Wrapping up week four of my '52 Live Fashion Stories’ project with Linda's portrait. I met Linda at Jones Coffee in Pasadena, and she immediately caught my eye with her stylish outfit and glamorous black cat eye sunnies.  Her high-waisted navy pants and blue and white striped shirt were the perfect classic pairing.

It turns out her entire outfit was vintage, including the awesome picnic basket purse and chic scarf tied to it. But you couldn't tell just from looking at it: her vibe was so polished, modern and fresh.  

On top of it, not only do we both live in South Pasadena and are creatives, but we are also huge fans of Gwen Stefani ... which practically makes us twins ;-)

Thanks for being my muse today, Linda!  You inspired me, and it was such a pleasure to meet you and to find out how many things we have in common!  Hope to see you again at Jones.

Last Monday I got to celebrate Mother's Day with my mom, a day late since my mom had to work on Sunday.  I made a picnic for her with healthy food (not everything I made was a great hit, but I'm not exactly a great cook ;-) and off I went to Ventura from LA.  We had a sunny girls' day at the beach together, and we had soooo much fun! 

And of course I brought my watercolors with me and had fun painting mom's portrait for the third week of my '52 Live Fashion Stories' project - to find out more about this, check out my blog post here.

My mom and I, in our natural habitat: the beach!  I've been going to the beach with my mom since I was 2 years old, and our tradition is going strong!

Our fun beach picnic, complete with pink flamingo cups and straws for our hibiscus tea!  Sunny but cold with a strong breeze, hence the parkas as an accessory to our flipflops ;-)) And yes, we're twinsing, my jacket is a gift from mom to match hers <3 #GirlyGirls

Definitely way cold for this time of year, even for Ventura!  But we didn't let that stop us from having a blast with our pink flamingos and from enjoying the beach and the sun.  And even though we had the beach all to ourselves, we got photobombed by this little cutie!

Cheers, mom!  Happy Mother's Day! <3

Mom and her portrait.

Not a bad place to paint!  Happy as a clam! :-))

Love my beach office: I may have to fight the wind some days, but it comes with paperweights ;-)

And the unavoidable ... at least it matches my beach towel!

Posing for mom.  I like how even though my teeth were chattering in the strong breeze and I was wearing a down puffer jacket, I still had on my summer sun hat and happy scarf :-) Gotta bring that beachy feeling at all costs ...

Just another Monday at the office ...

My collaboration with the talented Mimi Goodwin @mimigstyle and Norris Danta Ford @norrisdantaford continues: I created artwork for the first issue of Mimi and Norris' fashion and sewing digital magazine Sew Sew Def, to keep it consistent with the illustrations I originally painted for the second issue and with future issues.  Check out my blog post about our first collaboration here.

This is The Saldana dress pattern, which comes with variations for a t-shirt and a maxi dress, modeled by Mimi.  I love how this dress mixes two different prints, florals and an animal print, and how the patternblocking creates this visual elongating line down the center!  Brilliant!

Norris is modeling The Westbrook tshirt pattern, colorblocked in two fun colors and grey sleeves.  So many options from just one t-shirt pattern! I love the flexibility.

I had so much fun in my studio painting the fab dress and t-shirt!  Follow me on Instagram @ct_sketches for more info, behind-the-scenes and videos.

I am fascinated by clothes and fashion. The choices we make each morning when putting on an outfit to walk out the door reflect who we are, our personality, our mood, even our hope for the day ahead of us.

That first day at a new job when you want to put your best foot forward so you wear your most professional and capable outfit, the anticipation of a date and your hopes and dreams while you choose what to wear, getting ready for your big day and picking the perfect wedding dress as a reflection of who you are, and even the day-to-day clothes we wear when we think we're just gonna 'throw something on' to run an errand. From big life moments to daily routines, what we wear every day tells the story of how we feel about ourselves and how we see the world.

I love telling these stories with my illustrations! And this month I am kicking off a new project to help me do just that: '52 Live Fashion Stories'.

For the next year I will be illustrating one live fashion event each and every week. Some will be formal fashion events, and some will pretty casual, like sketching at the beach or in a coffee shop. And each week I want to capture real, in-the-moment experiences and emotions of the people I paint, their fashion choices and self-expression, their unique stories.

For the past five years, I have been sketching and painting fashion illustrations and portraits inspired mostly by two-dimensional images. I experimented with illustrating live a few times recently, and I found it to be so exciting! It gave me those stomach butterflies that I just know I have to follow. It's exhilarating!

It's also pretty unnerving. At this point, I’m most comfortable painting from still images, so it's scary to me to open up the imperfect side of my work and to take risks by moving into uncharted territory. I am uncertain. I am unsure. What if I suck? What if I fall flat on my face? What if I never become as good as I hope to be?

But then I think of what I heard Cheryl Strayed say on The Tim Ferris Show: 'Today I am surrendering to uncertainty'. And so I choose to surrender. I choose to let go of self-judgment and take the plunge into a new adventure, despite fear, despite uncertainty. To follow a new growth path despite not knowing where it leads. I choose to value my intentions more than the outcome. To just show up and do. To put paint to paper and simply enjoy the process.

Which, incidentally, also frees me up to have more fun along the way :-) And that's is exactly what happened today for my first live illustration week to kick off my exciting little project. My friend Natalie and I spent some time at one of the coolest gems in Pasadena, Jones Coffee Shop. We had a great time catching up, I did some warm-up painting, and then I finally mustered up the courage to ask a perfect stranger with a fun and colorful coat if I can sketch her portrait.

As it turned out, the person I asked was none other than Mireya, one of the coffee shop owners, who is a big supporter of the arts, and who gave me a very warm welcome to Jones. She wore her colorful coat today, on an unseasonably cold and rainy LA day, to stand out in a crowd so her husband could find her easily.

I feel like my first week of the project was a success: I showed up. And it was so fun to get to know Mireya and the coffee shop! All simply because I took that first step to surrender.

I woke up today early and so excited and couldn't wait to jump out of bed! Not your typical Monday morning story lol.  But that's because my first collaboration with the amazing Mimi Goodwin of @mimigstyle came out today!! Yay!

Mimi is someone I've been admiring so much for years, she is so talented and hard-working, and she has built an incredible brand and community from her passion for sewing and fashion.  I have been sewing for as long as I can remember, which how I first came across Mimi's work a few years ago, and her creativity has been inspiring me ever since!  And now we get to collaborate, which is even more amazing!!

Mimi and Norris Danta Ford, a sharp fashion stylist who believes dope men sew, have recently created Sew Sew Def, a brand new fashion and sewing magazine.  And I had the pleasure of painting two fashion illustrations for  Sew Sew Def: The Riri glam and chic swimsuit, and The Beckham hip swim trunks.  Two very cool swimsuits!  Wow, it already feels like summer around here!

This is only the second issue of this groundbreaking monthly magazine, and it's already making a strong mark.  Mimi and Norris' goal is to feature a variety of cultural and creative perspectives, for both men and women, and to promote sewing and creativity through fashion. At more than 100 pages long, it's jam packed with amazing fashion trends, sewing articles and tips, interviews, and two sewing patterns in each issue, one for men and one for women.  It's fantastic! There's nothing quite like this magazine out there.  And to be part of it is just mind blowing!!

Thank you, Mimi and Norris, you guys rock! 
xoxo
Cristina

Mimi modeling The Riri! So glamorous!

What about a peony mini to go with The Riri? ;-)  Playing around in the studio is half the fun.

Norris modeling The Beckham - I love how the two swimsuits complement each other with these beachy blues!