Ode to Old Shoes

CREATED/ PURCHASED/

These were last seen on Bella's Shoe Shine, 12/11/13.
I linked up from an Instagram post, as an experiment.

After I took the shot, I retired them to the trash.
I was thinking I'd sketch them one more time, but really it was time they were gone.

Let's take a moment to follow them back in time through sketches:

2012

2010

2008

Now, a haiku!
 
RIP, cow slides
2000, Sacramento
thirteen years and gone

I perused all three albums from the 2000 roadtrip to see if I had any shots of shoes. Nada.

Here I am with my sister, my niece, my mom, and the van that summer at my mom's house.
I MAY be wearing the slides, can't tell.

Foot Fetish Friday: Complementary Color Edition

LINKS/ PURCHASED/

The 52 Pick-me-up prompt this week is Complementary Colors.
I woke up this morning with visions of a color wheel of footwear... but I'll spare you [and myself].
Instead, let's get right to this:

Christmas feet!
Disclosure: the green toes are courtesy of Photoshop.

How about a color wheel of my feet in the Chinese sandals?
Ach. Don't get me started!
I've already created a color wheel of paint tube sketches.

Sporting complimentary colors on your nails? Add to the link-up! 
It's not just for your closet... and it doesn't have to be from this week.

Foot Fetish Friday: Fluevog Ad

I found this while looking for something else (I ALWAYS find something interesting when I look for something else).
It was in a box of old magazine swipe*. I'd say it's from Details from the late 80s.

you can click on this to see it even bigger!

*Designer technical term for inspirational things torn out of magazines. From the olden days before Pinterest.

I'm sure you Fluevog experts can pinpoint the exact collection and date.
Please share your arcane knowledge in the comments!

Foot Fetish Friday -- Chinese Sandals Part 2

CREATED/

Yangtze Plastic Sandals
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2004
Cat St.
Hong Kong China
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I stocked up on more of these on my 2nd trip to HK.
Black, green, red, purple.
Black are wearing out
Need another trip to HK!

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Two weeks ago, I showed you my studio sandals. When I returned to Hong Kong in 2004, I grabbed all the black pairs and an assortment of the other colors from a vendor on Cat Street.

purple: 2004, 1992

I really wish I could find them in the states.

Foot Fetish Friday -- Flashback Edition

CREATED/ LINKS/

Are you ready to go old school? Old school as in high school??
I recently found an old sketchbook, perhaps from sophomore year.
I found these two relics of my shoe past.

Kalsø Earth Shoes

Clarks Treks

Foot Fetish Friday: Krizia Shoes

CREATED/

Seeing the film "Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's" brought to mind my own Bergdorf's memories. This was a shoe that I obtained in the late? (maybe the mid) 80s. I drew it from memory on my iPad and concentrated on the golden scrolled piping detail on the vamp. Long gone, I wore them to shreds. Designed by Krizia, I'm sure they were super expensive. Lucky for me, I had a secret source. Richard dressed the Bergdorf windows then, and damaged goods couldn't go back on the selling floor. He gave these to Patucci, they were too small, so I got them.
I have a Krizia ad from W with the shoes pictured in it. If I ever find it, I'll add it to this post. Same for a photo of me in them. Smart phones weren't yet invented and we didn't take pictures of our feet that much (or at least I didn't).

Foot Fetish Friday: Sanita Clog

4.21.10 while waiting @ Harbor General Hospital

Sanita Patent Mary Jane Clog
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2010
Lord John's Bootery
NYC
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Emergency purchase because all I took to NY was a pair of rubber boots that gave me horrible blisters. Store right around the corner from hotel.

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The strap on the right shoe broke while I was at work. Sad day. I MacGyvered it with a ribbon. I'm hoping a good shoe repair guy can rehab them.

In better days:

with some Crazy Cat Lady socks

Now:

This year two pairs of favorite footwear have broken. I am not pleased with this trend.

Foot Fetish Friday: Norma Kamali Louis Heel Oxford

4.20.10
Norma Kamali
"Spanish"
Louis Heel Oxford
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Four Quarters
Pasadena
1985?
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I feel so pretty when I wear these 

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These are still in good shape. I've been diligent about replacing the heel caps when the rubber wears down.

Foot Fetish Friday: Converse Suede Sneaker

4.20.10
Converse Suede Sneaker
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when?
late 90s?
where?
San Pedro??
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A friend, John Borack, is doing a charity for the Boys + Girls Club of Stanton. He calls it Bucks for Chucks. It was actually this charity that got me drawing my shoes.

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first sneaker drawing + post
[link for charity is HERE -- scroll down to the bottom of the page]

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I wear these every Friday for Qi Gong class. Lately I've been wearing them to work and around town. They are padded and the most comfortable sneakers that I own (not that I own that many pairs). I wish Converse would reissue them. They're Jack Purcell style.

Part of my day involves jurying/editing student designs for the OTIS 2013 Scholarship Benefit Fashion Show to be held May 4th. This is going on today in the big room at The Mart downtown. (I know it has some other name, but it'll always be "The Mart" to me. #so_old). Because I'm too "thrifty" [read cheap] to shell out $12+ to park there, I'll need to have some good walking shoes to get from my favorite $3 lot at Pico + 12th. Can I concoct an outfit that'll run the gamut from exercising to a gallery meeting to a fashionable afternoon event, plus Syd Straw's gig at McCabes as a nightcap? Follow my Instagram feed for updates, now conveniently located in the sidebar.

...Went on the Converse site and found Purcells in leather -- kinda creepy -- and this canvas style with some padding that can be customized -- hmmmmmm, got me cogitating now, Converse... AND THEN I DID THIS: I designed this at Converse.com. Gotta go try these on at retail before I order, to see if they're as comfortable as they look!

Foot Fetish Friday: Fluevog

4.19.10
Fluevog Chunky Retro Sandal
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1990ish
Sonnie's  So Pasadena
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These are so over the top crazy.
Designed in the 90s
Look like the 70s
Comfortable too.
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Time for another shoe sketch! Friday crept up on me like a stealthy cat.

I love these sandals. They have been sitting on the speakers in my hallway, waiting to get repaired. They have been there a REALLY LONG TIME! They have a minor problem - the rubber soles have come partly unglued, so they flap around (trip and fall waiting to happen). I even got some strong shoe glue from a student (two years ago?) who was also taking a shoe design class. Not doing so well on the DIY shoe repair, SpyGirl.

styled with my CMYK Happy Socks (this style no longer available)

Foot Fetish Friday: Witch Shoes

4.18.10
"Witch" shoes
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1979 (?)  Roxy's (?), Thayer St, Providence, RI
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I wore these shoes A LOT in the 80s
In one of my "pound the pavement" trips to NYC I lost one of the heel taps. I wore that heel down 1/2". A great shoe repair guy sawed off the other side to match. Now 1" [height] wide base kitten heels.
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They're really beat up, but oh so comfortable

Yesssss, my pretty...
I still have my 80s Witch shoes (cue scary Margaret Hamilton cackle).

I did indeed get them at Roxy Deluxe.
I have since found out that the family moved the business from Providence to North Hollywood and now they rent costumes for film and television. It's a small world, my friends.

Foot Fetish: Cow Print Slides

4.18.10
cow print slides
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Summer 2000 Sacramento @ Macy's on sale while waiting for timing belt replace on van
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These are my around the house shoes The fur has almost entirely worn off and rubber soles are cracked

I've sketched these shoes a bunch of times. I'm part of a sketching group started by Karen Winters (who was inspired by Danny Gregory) called EveryDay Matters. The group has a weekly challenge and the first on the archive list is "Draw a shoe" I always return to this pair, maybe because they have so much character.

here is a more recent iteration, done with the Brushes app on the iPad

They are beyond worn out at this point, so far gone that I've stopped wearing them, even as house slippers. Maybe they want to be sketched one more time before I toss them.

They also have sentimental value. I bought them on the road trip I took before I moved in with Severo. We drove up to Davis for a Cockeyed Ghost gig, then he returned south and I headed East. That was the I-80 trip, July 2000. I saw lots and lots of cornfields.

When Blogs Collide

I have a confession to make. Maybe you already know.

I write FIVE SIX blogs.
Not ALL THE TIME. Heavens, no.

"Why can't you combine them all into one?" you ask.
I don't know. Somehow, I need the separation. There are times, however, when my worlds collide. This morning (VERY EARLY this morning) I got to thinking about the shoe sketchbook that I started three years ago. I dutifully posted the sketches over on my sketch blog:

this is the second to last one as of today

Then, life interrupted my shoe sketching flow. (Hello cancer). OK, THAT'S been conquered.
Onward.

There's a very dusty pair of rubber boots out on the back porch that I wanted to include in the book before they go in the rubbish. They recently resurfaced during a clean up session. Now that I'm sketching here, I'm going to repost the "In My Shoes" sketchbook and expand the entries with extra stuff.
"Foot Fetish" will be the series' title.
If you're seriously impatient, you can preview the entries over on the sketch blog. Then come back here.
Tomorrow, I'll start with the first page.