2014 in Review

2014 in review.

1. Marilyn
2. Tod's / For Bagaholic Boy.
3. The Beermaid / For Hong Kong Tatler.
4. Vincent Van Girl
5. Fashion Week / For Lane Crawford.
6. Robert Mapplethorpe / Sketched on my London trip at the Tate Modern.
7. R.S.V.P. / For Hong Kong Tatler.
8. Go Places / Make Things
9. Nicole / For NIC416.com. Logo design for a friend's upcoming new website.
10. 5 Days in Tokyo / Shop the sticker + postcard set on Etsy.
11. Live sketches for Everybody Labo / The Hong Kong based skincare brand asked me to personalize the product labels for their media guests at their re-launch event with some live portraits. Check out some photos of the day here, and the bottles here and here.
12. Pradasphere / Shop the prints on Etsy.

Ahhhhhhh. Hi! My name is Kitty and I'm a 27 year old who can't understand the concept of time.
In my head in no way can it be 2015, that feels way too far into the future I remember exactly how January 2014 felt and it for sure doesn't feel like 365 days ago. "Where did this year go?" doesn't even begin to describe my sense of time diaspora.

So, for some concrete proof that I didn't spend all year looking at Instagrams of dogs in bed it's fun to look back on all the work I made this year. Did I get better? I definitely painted less and started to rely more on the quick ballpoint pen sketches which I then coloured digitally. I guess that's what style is, just something you end up doing out of habit. You do it more and more and become more confident at it and it's a positive feedback loop. 

Maybe it's because I did more traveling this year (yay!) but I remember each month so clearly, which is a nice feeling because usually when I look back on the year it's all one giant blur. Having something special to look forward to and remember every few months really gives a nice sense of division to the year.

The only thing I really regret is not having made one single Intro to Fashion History comic all year, it's a project I kept meaning to do but it's so easy to put off personal projects, especially if they take a bit of planning and researching. I'm definitely going to have to change that in 2015.

How was your 2014? Did it zoom by for you as well? Are you also a refugee of 2014 floating across the oceans of time waiting for the right to land in the land of opportunity of 2015? I wanna hear all about it!

September TMI / This Month I: Went to Tokyo!

Over the past year I've discovered that I love travelling so much! I can really say that now, when I was younger I liked traveling, I knew it was something that was important to like, but I didn't love-love-love it. I was a bit scared of it and while abroad I would only ever do daytime activities and I would always make sure to retreat back to my hostel before it got dark out.

Maybe it's getting older and having a little more experience and disposable income but with each trip I feel more and more liberated, I'm probably more adventurous and open to new experiences while I'm traveling now and I'm constantly scheming about how I can go on my next vacation.

Marion Crepes, I read in my guide book this is the original place to get crepes in Harajuku and duh, you have to eat a crepe while shopping in Harajuku. It's the kawaii thing to do. But while it looks super cute in photos, the crepe was full of artificial cream and not very delicious.

I drew this while catching an episode of Bizzare Foods with Andrew Zimmern, tell me this doesn't look egg-actly like him. No word yet on whether this particular egghead has met his hard-boiled end during breakfast time.

This month I also got to work with the amazing Marks and Spencer team to create an illustration for their A/W 2014 press preview event where I got to live draw some of the media guest right into the illustration alongside Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth, Kate Middleton and M&S spokespersons Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and David Gandy.

They were also kind enough to outfit me in this amazing graphic print Per Una dress and little black patent t-strap heels. I felt soh kyute!

One of my absolute favourite photographers came to do a lecture in Hong Kong! Martin! Parr!

Speaking of traveling, it was on a trip to Paris where I was first introduced to Parr's work. I saw an ad for one of his exhibitions "Planète Parr" on show at the Jeu de Paume on the Paris Metro (ah, the wonderful exhibition ads in the Paris and London subways, how I love thee) and I just had to go.

After hearing him speak and explain his process a little, I don't even know how else to describe the man except that he's just soooo coool. Blog post to come soon!

I got to create a logo for my friend Nicole's brand new website Nic416.com, I'm so happy I got to help her create this portrait to use as a logo for her site and it was so much fun to make.

After every trip I always get post-vacation blues, I love being able to roam around a city all day, have travel buddies to hang out with all the time and meet new people and it can be so jarring to switch back to home/work mode. Good thing I bought a lot of souvenirs in Japan all complete with cute packaging like this sake juice box, it even comes with a straw. Weirrrrrd.

"We can dress up for our own pleasure, but we must speak up for our rights." - Naomi Wolf.

That quote is often how I feel about living in Hong Kong, we love our hedonistic pleasures here but we also have a lot of freedom and while we should enjoy them we shouldn't forget that this freedom is a privilege and we should make sure we stand up to protect it. I made this little sketch to support the Occupy Central protests that have been going on.

To finish off this month of Tokyo hopping and face-drawing, here is a favourite portrait from the live sketching job I did for Tiffany & Co a few weeks ago for their in-store event. The guest was even wearing the exact shade of Tiffany blue, how perfect.

Go Places / Make Things

Fall schedule: go places, make things. Rinse and repeat. I've been reading Jessica Walsh and Tim Goodman's super interesting social experiment/blog 40 Days of Dating so I felt like doing some hand-lettering myself.

Print of Go Places / Make Things is available on my Etsy shop, go have a look!

Live Drawing / TST + My First Video!

A few weeks ago in an effort to challenge myself I decided to set myself up in, Tsim Sha Tsui, a super busy part of Hong Kong near the harbour and try doing live portraits on the streets for the first time. It was terrifying but also really rewarding and fun.

Doing street portraits is something I've always wanted to try, but was terrified of. I had discussed the idea quietly to a few of my close friends and even mentioned it to my mom. They all thought it was a great idea and encouraged me to go for it. But I still wasn't sure. Wouldn't it be weird? No one invited me to do it? Can I really just set up on the street? What if I invite everyone to come and then I get kicked out or questioned by the police?
 

I've always been really into this idea of artists that took advantage of whatever small circumstances around them at the time and used it to bring their work out on to the street and use it as a chance to continually work on their craft. For example, I love the story of Jean-Michel Basquiat who as a young man sold painted t-shirts and postcards on the streets of Manhattan in order to make money. 

I wanted to do something like that!

Why not take advantage of Hong Kong's lack of busking regulations, I've seen lots of young people setting up in Mong Kok either doing caricatures or playing music. Why shouldn't I do it? While I'm still young and living in the city.

The older I get the more I realize that opportunity is not something that is given, you have to take it.

"Many people have the perception that you have to be granted power, when in reality, you just have to claim it. Power isn’t limited to the possession or command over others. Power is the currency of making $%!^ happen." -- Denna Varshavskaya

So I mustered up my courage and made a Facebook event to let my friends know and posted to my Instagram to tell my followers what I would be up to. I knew I would feel so much more comfortable if even a handful of my friends were around.

My friend Jessica and three super stylish girls who are studying at SCAD, they had seen my invite on Instagram and came out to support! Thanks so much girls for stopping by, you are all so wonderful.

As the night progressed, the more portraits I did, the more confident I became and it was evident (at least to me) that I was getting better. Throughout the day lots of beautiful stylish friends stopped by, including blogger Sybil Kot, aka The Style Voyager. Can you spot her? Hint: look for the signature hair flip!

Polaroids from street photographer Dicky Lai.

And without further ado, the video! Check it out for all the action that day as filmed by the super talented Josh Tam at Josh Takes Photos. He did a beautiful job of capturing the energy of the day. We started at 3pm and as the sun set and evening came around the pier was buzzing with lots of pedestrians and a handful of young local street musicians. It felt great to be sketching in that environment and to be a part of a group who were bring more art and creativity to the streets and people of Hong Kong, however transient.

 

The video and screenshots were all filmed by Josh Tam of Josh Takes Photos, get in touch with him here.

And some more link karma! Ann from Kremb de la Kremb stopped by to get a livesketch that day and wrote a really sweet post with lots of great photos, go check it out on her blog.

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May TMI / This Month I: Was a Dream Girl in a Dream City

Month of May it's a violent thing! I can't believe May has come and gone again. May was indeed a bit violent at least for my schedule. I had three live-drawing gigs booked! One of which was for Lane Crawford, and the second was during Art Basel at the Chai Wan Mei Village event for Tangram x Spottly. This mirror I painted was part of my booth and mini-exhibition where I sat and painted large watercolour portraits for the price of a deep dark secret from my subject.

My illustration for Tatler Hong Kong art month's The Great Debate: Can Art Still Shock? Read the article here. As always thanks to the editor Charmaine.

Sketches at the Xu Bing exhibition at Asia Society. Read more about it on my blog post. 

As I was getting ready for my upcoming trip to London, I found a new use for those watercolour scraps that have no use but are too cute to throw away. I used the paper to pin all my earrings together so they're organized when I'm travelling. I hope people noticed that I wore these very location appropriate Big Ben earrings all throughout my London trip, just like Miss Frizzle would do. Dee. Eye. Why?

My first sketch in London made on the tube from Heathrow to my hostel in Holborn. The Tube, so expensive and so rickety! During my trip, I mostly ended up taking the bus or walking. And since being back in Hong Kong, I have gained back all the weight I lost while walking everywhere in London since being able to afford public transportation again.

First stop in LDN: National Portrait Gallery. NPG! NPG! NPG! This gorgeous mosaic floor was taken at the neighboring National Gallery, dope!

Last month was so special, not only did I get to visit a new country for the first time, but I also got to witness my very special friend designer and illustrator Belinda Love Lee get married in Wales.  During the ceremony inside a beautiful marquee decked out in white and the most delicate shade of grlue (green + blue) I snapped a pic with my pretty university pal Katelyn Bishop, who is also a talented graphic designer.

Sketching Henry Wessel photographs at Tate Modern.

I did a lot of walking when I was in London and during my walks I pretty much stopped at every single charity shop I came across. Retromania by Fara was my favourite, not only are they a really well curated vintage shop but all the proceeds go to charity. I got this super sick 70's white and blue printed batwing dress, can't wait to show you guys!

Sketching Robert Mapplethorpe photos while waiting for my time slot to the Matisse: The Cut-Outs to start. Overlooking St. Paul and the Millennium Bridge, Tate Modern really is a magical space in a magical city.

Love you so much London!
Follow my daily adventures on Instagram - @kittynwong.

Metamorphosis / Xu Bing at Asia Society

Before I left for my holiday in England I was lucky enough to be invited to preview 'It Begins with Metamorphosis' by the acclaimed Chinese artist Xu Bing at Asia Society. Acclaimed usually sounds like some frou-frou word which you use to describe someone who you know nothing about except that they're really famous. But in his case, Xu was rewarded the MacArthur Fellowship in 1999 (yes, the 'Genius Grant'!), so you know he's legit (bow down).

As you walk into the exhibition you are greeted by a large vase of mulberry cuttings, upon closer inspection you see that the stems are covered in small white silkworms feeding on the green leaves. As the show continues, the worms continue to devour the leaves leaving behind nothing but brown stems and the cocoons of the themselves entwined in silk.

I had never been to Asia Society until I went to see the Caravaggio exhibition a few months before, I had only seen pictures and it seemed like a magical secret place hidden amongst the trees high up in Admiralty with an illuminated walkway and peaceful Buddha sculptures. It didn't seem like a real place you could go to in Hong Kong, but alas love is a place and spring was in the air.

CLICK THROUGH to see more photos, sketches and what I wore from my luscious day at Xu Bing's 'It Begins with Metamorphosis' at Asia Society.

April TMI / This Month I: Painted Faces and Left the City

Twenty minute sketch of the historical Nan Yuan Restaurant courtyard in Guangzhou, where it feels like you're eating dim sum at the Forbidden City in the Ming dynasty.

This month, we in Hong Kong were treated to a scrumptious extra-long public holiday over Easter weekend. I took the opportunity to take my mind off work for a few days by taking two mini vacations. First, a day trip to Po Toi O (Cloth Bay Bay) with my friends where we sailed to Kwo Chau Islands and looked at geo formations and then ate copious amounts of seafood.

Then the next day my family and I spent one night and two days in Guangzhou, under magic hour's fading sun, for 2RMB the commuter ferry will take you along the colonial buildings of Shamian Island and under the river's many steel bridges where it looks mysteriously and nostalgically just like sailing down the Paris Seine.

The month started with the much anticipated ParaSite Conference "Is The Living Body The Last Thing Left Alive" at Asia Society, I went because I wanted to learn more about performance art. There's that saying that 'If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room' this room was the exact opposite, everyone in it seemed so much smarter than me they could have been speaking a different language. I felt like a freshman who had accidentally stumbled into a Masters of Philosophy lecture on her first day of school, I spent most of the time doodling the back of people's heads of which there were many interesting hairstyles to choose from.

Reading this month's Vogue I was inspired to do a painting of art dealer Amy Cappaellazzo, this is a WIP shot. 

Last weekend, I had a really wonderful live drawing job booked for the Let's Spa-rty shopping and yoga event organized by Omberry, A Day with Fe and Hanuman, with the proceeds from the yoga session benefitting Mother's Choice. It was such a positive and relaxing place to do live portraits as I listened to the yogis and their teacher practice their downward dogs while I drew and interacted with the guests who came to sit down at my booth. This lovely sketch was one of the last ones I did from the two hour session she was wearing a beautiful millinery creation from Mei Chi, one of the vendors from the day.

At the beginning of the month I had a little more time to paint personal work, but it's since gotten super busy with Art Basel coming up I've got a couple projects on my hands, and a few days of live drawing jobs booked and I'm getting ready for my London trip at the end of this month!

This is a small gouache painting, Vincent Van Girgh she's for sale as beautiful vivid prints on my Etsy shop.

Painting orchids for a bespoke wedding client. I've been getting to research gorgeous Bali landscapes for this job, sigh!

More swirly girly portraits. This one was inspired by Amanda Seyfried in the Givenchy ad campaigns, prints are also availabe for sale on Etsy.

TBT: it's that time of the year again, Le French May, I always have such good feelings toward Le French May, I feel it was an exhibition there that quietly helped steer me into the career I have now, I clearly remember going to the YSL retrospective feeling really inspired by the vast collection they had on display there, all the prints and interesting colours and cuts. Seeing that in combination with the Cary Kwok paintings at ARTHK12 I was so inspired I immediately came home after the exhibition and started making a few illustrations of my own. And then I also created a new blog to share them too, that was two years ago.

And lastly some postcard packages that I sent out this month, with some extra illustrated goodies, a pretty 25% off coupon and my business card. Get yours in my Etsy shop.

For daily updates follow me on Instagram @kittynwong.

Sketchbook Girls / Blue Moon

When I was little, I had a dream dictionary and I was obsessed with anaylizing my dreams and figuring out the grand meanings behind each one. Then I realized that the symbols in my dreams were nothing more than a reflection from the mundane details I had picked up throughout my day.

Inspiration is a bit like that, you could dissect your inspiration like your dreams. This is a sketchbook entry I did last night before bed. I had been listening to Snowblink's gorgeous rendition of Blue Moon all night and was probably inspired by it to paint the blue orb polka dot background. Earlier that day I had watched the Tate Shot: Lorna Simpson video and was really fascinated by the white paint that the analog photo retouchers used in her collection of vintage photographs. Even though I had mostly forgotten about the video, I subconsciously felt a need to outline the figure like in the photographs.

Just as our brains declutter our minds by dreaming, I like the idea that nightly sketchbooking clears out my mind and gets my subconscious onto paper. It's a kind of meditation. 

Did you guys do any type of meditation? And do you find it makes a difference in your life?

This illustration is available as a print in my Etsy shop, go and have a look, I'm always uploading new things.

March TMI / This Month I: Drew Everywhere

This month I drew everywhere, I got out of my studio and into the real world which takes a real effort for most illustrators, its a career where we spend most of our time in front of our easel and hand in assignments via email. The most interesting place at which I set up this month was at the Star Ferry Pier in Tsim Sha Tsui. I did a special pop-up live sketching session and invited friends and strangers to get painted for quick portraits right on the promenade. My friend photographer Josh Tam is making a video of the event which is coming soon!

This beautiful Polaroid is from photographer Dickey Lai.

Here's one of my lovely little models from the day, she was so shy and waited behind me for almost an hour hanging out watching as I did my other portraits, but after a little urging from her dad, my friends and I she finally came around and didn't want to stop posing even after we were done. So cute!

I also got to draw at the Affordable Art Fair for Sassy Hong Kong, see the drawings here. 

And then some more live drawing for the Sassy Mama Awards. I set up a booth and did live portraits for the guest of the events, and it was extremely popular - 2 hours of non-stop drawing! It was exhilarating to interact with real people who were so interested in my work.

And of course, being out in the real world means you should have your business cards ready especially in a city like Hong Kong where it's all about giving out your "card". Make it rain bitches! I ran out of my self-portrait cards and get some new ones printed with my Cat Marnell painting on the back.

Mango, peach and cantaloupe, it was all bright and sweet with Paola, designer of Tangram at the M+ NeonSignsHK exhibition opening party. The night was sponsored by J.Crew and held in a park near Temple Street, directly across from one of the most impressive neon signs in the city.

Photo courtesy of M+.

In an attempt to declutter, I started a new habit where I cut out bits from old drawings that I liked and collage them into my sketchbook which helps to slightly dismantle the mountain of old sketches that are not really good enough to save but of which I feel too precious about to just throw away.

 I drew a lot of girls in my sketchbook, which you can read more about here.

I updated my Etsy shop with new postcards and prints. Go check them out here and get some lovely gifts for your friends (or yourself).

Phew, that was a busy and fun month. And now it's APRIL! Which has so far been very gloomy and dark. Happy Spring everyone and for daily updates get over to my Instagram - @kittynwong.