Come to My Toronto Art Exhibition! Shoes / Off: Drawings by Kitty N. Wong

The date's been set and the art's been printing! It's all happening!
If you follow me on Instagram you've probably noticed I've been dropping hints about my upcoming art exhibition. Well everything's been confirmed and I can finally share!

Shoes / Off: Drawings by Kitty N. Wong is taking place from October 20 - November 10 at Cafe Pamenar in Kensington Market in Toronto.
Opening Night: Oct 22, 2013 from 7:30 - 11:00pm and you're all invited!

If you have any friends that will be in town too, please please please tell them! It's gonna be an awesome time. I'm going to be at the opening night doing live sketches of the guests and asking them the stories behind the shoes they're wearing, just like the Shoes I Never Wear series. All the archival art prints at the show are all for sale and I'll be selling some very limited postcards/mini-prints as well. SO COME!

I've been so busy these last two weeks, with printing, finishing up freelance projects and setting up the show before I leave for Canada. I'm jokingly referring to it as my "sabbatical" since I'm celebrating my first year of being a freelance illustrator! I'll be heading back to my hometown Abbotsford (a small suburb outside of Vancouver) and then to Toronto where I'll be doing the show!
It feels so good to know that I've put in 100% and soon will be kicking it in Canada eating at the ABC Country Restaurant and buying old fashion sweets at the Clayburn Village Store (lemon bon bons please!) like nobody's business.

A huge huge huge thank you goes to my dear dear friend Markus Doerr for helping me make this exhibition happen, he found the venue and has been dealing with all the Toronto things and for putting up with my bossy text messages at 2 in the morning. Thank you so much Markus!

Please help me share the event by using the social media buttons below and RSVP'ing to the Facebook event! Thank you so much and I hope I'll get to meet some of you lovely readers there!

Free Shipping on Society 6 on Prints and Phone Cases

FREE SHIPPING in my Society6 Print Shop this weekend! From now until Sunday (PST), get it gurrrrl (or boyzz).

Use this link right here for the discount: http://society6.com/kittynwong?promo=7151d3

Recent Work / Burberry SS14 Predictions for Bagaholic Boy

Just a quick update on my most recent project for the Singapore fashion blog Bagaholic Boy, he's going to London for the Spring-Summer 2014 Womens Burberry Prorsum show and to celebrate he invited three illustrators: Olga the Cat creator Ridhwan Sesapar, HsulynnPang and yours truly to predict what might be shown on the runways this season.

Bagaholic Boy asked us to predict the show using the men's collection so I wanted to create an ideal Burberry girl and have her wardrobe match her boyfriend's SS14 look. And being the ideal Burberry couple they would even own a dog named Prossy (adopted of course, named after Burberry Prossum), a collie just like the one from the ad campaigns.

Thanks so much for the fun project Alvin!

To read more about it and to see the other wonderful illustrations from the projects check out BagaholicBoy's post.

Sketches / Streetstyle at Hong Kong's Fashion Night Out 2013

Emma in a one of a kind Tangram floor length dress with a blue Hawaiian print paired with geometric patterned flats from Square Street.

 The Bumbys.

Guess what! It's Fashion Night Out in Hong Kong again. How fast a year goes by I still remember it like yesterday making needlework with artist Suzie Stanford and eating thrice my share of salted caramel XTC gelato.

The Bumbys were there this year. They are an anonymous performance art duo who will give you "a fair and honest appraisal of your appearance". I hadn't heard of them until visiting the FNO website but immediately upon reading I was seized with jealous for not coming up with the idea myself and vowed to go early to get a glance and a judge. And early I went, at 6pm Friday night my friend and I got into the IFC Lane Crawford and found them, Theee Bummmmbys, tap tap taping away on their 80's style typewriters and so we got in line. But alas, we had misread the fine print and The Bumbys were a with purchase only activity and we were promptly kicked out of line left wondering if our outfits had been good enough for the red duo.

Matching candy coloured dolly outfits.

Blogger Nick Chan.

JJ Acuna, aka The Wanderlister in front of the entrance.

The Moustache Cocktail Bar.

In prep school girl looks: a sky blue dress with beautiful godet detail paired with a cat photo print clutch and a light wash jean jacket. Her friend in a cable knit sweater, raw silk pleated skirt and brogues, naturally.

It was a fun night, I was really happy for a chance to get out of the house and be social again after being sick for so long. And it was a nice chance to meet new friends and see old ones.

Hope you enjoyed the sketches! They're ball point pen (my new favourite these days, so loose and fuss free) and coloured digitally.

Vintage Hawaiian Print Girl and Prep School prints without watermark are for sale on my print shop if you loved 'em and wanna have them in your homes! 

Check out last year's Fashion Night Out post here.

Updated / Kitty N. Wong Features on the Interwebs and Beyond.

Ahh. What a breath of fresh air. I finally updated my Featured page.
Have I just been looking at it for too long or is 'feature' a really strange word?

Go check out the new page, it's super fresh!

Thoughts / On Turning 26 and Not Being Afraid To Go After What You Want

September 1st is the first day of school here in Hong Kong and it is also my birthday.
First day of school is kind of a shitty way to start all your birthdays but it is also exciting to open up all your new textbooks and use your brand new stationery, it's a chance every year to begin anew.

This year I turned 26, and that's how I feel about it. It's a time to begin again.

I don't usually feel different "more grown up" after a birthday, I mean it's not like our brains are tuned into this arbitrary date where our subconscious magically changes after the stroke of midnight. Or I dunno, maybe it does, someone call VSauce.

But this year was different, the week before my birthday I started caring less about looking foolish and caring a lot more about going after and getting the things that I wanted. I felt more determined.

 I thought about this Steve Job's quote a lot.

"All external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart." - Steve Jobs

I had just gotten back from a trip from Beijing with my parents with gave me a lot of time to think. My talented fashion designer friend Cristina Sabaiduc messaged me to encourage me to submit my fashion history comics to big online publications and I timidly did. And surreally I got a response.

But this is just where it begins.

I'm at a point where it feels like things that were once my wildest dreams can happen, but only if I grab those faint mist of ideas, shake them away from the foggy surroundings of my erratic brain and then work relentlessly at it and not let it go and not get scared then maybe I could have those things that I so desperately and so secretly want.

*The story behind that silly cat desk picture at the top. But whatever, I'm not gonna apologize for it, it's cute and I'm standing up on my baby deer legs now.