Golden

Don't you just love this golden season?
It's so magical with all of its lights, music and wonder.
I like to turn the lights down in the house after dark
and marvel at the beauty of the trees glowing
and casting sparkles and shadows all around.
And the golden memories we have
of the holidays from years past and time
that was spent with cherished friends and family
seem to linger and sparkle in our minds forever.

I hope that you're having some very sparkly moments
this holiday season.
I decorated the house early this year
before leaving for out of town for Thanksgiving
and it's really made for
a more relaxed Christmas season.
I may adopt that practice forever!

Speaking of golden,
my fabulous clients are
are golden in my mind and the list
of these "golden ones" is growing all of the time!
They bring me a constant stream of
fun projects and give me the opportunity
to design and create for them ...
what could be more golden than that?

One of the members in this chic group of "goldens"
is Jennifer of Bella Clinique
and I'll share with you
the new illustration that was
recently created for their Christmas card in a moment.

You may remember the first illustration (below)
that was commissioned by Bella Clinique.


It was the first illustration that the logo girl
I designed for them appeared in
(she's named "Bella" and is fashioned after the owner).
I recently posted
where that illustration is now being used ...
as a mural in the spa ...

In the first illustration, above, Bella is carrying
her favorite LV handbag (just like the owner's),
and she is walking in front of the spa window
that's filled with spa goodies.  It's not a coincidence
that the dog on the leash is
the image of the owner's cherished pet!

For the Christmas illustration, below,
Bella is doing a little holiday decorating inside the spa
in front of the spa's cozy fireplace while snowflakes
gently fall outside the window ...
I can almost here soft holiday music

playing in the background ...

To see the holiday illustration on their website
during the holiday season, go here.

Have a simply golden remainder of the week, everyone!
Until later ...

OOH LA FROU FROU

is the blog of illustrator
SANDY M

If you have a custom illustration
inquiry, contact Sandy here.

The photos in this post
were sourced from:
Butter London via
Gold Confetti Dress via

Valentino Rock Studs via
Sparkly Trees in Street Scene via
Sparkly Reindeer via
Sparkly Gold Tree Decorations via
Group of Hanging Gold Ornaments via

Gold Confetti Garland via
Gold Flatware via
Champagne Flutes via

The above custom illustrations
created for Bella Clinique
are by SANDY M
(c) SANDY M 2013 - All Rights Reserved.

Let's Catch Up

Happy Wednesday!
Let's catch up with each other!

Can you believe it's already mid-November?
I hope you are having a wonderful week ...
I feel as if I just stepped off a plane ...
actually, I did ... I arrived back home Monday evening
from a beautiful family wedding weekend in Arizona.
If you follow me on Instagram and/or Twitter, 

you may have seen some of my snapshots of the weekend ...
if not, here are just a few ...

This dramatic sunset happened as I sat having pre-dinner appetizers 

with a group of family and friends by the resort pool Sunday evening ...

This was my view as I looked up from my lounge chair by the pool
on one of the days ... blue skies and palm trees ...

And, of course, a shot of the resort pool ...
I just love relaxing by a pool, don't you?
Lately, anytime I'm by a pool, I take photos of the water
because I'm planning on creating a large canvas for the house
of pool water with all of it's light reflections and sparkle ...

It was 85 degrees (F) everyday while I was in Arizona
and when I stepped off the plane back home it was in the mid-30's.
That's a shocker!
And our first snow of the season was also there to greet me ...
talk about night and day!

Image via 

In The Studio
This week, I'm working on a custom Christmas illustration
for the beautiful skincare spa, Bella Clinique,
to use for their Christmas cards and holiday newsletter.
As that illustration isn't quite finished yet, I'll share more on that later.

So excited that they've recently had the previous
illustration that I created for the spa
made into a mural for their Montreal location and placed it
on the spa entrance wall (below)!

In the mural, you see the logo girl that I was asked to design for them
(her name is Bella and is based upon the looks of the spa's owner)
walking her dog in front of a spa window filled with spa goodies.
The window in the illustration is flanked with lanterns and pretty topiaries.
The spa's name is on the awning illustrated above the window.
For the illustration of Bella's dog,
I was given photos of the owner's beautiful dog
 to refer to when illustrating him ...
I love that his reflection can be seen in the adjacent mirror ...

On Another Note
Are you already in the holiday spirit?
I am!
I can't wait to decorate for Christmas this year
and am planning on finishing it all before I leave for
our family Thanksgiving weekend celebration out of town.

Of course, Pinterest does help in getting in the spirit, no?
Thought I'd share with you
some of my recent holiday (Thanksgiving and Christmas) pins ...
if you're not in the spirit yet, maybe these will help get you there!
 

For Thanksgiving,
do you love these Pumpkin Pie Slice Cookies as much as I do?

And this Caramel Apple Cake stands so tall and pretty ...

A Thanksgiving placecard idea ...

Click here to go to this yum-looking
Coconut Pumpkin Chiffon Pie and there's also
nine delicious Pumpkin Pie recipes in the link from Southern Living!

A little Christmas inspiration ...

via

via

via

via

via

via

It's coming soon ... are you feeling it?
Till next week, everyone ...
so glad you could stop by!

OOH LA FROU FROU

is the blog of illustrator

SANDY M

For illustration inquiries,
contact Sandy here

Personal photos of
Arizona sunset sky, palm trees and pool
taken by SANDY M

Thanksgiving and Christmas photos
via Pinterest and individual links are above.

COMMISSIONED {plus a little weekend fun!}

Aren't you so happy that it's May?
I hope you had a great weekend!
Mine included an ice cream sundae,
and two alfresco dinners in the sunshine,
some lake-gazing in the backyard,
and even {just because it was magical} ...
a carnival ride!
Sometimes it's good to be a kid again ...
here are a few snaps from the impulsive stop by the roadside carnival.
The tall ferris wheel was the ride that we bought tickets for ...

Who says sparkle is only for fashion?


Snapped while waiting in line ...

... and then while on it ...

Can you almost smell the cotton candy?
It was a perfect first weekend of May!

~ And Now ~
 moving on to two new illustration additions to the
COMMISSIONED
series of posts!

~ Illustration One ~
The first illustration I'd like to introduce you to is one that I was 

commissioned to create for a fabulous skincare spa
located in Canada called:


The illustration I created is to be used on a variety of things,
including Bella Clinique's bags.
If you follow me on Instagram,
you probably saw the following photo that I shared
of the beginning stages of painting the illustration ...

And here's another peek of the illustration-in-progress
with the background further along ...

The star of this BELLA CLINIQUE illustration
is the new logo girl that I was asked to design for them
and she is named ... Bella!
She is modeled after the lovely owner,
Jennifer Brodeur (@jenniferbrodeur on Twitter)


As is my standard practice with my lovely clients,
e-mails flew back and forth between Jennifer and I ...
it's all part of my preliminary process
in order to capture as many little details as I can ...
things that make the illustration very personal.

Some of the details that Jennifer mentioned she'd like to see
on Bella were:
long ombre hair, like hers;
a sleek black dress, as she wears black most often;
 a specific Tiffany bracelet on her wrist;
a Bella Blue scarf that was a gift from a friend;
her Louis Vuitton Galleria handbag;
spa shopping bags;
her lovely dog Sisu;
and two magazines tucked into the handbag (Vogue and Clin d'oeil)
that Bella Clinique has appeared in.
Also, I decided to illustrate a row three crystal pendant lights in the window
after seeing the actual light fixtures photographed inside the spa.
And, here's the finished illustration ...

You can catch the illustration
on the Bella Clinique Facebook page right now!
Thank you, Jennifer!
A pleasure to work with you.
~

.~ Illustration Two ~
I'd like to introduce you to a second illustration this week.
This is an illustration that was recently commissioned
by the
MICHEL GERMAIN
perfume line
for their Mother's Day campaign.
(You can read about Michel Germain's beautiful perfume line
called "Sexual" and how it came to be here.)

This is my second illustration for the Micahel Germain perfume line.
{See the holiday illustration created for them in a previous post (here).}
That first holiday illustration for them was featured
on their website for the holidays
 and on holiday gift boxes in stores
(Bloomingdales and Macy's).}

The new Mother's Day illustration shows a
luxurious boudoir in a luxe Paris apartment,
where the SP logo girl that I designed for them
(and that appeared in the first illustration)
appears again (on the right) ... and this time, she is with her mother
as they are preparing to head out to a Mother's Day brunch ...
and, of course, they're spritzing on only ONE perfume
as a finishing touch before they leave!
I think you'd love the fragrance "Sexual Sugar" ...
I was sent one of the beautiful pink bottles
and everyone asks me what I'm wearing!




You can catch this illustration right now
on the Michel Germain website here!

It's always a delight working with fabulous clients like
Michel and Norma Germain.

Thanks for joining me this week, everyone!

These are just a taste of what's been on my
illustration calendar lately ...
hope you all have a wonderful week!
See you next Monday!

OOH LA FROU FROU

is the blog of illustrator
SANDY M

The carnival photos above are property of Ooh La Frou Frou.
The photo of Jennifer Brodeur via Bella Clinique.
Bella Clinique illustration and Michel Germain illustration
by illustrator SANDY M, (c) 2013 SANDY M ~ all rights reserved.

For custom illustration inquiries,
drop a note to Sandy here.