The 4th Annual Two Point Oh! LA Blogger Picnic

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LA's premier fashion, beauty and style blogging group, Two Point Oh! LA (TPOLA), hosted it's 4th Annual Picnic poolside at
Isis Living in Glendale.

Kelsi Smith, founder of TPOLA, really outdid herself this year. There was a burger/taco bar, sundae and dessert stations and some wicked mixed drinks!
[Sorry, yet another reporting fail -- no photos. I don't think you want to see my melted sundae, do you? Really?]
Lulu's, Sole Society, and Chilli Beans all had setups adjacent to the pool.
There was also a special private gifting suite/patio upstairs:

Everyone loved the patio's groovy retro swing chairs! So good for posing!

Jacqueline of TGIF Guide

Laurie of LaurieBstyle

I already discussed the great *totes from Thursday Friday that we were given to hold our collections of goodies.
Here's an summary of what I snagged:

clockwise from 11:00 inside the bag:

*Neutrogena Shine Control Primer
*Clean & Clear Morning Burst cleanser
*Glytone Rejuvenate facial cream
*Stur water enhancer [taking that to work!]
*Capwell necklace
*set of Pati Dubroff  lip balm crayons
*lipsticks and eye powder from Jouer

I will go into greater detail about the items as I use them.

Mostly, I hung out with Marla of Marlita on the Run and Roni:

cute couple alert!

And, of course, I sketched:

What came to mind, as I thought about the event, was the difference in my sketching this year compared to last.

2012 on the iPad, 2013 starts out analog

Kelsi last year on my iPad

This year, I set myself the challenge to improve my fashion sketching and to work out a method for "on the fly" live sketching. I have figured out that I'm most comfortable sketching with a brush marker on paper and then coloring the drawing in Photoshop. Color/print reference I get with photos -- my own or Instagram/Twitter feeds. Hashtags such as #tpola4thpicnic make it super easy to get intel!

this year's Kelsi

I'll be "painting" the rest of my sketches this week.
Keep an eye on my Twitter feed, where I'll post when I upload them to SpyGirl's Society6 page. 

A big THANK YOU to Kelsi, all the staff at TPOLA, and all the generous gifters for a really fun event!

Live Sketching at a Photo Shoot

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Kelly, Gina, Kelsi

I brought a ginormous apple pie, grapes, and my sketchbook.
I came home with about 30 fashion sketches.

The photoshoot for the ASOS Marketplace LA Fashion Council Le Shoppe was a lot of fun.
I will post more about it sometime soon...  [and will link up Le Shoppe when it goes live next week] LINK [link not working until new merch gets added]


Gotta go to the day job and work on some mens boxer prints right now. Sometimes I'm frustrated by the constraints of my economic situation.

#LAFW -- Live Sketching at The Los Angeles Collections Fall 2013

As a member of the LA Blogger Group Two Point Oh LA, I was invited to preview the Fall/Winter 13 collections that the Los Angeles Fashion Council will present today and tomorrow. I brought my sketching supplies and here's what transpired.

I start with my sketch of Kelsi Smith, founder of both groups.
She looked like the goddess Nike in her black frock and trainers.

Kelsi @ Dedicated Follower of Fashion

Cindy was promoting a new fashion social site, 1st Class Fashion.
She was decked out in golden chains:

Sarine was there to present her Sarine Marie collection.
She is a 3rd generation LA garmento! Her pieces are beautifully tailored, a skill she learned from her father.

Sarine @ Sarine Marie

Linh was presenting SOLDAT for the designer Camilla who was busy in her studio getting her garments finished to present on Thursday. Hovey Lee Eco Jewelry was also featured with the line.
Linh has her own line of pouches, Nomisa, that cleverly keep your phone or glasses clean when stored within.

Linh @ Nomisa

Now to the "technical difficulties" portion of the soiree.
My first sketch of the evening:

I started off using a Prisacolor marker with the brush nib. It worked so well for my OSCAR sketches. Not so great for this kind of sketching on this size paper. Really only that above sketch is decent. The others you can hardly tell what's going on:

It's a learning process that I'm doing on the fly!

the marker on left + marker sketch
uni-ball "vision elite" used on the right sketch
drawing paper was preprinted with the LAFC graphics for the events

Today I'm going to sit the show in the "photographers' pit" and sketch.
I will bring a full arsenal of supplies because I'm not sure what will work best!

Quick Draw: LA Fashion Council Popup Shop at the W Westwood

I attended a fun event last night, hosted by Kelsi Smith of The Los Angeles Fashion Council. It was the opening party for a popup shop comprised of local designers, situated off the lounge of the W Hotel in Westwood, 930 Hilgard, 90024.
The shop will be open 12-5pm until Saturday, 1/26/13.

Upon checking in, we were given a list of the participating designers with their twitter handles.
MOST HELPFUL! It was so dark in the room, I could hardly see a thing.

The list and their links:
Wren
Olima
Gypsy Junkies
Odylyne
Rojas
The Battalion Eco Couture
Jenny Dayco
Shallow Fashion
Bryan Hearns
Bijou Van Ness

Speaking of Twitter, if you follow me, you were subjected to these horrible snaps:

as you can see, I was attracted to texture + prints
No surprise there, amiright?

from top right, clockwise:
Bryan Hearns' shaggy lurex clutches
Battalion's super soft fake fur coats -- WANT the leopard one
Rojas' real woven ikat sheath and great B+W ethnic print tops
Wren's ikat print dress

I went to the event DETERMINED to do some sketching.
So, despite the cramped conditions, I pulled out my Moleskine and had at it:

These hats from Bijou Van Ness were so whimsical, I HAD to capture them
(plus, they weren't moving around)

After warming up my hand with the hats, I did some Spy Sketches of faces in the crowd:

Jasmine on left, adorable Marlita on right

another mystery girl, wearing a stunning coat

I'm proud of myself for ignoring my self-consciousness and going ahead and sketching in public.
You would never know from this blog that I'm EXTREMELY shy, especially in crowded party situations.
It felt wonderful doing hand sketching -- the pen to paper, letting the ink flow -- I just don't get that with digital drawing.
Analog -- it feeds my soul!
What do I need to improve? Overcome my shyness and get the names of the people I sketch!
Too many "mystery girls" here!
By the time I started looking for the above two, they had vanished.

I'm linking up with Katy's Fashion Beauty Friend Friday.
This month's theme is New Year, New You.
I promised myself this year to attend more local LA fashion events and to live sketch --> done and done!

See more of this week's responses here.

To learn more about FBFF, click here.