Sweet July

Hello lovies.
I snapped the following photo of my favorite tree in the yard
as a backdrop for this quote created for instagram ...
it's the kind of tree that you remember from childhood,
the kind that provides luxurious shade from a hot summer for a picnic ...

Doesn't warm weather beg you to dream?
I think so.
I think it begs you to put your feet up and dream,
even if you're dressed for a summer party
in Louis Vuitton ...

As you know, there's a relaxed schedule here on the blog during the summer,

as I'm taking a little time to enjoy these precious warm days while they're here ...

but you know I can't stay away for long without stopping by to hear

what you all have been up to

and chat for a while!

It's been a super warm summer here (mid-90's to 100 degrees fahrenheit) ...

the kind of weather that whispers in your ear that you really should

pour an icy glass of sweet tea and take a good book to the front porch swing.

 Because of the warmth, I've spent some relaxing afternoons at the beach ...

this photo was snapped, in fact, as I lay on a blanket not far away from the water,

under an umbrella in the shade ...

When I'm not at the beach, I can often be found

decorating one of the rooms in the house (a glam beach house style).

(Do you get the feeling I have the beach on my mind? haha)

Actually, since the house is on the water, it seemed the perfect style to go with.

If you follow me here at the blog,

you know that this historic home (1877) was purchased last year

and it required lots of work such as taking up flooring and putting down new,

removing wallpaper and pickled panelling and painting the walls in pretty, beachy

paint colors like the pale, pale blue-green of the living room or the

taupey-grey that resembles driftwood of the library,

and the deeper grey of beach stones in the dining room.

I'm still working on the first floor and once the first floor's finished, 

I will move the decorating upstairs,

but that's still a long way off.

This winter the kitchen will be gutted down to the studs

and a new kitchen created.

When one of my lovely blogging friends

asked if I would put the following instagram photo

of a corner of my living room on Pinterest

(so honored, thank you Maria of One Style at a Time),

I decided to create a new Pinterest board for fun

and use it to house all of my iphone snaps that I take

as I decorate room by room and use it as sort of a

decorating scrapbook.

If you're interested, the board is called:

Decor: At Home with SANDY M

The board will contain snaps of decorating as it's done inside

and some snaps I've taken outside ... like these sparkles that show up

during the evenings on the water ...

When not on the beach or decorating,

I can be found working in the studio, of course, during weekdays ...

My days are always filled with a busy custom illustration schedule.
I recently completed two illustrations commissioned
by a new on-line luxury home magazine,
Adorno Magazine.
The first issue is coming soon and I can't wait!
Following is the first illustration that's been released,
used in an Adorno ad that premiered during the Fourth of July holiday.
Here is the illustration as I created it,
of a sophisticated woman celebrating in a city penthouse apartment.:


.. and here it is as it was used in the
Adorno Magazine advertisement in its
Fourth of July colors:

So exciting!
To sign up for e-mail notification
of the first issue when it launches (soon!)
you can sign up here.

Okay, your turn!
What have you been up to, friends?

OOH LA FROU FROU

is the blog of illustrator SANDY M

All photos in this post
were taken by SANDY M
and all illustration is by SANDY M

For custom illustration inquiries,
contact Sandy at

artistsandym@gmail.com

GLAMOUR IN THE GARDEN as a Print!

Hi everyone!
Just stopped by with an announcement of a new print!

I previously mentioned that
any of my illustrations {other than illustrations
that were commissioned illustrations for clients}
can now be made into a print!
(You can browse back through past posts
to see illustrations or check out some that appear on
my illustration boards via Pinterest.

I'm stopping by today to announce that the popular
"GLAMOUR IN THE GARDEN"
illustration, that previously starred only on a card,
has been requested as a print,
so it's heading to the printer tomorrow
where it will become a print for the very first time!
This illustration of a chic gardening girl 

dressed in a couture tulip gown while
standing on her city balcony, gardening spade in hand,
has always been one of my most popular illustrations.
If this is your idea of the perfect way to garden (as it is mine!)
and would like one of these
Glamour in the Garden signed prints too,
just e-mail me at
artistsandym@gmail.com
and I'll get back to you.

Paper size: 11" x 14" (this is a standard frame size)
Image size: 8" x 11"

Price: $20 plus shipping/handling $7.95 in the US.
{For international shipping: e-mail your country to me
and I'll get back to you with shipping/handling}

Payment is simple through electronic invoice I will send you
that allows for payment with paypal or any major credit card.

As mentioned in the previous post, signed prints of the
"Dressing Room" illustration have been shipping out across the country
this last week.
Paper size: 11" x 14"
Image size: 8" x 10"
Price and ordering instructions: same as for above print.

Too fun!
Can't wait to see photos of your prints
when hanging in your home!

If you missed Friday's "First Day of Summer" post,
featuring a Kate Spade NY Popsicle Coin Purse illustration,
you can catch a little summer inspiration here.

Till next time ...

OOH LA FROU FROU
is the blog of illustrator
SANDY M

For custom illustration inquiries,
drop me an email: artistsandym@gmail.com 

Once Upon A Fairytale ...

If ever I were to be the star of a fairytale,
I would want to be dressed in breathless magic.


Magic that would sparkle in the sunlight
and swirl softly in the moonlight,
with the glorious sheer hem of my gown
playing sweet games with the breeze.

I can't imagine couture more breathtaking than
the designs by the fashion house of
~  J'Aton Couture. ~
The magicians that wave their wands
to create such beauty are Austrailian designers
Jacob Luppino and Anthony Pittorino.
Both designers are from sartorial Italian backgrounds
and are known for their great attention to detail in
creating those bewitching gowns.


Beautiful J'Aton bridal and red-carpet gowns
adorn many high-profile beauties as they step into
 their own fairytales.
In 2011, model Rebecca Twigley chose the gown
 pictured above with all of it's translucent layers of magic
for her fairytale wedding to AFL player Chris Judd.
{She is pictured in her gown, below}

Following are glimpses into other fairytales

that J'Aton gowns were a beautiful part of:

Oh, the magical beauty ...

doesn't it leave you breathless too?

One particular image of a beautiful J'Aton fairytale gown
not only leaves me breathless each time I see it ...
but the brush in my hand recently found itself
dipping into my waterglass,
... as if by magic ...
and soon water met paper
and when color then met water ...

I had my fairytale gown.

 If you'd like to see a photo of this gown, go here.

I'll leave you now to dream dreams
of your own fairytales, lovelies ...
see you Friday!

OOH LA FROU FROU
is the blog of illustrator
SANDY M

For custom illustration inquiries,
simply drop a note to Sandy HERE.

J'ATON FASHION ILLUSTRATION BY:
The watercolor illustration of
the J'Aton gown in the above post
is by illustrator SANDY M.

PHOTO SOURCES
Photo 1: Back of Gown via
Photo 2: J'Aton Gown with Layers via
Photos 3 and 4: Rebecca Twigley via and via
Photo 5: Gown with Flower via
Photo 6: Bride in Gown with Lace Train on Balcony via
Photo 7: Champagne-Color Gown on  Bride in Car via

Photo 8: Black and White Photo of Woman in Front of Mirror via

OH, DIOR!

If you follow me on Instagram,

you may have seen this image in a post yesterday ...

it was of one of my illustrations in progress,

in which I posed this question ...

"Know what's missing?

Of course,
most of you knew the answer to that one was
"O" for DIOR!

Well, this post and that illustration
all began when two things happened:

The First Thing:
I was dreaming over the gorgeous new
Lady Dior handbag campaign
starring French beauty Marion Cotillard  ...
and those gorgeous Dior handbags (below)!
The lush tangerine and lavender colors
 of the delectable bags made me crave ...
YES ... SPRING!

Okay ... I mean the actual SPRING,
 not this mischievous impersonator of spring we have now
that's been trying to make us think it's actually spring
by pointing to the calendar and snickering,
all the while sneakily throwing snowflakes in the air
and prompting brrr-cold temps to hang around.
Nope.  NOT that spring.  That's GRINCH Spring.
I want the spring of tangerine and lavender handbags ...








Sooooooo .... enter

The Second Thing:
As I was dreaming over the above
tangerine and lavender spring colors,
my mind drifted back to the recent
Dior Holiday campaign entitled:
An Exceptional Christmas
and remembered that when I first saw it
IT TOO felt a little springlike to me ...
I mean, nothing says spring more than
green garden parteres, hedges and florals, right?
So I took my spring daydream a little further
and went back to peek at that campaign again
to soak up a little more green ...
and thought you might like a revisit too ...







Springlike, right?
Sooooooo ... with all of that Dior inspiration,
the following just begged to be created ...
I mean ... wouldn't we all secretly like a swing like this?


Do you too feel more like spring now?
No revisit to a Dior campaign would be complete
without the video that goes with it
in case you missed it ...
or maybe you're JUST like me
and need to soak in lush green..
After all, who can blame us?
It IS almost Easter ... right?

In the video you can peek at the actual DIOR swing ...


See you Wednesday, darlings!


OOH LA FROU FROU
is the blog of illustrator
SANDY M

Animated Illustration
of girl on DIOR swing
by SANDY M

For custom illustration
drop Sandy a note here.

Dior

COMMISSIONED

ONE STYLE AT A TIME

Happy Monday, loves!
For this post in the
COMMISSIONED
series, I thought I'd share with you
a recent custom fashion illustration commission
created for Maria of the superb fashion blog:
One Style At A Time.
If you're a fan of fashion and not yet familiar with Maria,
I know you'll love One Style At A Time.
Maria is very fashion savvy,
so it's  perfect that she lives
in the fashion capital of the world,
New York City.

The new illustration made it's debut
on One Style At A Time this last weekend
when the blog celebrated it's
oh-so-fashionable two-year anniversary ...
congratulations, Maria!

THE ILLUSTRATION
When Maria contacted me for a commission,
we discussed a variety of options and poses
for her fashion illustration that she wished to use as
her new blog header and avi.
With a "sitting at her desk" pose selected,
we quickly moved on to the other details that
she wished to see in her illustration.
This is always such a fun part when clients
choose what they'd like to see created ...
sort of like shopping!
I asked Maria to send me photos of herself,
as well as a list of the items she would like included
 (and photos of those items if she had them),
and also what she would like to be wearing in the illustration.
Some of the items Maria chose were:
a glam mirrored desk, pink peonies,
a classic black Chanel 2.55 handbag,
a Hermes Birkin bag at her feet,
fashion books on her desk
and a french chandelier.

Once I received all the info,
it was time for sketching to begin ...
and once a first rough sketch was completed,
it was e-mailed to Maria for approval.
I've grouped together some of the images
of the fashion illustration of Maria
from first sketch of her face (upper left)
and complete rough pencil sketch (just below it)
to steps along the way after painting had begun ...


When I had completed the Birkin bag and its contents,
 I e-mailed Maria and included a little tease as an attachment.
It was a sneak-peek of the Birkin bag
I was placing at her feet in the illustration.
Her bag was filled with the March 2013 issue of Vogue
(the month and year of her two year blog anniversary).
You may be able to just make out a little of the face
of Beyonce on the cover of the issue ...

I also added a chic silk scarf peeking out
over the side of the bag ...
here's the attachment Maria received ....

Ahhhh, Birkin ...
so much fun ...
I'm such a tease, I know.

For an illustration such as this one,
I often paint with layers of gouache and acrylics.
It's essentially a painting as I would do on canvas,
but for an illustration, the painting is created on illustration board
so that it can be scanned when complete
and placed in electronic file format to be e-mailed
to the client.

Soooooo ...
when the illustration was complete,
it was e-mailed to Maria ...

And below is the illustration
as it appears on Maria's header ...
she found the perfect font to embellish it!

Here's the link to
One Style At A Time
so you can see it in person ...
thanks, Maria, it was so much fun!
Now ...
what are we going to create for your
three-year anniversary, I wonder? lol

Have a wonderful week, everyone!
Thanks so much for joining me!
See you Wednesday!

OOH LA FROU FROU
is the blog of illustrator
SANDY M

To custom illustration inquiries,
drop Sandy a note here.

Issue photo:
Vogue Magazine

RUNWAY

EVERYTHING'S COMING UP
DIOR POSIES

Once upon a time
I worked for a company that
handled the advertising sales
for some major magazines such as
Rolling Stone and US Magazine.
It always seemed to speed the year further along
when an issue would be closing
three months ahead of the month we were actually in.
For instance, when it was September,
everything we were doing was all about
the Christmas issue.

It's sort of like that with Fashion Week, as well ...
right now we've been looking ahead to fall/winter
before the spring/summer sun even appears.
I was thinking of that today when I ran across a photo
of the hems of skirts as the models awaited backstage
in gorgeous Dior gowns for the Spring/Summer
Haute Couture 2013 fashion show
and I added a quick watercolor reminder
to my sketchbook,
as I often do when I want to remember something
that I found beautiful for future possible illustrations ...

Looking at the beautiful spring gowns and the details,
I was tempted to revisit that Dior Spring/Summer
Haute Couture 2013 fashion show
where the audience sat surrounded by bare trees,
as if winter wasn't quite over,
and on stage the models arose from beneath the ground,
appearing from mounds of green surrounded by
white that resembled snow
 and dressed in gorgeous florals, as if they were
the first flowers of spring themselves.
I loved their rhinestone lips, the almost transparent elbow-length
gloves that some wore and their shoes ... some of them brought to mind
spring's long leaves and fronds wrapping around their feet.
All the while the song
"Angels" by The Xx was the perfect backdrop.

I am always inspired by the runway,
the delicate details of haute couture
and the creativity of the designers.
I thought you might like to revisit this show, as well,
as our way of hurrying up spring
and pretend you're sitting in the audience watching the
models rise from the ground ... and feel as if spring is around the corner!



The first video below is a behind-the-scenes glimpse
of the models preparing in makeup before the show ...



... and following is the Dior Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2013 show ...
The dresses become more and more elaborate
as the show goes on, so if you're in a rush,
you may want to move ahead to the last third to see
the show's finale and the longer gowns.
It's pretty magical if you haven't seen it.



Thank you, Dior, for creating such inspiring beauty.

 I guess I'm all about dreaming of spring and warmer weather
this week so far ...
I "played hooky" on Monday's post ..
if you missed the post and want to play hooky too,
 just go here.

See you Friday, lovelies!

OOH LA FROU FROU
is the blog of illustrator

SANDY M

For custom illustration
drop a note to Sandy here.

Dior Watercolor Sketch above by SANDY M
The two videos via Dior on You Tube
All photos above of
Dior Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2013 via

ILLUSTRATION STYLE

ILLUSTRATION STYLE

WATERCOLOR FASHION ILLUSTRATION

ELIE SAAB HAUTE COUTURE
Fall/Winter 2012-2013 

Welcome to the very first Wednesday post on
Ooh La Frou Frou!
If you missed Monday's announcement post,
there will now be THREE weekly posts,
Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Yay!

I mentioned last week that since I have several illustration styles,
I thought it would be fun to occasionally have a
post series called "Illustration Style"
and introduce you to one of the new illustrations
created in one of my styles.

Do you know what I love?:
I LOVE WATERCOLOR.
It's the medium that I usually use for my fashion illustrations.
It's fluid and dreamy.
In a fantasy world, I could just splash around in it!

You know what else is fluid and dreamy?
Not to mention very sparkly?
Elie Saab Haute Couture.
It's easy to imagine wafting along a runway
in a sparkling Elie Saab gown,
the feel of the fabric swirling and moving against our legs
as the flash of photographers' cameras follow our every move ...


I created the above illustration of
backstage with Elie Saab
to use as a watercolor portfolio sample on the
new upcoming website.
Can you almost feel the glitter?
Elie Saab himself is barely visible
at the head of the line of the models that are
dressed in his magic.

Watercolor was used in these fashion illustrations of mine, as well:

I have a serious style of fashion illustrations,
as in the fashion illustrations above,
and I also have a very whimsical style,
as in the Summer Girl illustration below.
I love both moods of illustration ...
 and I wouldn't want to choose just one version ...
variety is such a good thing,
don't you think?

Thanks so much for joining me
for a little Wednesday illustration fun, everybody ...
be sure to drop by on Friday
when I'll send you off into the weekend
with a little glittery inspiration
pulled from my Pinterest world ...
such an appropriate send-off for a weekend,

don't you think?



OOH LA FROU FROU
is the blog of illustrator SANDY M.
For a custom illustration
just drop a line here.