When I was little, my mom turned on old movies when my dad was out of town. We’d make popcorn and huddle around the tv, absorbed in classic films like Rear Window and To Catch a Thief, in which Grace Kelly lit up the screen. I adored her. In To Catch a Thief, her glamorous character, Francie Stevens, is holidaying in the French Riviera when she meets and falls in love with retired jewel thief John Robie, played by Cary Grant. Francie helps John clear his name and track down the real thief behind the latest string of Côte d’Azur robberies committed in his style. Spoiler: she moves into his French villa and they live happily ever after amongst the vineyards.

In one famous scene from the film, which I illustrated below, Francie is sunbathing at the Carlton Beach Club in Cannes when she catches her first glimpse of John as he is swimming ashore. Her yellow swimsuit and white sunglasses are the first of many iconic looks from the movie.

“Grace in Cannes” is available as a print (in several sizes) or notecards in my shop. 

I teamed up with Will Hunt Lewis of Hunt & Bloom in Houston to design a line of tea towels and totes featuring my illustrations! The launch date, product images and purchasing details will be revealed soon. In the meantime, I wanted to talk a little about the drawings I created for this collaboration. Eek!

Will Hunt has the most fabulous shop thanks to his talent for hunting down the very best pieces. He curates vintage and antique decor alongside modern wares, and I especially admire his eye for art. (I completely fell in love with Will Hunt’s booth at Marburger Farm in Round Top this year–even before I realized it was his. It reminded me of a fabulous brocante in France with so many beautiful antique plates, furnishings and other unique treasures for the home.)

Naturally, when Will Hunt reached out about working together on a collection for his shop, I immediately said yes! He tasked me with creating several illustrations within three themes: “Easy Entertaining,” “Chintzy Chairs” and “Colorful Intaglios.” We also included a “bonus” design–more to come on that!

• For our Easy Entertaining theme, I imagined how hostesses might look and dress during the 1950s and ’60s. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Mad Men both came to mind! Truly, there is nothing I’d love more than to attend a cocktail party during that era so these were a blast to bring to life. How perfect are these chic hostesses for a set of tea towels??

• When Will Hunt suggested we do a series of Chintzy Chairs, my inner maximalist rejoiced at the idea. I’ve never met a chintz pattern I didn’t like. I illustrated several chair silhouettes to showcase how these sweet floral patterns can bring any style of furniture to life. They have so much personality! I especially love our dark wood frame chair design with a hint of pattern on the cushion.

• Our Colorful Intaglio designs are a spin on the classic grand tour intaglio, but in rainbow-bright hues à la Bridie Hall! I have several framed intaglios hanging throughout my house and love the three-dimensional quality of intaglios, which I tried to get across in my illustrations. In the same vein, I also added a “bonus” drawing to this series inspired by a pair of my cameo earrings. We cannot wait for you to see! More soon. xoxo

People often ask what kind of artist I am. My medium has always been colored pencil, which is a bit rare I suppose. But my mom is a colored pencil artist, so I grew up standing on my tip toes at her drafting board to get a glimpse at her latest artworks. And each Christmas, my grandmother gave me new colored pencil sets. So it never really occurred to me to use anything else and it probably says a lot about my personality too, because I like the control that colored pencils provide. Maybe someday I’ll try watercolors (and bravo to those of you who do because I love watercolor illustrations!), but for now no watery messes or drips for me.

My absolute favorite colored pencils are Prismacolor Premier. I haven’t been able to find anything better! They go on so smooth, they blend well and there are a million color options. They’re a bit soft so I use a hand-held pencil sharpener as opposed to an electric one to prevent as much breakage as possible. I currently have this one and I like that it’s really sharp, which helps create a super fine point, and that it has a canister to catch the shavings. There are few things more frustrating than a rogue pencil shaving, which can mark up a clean piece of in-progress art. That being said, a dust brush is absolutely crucial to brush away any shavings or other annoying bits. Which brings me to my favorite kneaded eraser, which doesn’t shed like rubber erasers. It also picks up the color without smearing or damaging the paper and can be shaped into a point to lift out small highlights. So an eraser is as much a tool for creating the actual art as it is for erasing any mistakes. I keep all of these supplies in shoe boxes on my desk. Very professional, I know! 🙂

And lastly, I look for paper that’s relatively smooth. My favorite Canson Biggie Sketch paper was discontinued (oh, the devastation!), so I’ve been testing others. Lately, Strathmore Drawing paper (medium surface and weight) has been my go-to. I buy it in 11×14″ sheets and use a paper cutter if a client wants a smaller size.

In terms of tools for actually creating my illustrations, that’s about it! It’s really important to test things out because once you find what you like, it makes the process so much easier and reduces the guess work. I’ll post later about my scanner and printer and how I digitize my works, all of which deserve a post of their own.