. I spend a lot of time people watching. And, funny as it may sound, I collect features and proportions from the people that I see and keep them in my memory. So, any given drawing might be loosely based on a pose from a photo, with the haircut of someone I saw at the cafe, with the nose of someone who used to babysit me, and the eyes of the stranger who held the door open a few minutes ago. As I said all that out loud, I’m sure someone was envisioning frankenstein, but everyone smiled and nodded politely. My sweet heart of a sister stopped by later in the evening, and brought me something to keep my hands warm. A yummy coffee from, my home away from home, the Red Raven Espresso Parlor. She always knows how to make me smile. My wonderful hubby took some photos so you all can pretend like you were there. Enjoy & thanks for reading!

-Bree

My New Boots

Clement

I Changed My Mind

Cinnabar

shrug it off

Stained