Struttin' on Seventh

I was asked to draw the 2012 Fashion Show at FIT. This is a great, fun, gig- always exciting, always impressive- seeing the future stars of Seventh Avenue. The music is loud and pulsing, the models often severe and poker faced- long and lanky and showing off those threads. It happens fast- under 30 minutes and it is over- and everyone is onto the next big thang.

USA shouts me out

USA today is highlighting a few pages from the book The Art of Urban Sketching today on their site. Here is my page, Hong Kong Krazy! So happy to be included with my fine friends from Urban Sketchers!

Another Woman's Life, Gujurat

This was one of the rare times that we had a few minutes to spend outside in the Gujurat state, in a small village that although removed, was no stranger to selling the most amazing embroidered textiles. It was hard to know where to look first, for the people were as beautiful as their crafts.

Lasting Impressions

Lots of people are still asking me about my Indian trip gone wrong. As I reach to remember, I cannot help but think back on the searing sunlight and the way that it played against the rich complexions of those that we glimpsed along the way. The whites of a shirt or the glimmer from a sari sparkled, still sit in my memory. Before I left, I tried to anticipate what it would feel like and grounded a few pages of my sketchbook. These singular people are iconic of the India that I experienced.

Curry in a Hurry

It's been some time since I have posted...and I do not mean to be flip with the title of my new post, but you'll see, it explains where I have been.
The day after Christmas last year, I left, with great anticipation, for a month long trip to India. It was billed as a textile driven trip, with days spent in villages of the north, woodblock classes and up close and personal experiences with textile mills and museums, organized by a self-proclaimed expert researcher, Roshan Houshmand, who was more interested in shopping than the history and art of India. = She could not have been more off-base about her abilities. We spent hours and hours, and hours, and hours, driving from one place to another, brilliantly leaving the day before a kite festival started in one area, only to leave the day before a music festival in another. We would drive all day and arrive in time for dinner, only to have to leave early the next am for another day of fly-by India. What you will see here and in future posts are drive-by glimpses of a country that many say after visiting, changed their life. Well, it did indeed change mine. I arrived home desperately ill and very dismayed to have had my time abused by this organizer. Nonetheless, because I have been trained brilliantly by some of the drawing greats, I was able to cobble together a barely respectable record of my travels. As more time passes, I am remembering the wonderful sights that I will choose to remember. More to come in bits and pieces.

Catchin' The Fever

I was on my way to a meeting downtown by my preferred mode of NY transport- the bus. Yes, dreadfully slow, but always lots to see. Yesterday, passed by the Wall Street rally and literally got stuck on lower Broadway for about 10 minutes, right where it was all happening.

Now feel as if I were there, if only for a moment....

Sweet Italian Memory

There's a lot of talk in US news these days about Perugia and the appeal of American Amanda Knox. I am not writing about the trial, I am not passing judgement one way or the other. It's just that I could not help be reminded of a Sunday that I spent in Perugia a little while back. It was a blustery day, but as intrepid tourists, we forged our way through the city, into the cathedral, in and out of side streets, trying to avoid the downpours and slipping along the cobblestone. As with all of our collective memories with good times, I can remember it all as if it were yesterday. You know that Perugia is famous for its chocolate but foolishly, we did not pause to think that on a Sunday in Italy, the shops would be closed. And then, it happened. We found the only chocolate shop opened in all of Perugia. That's when my drawing stopped....

...and the sampling began.