 So you're planning a birthday party and want to put a unique twist on it. Or a wedding and want to give your bridesmaids and bridal party a special and memorable gift. How about a watercolor portrait of your guests, just like this one, painted at your event, on the spot? This is a portrait I painted of Melinda just last Friday at my good friends Jones Coffee Roasters coffee shop in Pasadena. Melinda saw my Instagram announcement last week that I would be at the coffee shop to paint live watercolor portraits, and she came to meet me and have her portrait painted! This gorgeous magenta hair looked amazing on her! I painted her portrait live, on the spot, and she got to take it home with her :-)  She was so happy with her portrait, she framed it right away and posted a picture of it on Instagram. The photo below is courtesy of @mind.ale.12  I loved seeing her reaction when I showed her the portrait: she was amazed! She loved the fact that the portrait resembled her and that it also showcased her beauty. She told me she found it empowering to see herself through my artist eyes, to see what I see, to focus on the beauty in her instead of that critical voice we all have in the back of our mind. This really made my day, it was so special to see the difference my art makes in someone's life and the kind of positive mind shift it brings! Do you dream of your guests feeling as special as Melinda did? I would love to help you create a memorable experience for them, so send me a quick note and we can begin to transform this dream into reality. Your day will be remembered with so much joy, the memory of it imprinted and recalled every time they see their portrait. xo Cristina  Thanks again for your continued support, Jones!  
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So inspired by the new Chanel ad campaign featuring Pharrell Williams and Kristen Stewart, among others, that I just had to paint a few fashion portraits. Can you guess what word they're saying together? ;-) C-H-A-N-E-L Music credit: Hypnothis by Kevin MacLeod at Incompetech. Licenses under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. Thanks, Kevin!  'Grateful for all of the above' Pharrell Williams       So what happens when you discover that your driver’s license has been expired for more than 6 months?? (GASP!) Well, first you feel incredibly grateful and thankful that no cop has pulled you over during this whole time lol. Second, you rush to the DMV that very same day and wait in a 3-hour line wrapped around the building, on a Friday, their busiest day of the week, on a beautiful and sunny a 90-degree summer day. And you simultaneously roast and melt in the sun while you wait. And you’re grateful. And you make the most of it. Like you do your live sketching for Week 12 of your 52 Live Fashion Stories from both unsuspecting subjects and willing ones while you wait in line. ;-) Cuz art sometime happens in the most unexpected of places ... even at the DMV!  The lady waiting in front of me was wearing a cute pink cutout shirt with her lacy peek-a-boo undergarment straps showing, reminding me of Madalynne lingerie. I just had to sketch her, as she unknowingly continued talking on the phone.  And then I turned around to the lady behind me, Louise, who kindly agreed to pose for a quick portrait sketch. I did miss my watercolors, and I did have a small travel set with me that I bring everywhere, but there was no way I could hold my watercolors set, my water container and my small sketchbook and paint while standing in line! In the sun!! So pencil sketching it was. I was so happy to be doing something I love, not to mention something productive, while waiting in line for so long. And before I knew it, Louise and I started chatting, and I found out all sorts of interesting things about her, like the fact that she’s a quilter and she once quilted her own portrait on a modern quilt of her own design! Go figure, another artist! I was happy to get to know the story behind yet another one of my portrait models!  All's well that ends well: after melting in the sun, I managed to make it inside the DMV office long before closing time, and I am now the proud owner of a brand new (unexpired) driver's license ;-)
 Last week, for Week 11 of 52 Live Fashion Stories I tried something new: live painting from models posing in real time on Draw This on YouTube. A very interesting experience. I went through a series of 1-minute poses and focused on the body pose energy as I imagined it in a fashion pose on the runway.  One minute is so fast, ha! This was faster than even the Mimi G fashion show ;-)  And I kept painting, and painting, and painting ... I might just have to incorporate some of these fast and loose sketches into my business cards too :-)   You guys, I'm so excited: I just found out I was picked for the Top 100 Fashion Illustration Blogs on the web by Feedspot. Yaaay!! I received a very kind email from Anuj Agarwal, the founder of Feedspot, saying 'I personally give you a high-five and want to thank you for your contribution to this world. This is the most comprehensive list of Top 100 Fashion Illustration Blogs on the internet and I’m honored to have you as part of this!' I mean, to be in the same company as Paperfashion and Travel Write Draw, two of my all time favorite and inspiring fashion illustration blogs, not to mention 99 other amazing illustrators? Yes, please. Super psyched to receive such an honor, what a happy surprise! Check it out here, I'm number 68. And you can see it on Facebook too right here. Thank you so much, Feedspot, I appreciate the acknowledgment and I support! And thank you, Anuj, for your kind words, this means so much to me. I'm on cloud 9 right now ... or is it cloud 68? :-)    I had so much fun today painting fashion portraits of my friend Sandra (above) and her friend Lisa (below) for week 10 of my 52 Live Fashion Stories. Sandra and I used to work together, and she is a fellow architect. And, you guessed it, so is Lisa. How many architects does it take to paint a fashion illustration? ;-)  Lisa, left, and Sandra, right, with their fashion illustrations.  Fab dresses, ladies, you both looked beautiful! Thanks for being my models! :-)  Don't miss out, follow me on Instagram and Instagram Stories to be the first to know about my live painting events! Want my live fashion illustrations at an event of your own? Send me a message, and I'd be happy to work with you for fashion events, store and hotel openings, birthdays, weddings, and any other personal or corporate events. xo Cristina   On Week 9 of my 52 Live Fashion Stories I ran into my friend Quincy at Jones Coffee, he dropped by to see me paint. That was a nice surprise, as I always welcome a friendly face when I’m out and about painting. And the bonus: I got to paint another guy's portrait, which doesn’t happen every day.  In fact, it happened twice in one day: I also got to paint Owen’s portrait, who came with his girlfriend Emily to Jones just to get their portrait painted. As they move away to different colleges soon, I was so happy to help them preserve one of the many memories they’ll be making together this summer.   I also finally got to paint the two lovely ladies working at Jones, Emily and Celeste.  Emily with her portrait.   So nice to meet you all, thanks for being such pro models :-)   The July/August 2017 issue of the Sew Sew Def magazine just dropped today, woohoo! Check it out, and of course my two illustrations for the fun sewing patterns that come with this issue: The Reese dress with fun cross-ties, and The Wooster men’s awesome dropped-crotch, colorblocked shorts.  If you don’t sew yourself, then get Sew Sew Def for those friends and family members who do, they’re gonna love it!  My collaboration with Mimi G Style and Norris Danta Ford continues, and it’s sooooo much fun! Tune in on August 1st to see the next set of illustrations.
xo Cristina |
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I'm Cristina Tudor, a Beverly Hills fashion illustrator. I paint live illustrations at fashion, retail, entertainment, bridal and lifestyle events for clients such as David Yurman x Galia Lahav, Badgley Mischka, Bloomingdale's, Warner Bros. Studios, Diptyque Paris, Ted Baker London, Eric Buterbaugh x Beverly Hills EB Florals, and Survey Monkey, among others. FOLLOW CRISTINA:
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