Sunday, November 21, 2021

Bigass Weekend Wrap-Up: Double Ceremony for Brunch, a Wee Shop, and Next Art Project: Peacock Jacket

Welcome back, my friends! It's been a lovely chill weekend for me, with our usual brunch (and a wee shop at Dots) and board games - and I've started a new Art Project (and created a new page!). Grab yourself a cup of something warm and comforting, and join me, won't you?

After an evening of games (Dominion, a very fun deck-building card game) and music, L and I slept in a bit on Saturday morning, before we met up with Nick at the Ruby for brunch. It had dipped down to single digits overnight, and although it was sunny, I wasn't fooled. 
I'm nice and cozy warm in my wool snaky-print sweater dress and fleece-lined tights. 

  • Dress - Opening Ceremony, thrifted; first worn here for New Year's Eve in December 2020
  • Boots - Truths Teah, Fluevog; last seen here in January with all the pinks and purples
  • Coat (below) - Rodarte for Opening Ceremony, consignment; last seen and Flashbacked here in March

Isn't the dress cool? The pattern is all knitted in, not printed, in shades of turquoise, dark green and black. 
I found it at the Patch last December for $22.95 - such a steal for a high-end brand. 
It's a snug fit, but I'm feeling good about my shape. 

Masked up - totally matchy. 
After brunch, we strolled over to Fort Street - L and Nick went to Ditch to browse and I had a poke through Dots to see if there was any good real leather (there was, but it's too pricey for me right now, so I'm stalking it). 

The early sunshine called for shades. 
I felt so mysterious! 

Both the dress and the coat are by Opening Ceremony - double Ceremony! - although the coat is actually Rodarte for Opening Ceremony. 
My Ringmaster coat is one of my favourites - the top part is faux Persian lamb and the bottom is wool. 
Don't you love my tails? 

I'm too cool for this town. 
L and I got groceries on the way home, then napped in the afternoon. 

Accoutrements and coffee: 
That's my second cup, for being nice to other people (the first cup is so that I'm nice to L). 

  • Gloves - Danier
  • Mask - by Mom

The stuff: 
These are magnificent steampunk boots. Super comfy too. 

Black bling: 
I enjoyed rattling off details of my bling to our server at the Ruby. She was stunned that my snake ring is so old. 

  • Studded cuff - c. 1998
  • Lucite/crystal bangle - Alexis Bittar, consignment, Sidney
  • Silver snake ring - BC Museum Gift Shop, c. 1986
  • Silver/onyx ring - Toccara, vintage fair
  • Earrings - Mom's, Fiji 

I tried a few things on at Dots, but nothing rung my bell. I was waffling over this skirt when L came in. 
"Buy it," he said, and so I did. 

I love the 3D texture of the two-sided sequins. One side is orange/gold and the other is blue/teal. 
It's like the sparling skies at night. 

It's by Culture, and retailed for $90.00. 
It was an extra 10% off so $26.99. 


New Page - My Art Projects

I've created a new page at the top of the blog for My Art Projects (link here), so that I can find them all at a glance and refer to them (or show them to people). There are links back to final reveals (which usually have detail links embedded). Just makin' it easier to see everything when it's all in one place! 


Art Project - Peacock Jacket

I spotted this baby blue leather jacket in my closet the other day, and the light bulb went off - this is a really challenging colour of jacket to style and it doesn't hugely inspire me anyway. So...why not illustrate it? 

I bought it here at the WIN Warehouse store in December 2020 for a whopping $9.95 - I don't think they realized it was leather. 
I think it's from the early 00s. 

I've worn it three times: here with a silver skirt, here with some mixed patterns and here on a Mom-Adventure as outerwear. 
There's lots of space to get creative! 

I thought for a while about what I wanted to do on it, and decided on a peacock to go with the baby blue. 
It's not so much about doing something different every time, but I do like a balance of new and the old standards. I'll be repeating elements I've done before, but changing up and learning some new things. It's good to experiment, and the main thing for me is the creative focus and mental health benefits. So I'm taking the pressure off myself. No need to reinvent the wheel, but it's also good to add new skills and designs to my "art toolbox."

I poked around online found some henna-inspired designs that I really liked, including a peacock design that seemed doable. I try not to "borrow" any original artwork - these images were all over the web. 

I tested my pens and markers inside the jacket where they won't be seen. Clockwise from the two greens on the left: two pinks and lavender (barely visible), pink over the black (testing if it rubs off the black - yes, it does, arg, good to know early), two reds and dark purple. 
Looks like it's going to be the Staedtler black marker and the Tombow alcohol-based markers again, as everything else rubbed off. I will be stopping by Island Blue Art Supplies tomorrow on the way home to pick up some blues and teals. I'm getting quite the collection of pens. 

Luckily, one of my water-based Staedtler markers worked as a "pencil" again, allowing me to sketch out the basic shapes. 
I started with the back. The jacket doesn't look very blue here, but I was working indoors after dark. 

"This is the scary part," I said to L, as I started putting permanent ink on it. Deep breath, here we go! 
I decided to do some of my regular roses - but I haven't decided what colour(s) to do them yet. If the peacock is going to be all greens and blues and teals, what colour would YOU do the roses? Keep in mind the jacket is baby blue - not all colours will show up properly. You can get an idea of the pinks, purples and reds from the test picture above. 

Once I had the first lines on, I wiped off the water-based ink "pencil" lines with a damp paper towel. 
Voila! 

Then I added detail on all the feathers. This is much more Zentangle-inspired than previous pieces I've done. 
I love the way the tail feathers look. They were not as difficult as I expected once I broke down how to do them. 

And then I started darkening up the lines and giving them that tattoo look. 
I stopped here - this was about 2 hours of work from the beginning. 

I did little bits here and there in the evening, as we paused during our boardgames. 
I also plan to add more elaborate gold accents to this piece and will be changing up the buttons to make it more special - I don't want it to be a duplicate of the Snake Jacket. 

So...exciting! Thank you so all so much for your wonderful comments on the Tammy Jacket - it really does mean a lot to me to share these with y'all. 

And now, I'm off to finish enjoying my weekend! 

19 comments:

  1. Love your coats and that sequin skirt is a cool buy. Congrats on your new page, I will check it out.
    xoxo
    Lovely
    www.mynameislovely.com

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  2. I'm glad you bought that sequin skirt, I can't wait to see how you wear it! Looking forward to seeing the progress of this beautiful jacket too! It is such an intricate design, it looks amazing even just the outline so far!

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  3. Terrific sweater dress AND tails!
    I stop by frequently...just can't keep up.🥴 I'm at a different season of life currently. Blog has kind of gone by the wayside.

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  4. Ah, another perfect jammy dress! The dress looks fabulous on you! I need/want to increase my stash of jammy dresses but in non-wool (wool makes me sneeze and my eyes itch, alas). Also want to note that the blue jacket in the second outfit (with mixed patterns) is my favorite of the 3 to which you linked.

    Like L, I would have said to buy the sequined skirt. With your styling flair you’ll be able to craft some spiffy outfits. The skirt makes me think of holidays, New Year’s and parties, plus it will be fun to play with the sequins. ;)

    Yea for choosing a peacock! Reminds me of the peacocks we saw in the park in Victoria; your choice is emblematic! As for what color for the flowers…hmm…yellow likely won’t show up unless it’s vibrant…I’m a fan of red but will it compete with the peacock? Looking forward to seeing what you decide!

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    1. PS I admire your steady hand and zentangle feathers and scales.

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  5. I absolutely loved your Tammy jacket; it's beautiful and how very clever you are. What an amazing gift for your friend to receive; a gift made with love...and as for the peacock jacl=ket it's going to be magnificent. As for the roses I would go with purples - they go so well with greens and teal.

    I loved the sweater dress on you and I'm very partial to a sweater dress. The ringmaster coat looked great over it and the boots are delightfully quirky but look very comfortable, too.

    Have a great week
    xxx

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  6. I love the 1980s vibe of the sweater dress, it's a cracking fit and perfect with the ringmaster's jacket.
    That new project is going to be amazing, I adore a peacock! What a great idea to create a page especially to keep a track of your projects. xxx

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  7. Ah, your brunch outfit is gorgeous! I particularly love that knit dress, and it looks absolutely amazing on you. I'm glad to hear you're feeling good about your shape!
    The sequin skirt is a stunner. Yay for L. giving you the thumbs up.
    Love your new project: I absolutely adore peacocks! You've done a cracking job so far, can't wait to see your progress! xxx

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  8. Your outfit is one I would love to wear! What a fabulous dress. And the peacock is amazing, I think peacocks are such fabulous beautiful birds. The blazer is going to be unbelievable!

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  9. Your dress looks wonderfully warm and cosy.

    And that jacket's going to look gorgeous. Your projects always come out so well.

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  10. And right you should (feel good). You have a gorgeous figure and curves that take to form fitting frocks like this something fierce.

    So exciting about the new project! I am already swooning up a massive storm of this enchantingly lovely peacock design.

    Autumn Zenith 🧡 Witchcrafted Life

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  11. I love that dress on you and the peacock is looking great! I would probably do purple roses and add a bit of purple to the peacock, but I bet you've already decided on something!

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  12. wowww, loving this new project, so amazing idea to choose a peacock, it's going to look fab on the babyblue background!, brilliant!. I'm glad that you're experimenting and having fun!, I think that creativity makes our lives more interesting.
    Looking lovely in your knit dress and steampunk boots, and this Totally Fab Coat!
    besos

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  13. That is such a fab dress, and the boots! and the jacket! I want that whole outfit! Not that it would fit me, but I can dream, can't I? The peacock is going to be spectacular!!

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  14. I know I am late with my comment, but it is hard to keep up with so many posts (as you know; I should stop wining about it).
    This dress and the way you styled it is TOP. Love everything about it.
    By the look of it, you have found another hobby for the long winter evenings: jazzing up leather garments with art.
    Greetje

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