ate like a vegan last night.

drawing by me. Q&A with the author, Kim Barnouin

SPICY VEGETABLE CURRY
- heat oil, ginger, garlic and saute for 30 sec.
- add coconut milk, water, red curry past, miso, and curry powder, and stir until well combined. reduce heat to low and simmer 20 min.
- in another saucepan, heat oil, mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, and okra and saute 3 min.(ish)
- add salt and pepper to taste.
- add veggies to sauce and cook 10 min.(ish)
- garnish with lime and red pepper flakes. serve with jasmine rice.

this was so delicious it inspired me to sit up late and sketch it out. i made a few changes to the recipe. *I couldn't find white miso paste so I had to use tomato paste instead.. it was the only paste i had. i was just going to skip over it but it's a big portion of the ingredients, it gives the sauce substance. i was having a skype dinner date with my friend, Monica, and she encouraged me to just throw it in and it helped make the entire thing! i'm sure the miso stuff is great and will be great when i track it down (probably at a local asian foods store) but my version wasn't too shabby. i went super light on the ginger too. i don't know how someone could eat so much ginger as they sell at once. not really a fan. the only other changes were that i didn't have red pepper to garnish.. i thought i did, but i didn't. i sprinkled a TOUCH of cayenne pepper in the sauce before i dropped the veggies in though and who knows, maybe it made a difference. and i used just plain ol white rice. i had some in the cupboard and it went perfectly. if you make this, let me know how it turns out.. i thought it was absolutely yummy.

looking down on a made up town.

american apparel bodysuit, forever 21 skirt, steve madden sandals.

Milton Glaser draws and lectures.

i saw these wonderful videos of Milton Glaser recently and thought it'd be great to share. if you don't already know, Milton Glaser is a famous graphic designer, widely known for being the designer of the I <3 NY logo, but he has also done an immense amount of other work that is really fascinating. Born in 1929, an original gangster, if you will. if you do just a little research on him, you'll see that he does a lot of hand drawn, hand painted pieces and as wonderful as digitally illustrated things are, there's nothing like the real, raw interpretation of form. 

i really enjoy drawing and sketching, as a child i spent several summers at horse-back riding camps and when we would have some downtime at the farmhouse (yeah, i'm pretty country), we would go out on nature walks and sketch (as i remember, a lot of covered bridges) and i was actually pretty good! then growing up in junior high and high school - you know how it is, even though i was a fairly active member in my high school's art program i just didn't do it as much as i would've liked but then again, who knows what i was thinking back then. i got back into it during college and even excelled in drawing nude models using charcoal and kneaded erasers, i loved it. i'll have to dig them up. now, idk how many professional nude models i can get these days but even if it's not in your private studio, in the medium of your choice and you sketch for only 10 minutes a day, it's probably just as good for your health as that trusty apple.

"When children are prevented from drawing, their brains don't develop fully." - Frank Wilson

now if you have some time you should watch this incredible video of his lecture at the School of Visual Arts Theatre. it's worth it (around 3/4 of the way through, it starts Q&A)

he introduces the phrase, "the act of making things that move minds" which is magic because i feel that is the most valuable purpose of creating art. especially when it is in a way to bring opposition together.

his studies of light and dark inspire me, about what can be seen within lines and pattern being repeated when only the color is changed. through his pieces, he demonstrates how things can be "seen" that are not really there. "it only exists in your mind, it has no physical reality"... way to flip it on anyone who believes "whatever you can't see, isn't real". 

i also loved the part about taking two different types of art and putting them together, he combines a study of shakespeare with the idea of pattern making and i know that my fellow creatives will appreciate the idea of combining different types of art forms with one another. we love to collaborate, it's one of the best things about the industry we work in.

there's also a brilliantly insightful video here on miltonglaser.com

"There's nothing more exciting than to see somebody change from sort of a condition of...inertness or inattentiveness into a mind that begins to inquire about meaning. I think if you don't do something to project into the future that way, the possibility for total self-absorbsion and narcism becomes very much greater." 

what do you think? do think drawing could have a great impact on our perception of life?

teenage mutant ninja turtles, obviously.

mira! last weekend, as val, her equally cool bf, our good friend Marcos and i walked from our favorite bar in wynwood - Gramps, we stumbled over this really cool street art. i HAD to instagram it. then the really cool thing about the internet happened, the artist somehow saw and liked my photo! and he creates graffiti art all over wynwood. check it out. lof instagram | lof facebook

lof

lof

ART & HUSTLE "THE WANT TO SLIGHTLY TRAVEL"

see full article "The Want To Slightly Travel" at A&H Mag.

ART & HUSTLE "A COLD SUMMER"

see full article "A Cold Summer" at A&H Mag.

HERE COMES THE SUN

wardrobe: Back In Style

photography: Valerie Petralia

styling/design: Brandy Swope

model: Marcos Rezende

i'm starting to get inspired for a new project with a shoot Valerie and i did a while back... seems like forever ago now. 

isn't that jacket exquisite?? a full editorial coming soon. :)

REMEMBER

photo 1 - photo 2 - photo 3 - photo 4

JUST FOCUS

image over this image.

the past few weeks in a nutshell. the image underneath is very beautiful and you should go see the original. it's very true on how overthinking can get to you. 

it's important to have that meditation time (which i haven't given myself a lot of lately - that regathering, cleansing time to recharge the ole' battery.) 

i'm starting to get it together though, girls. i am. to be honest, i need some financial stability up in here. so, i really have to buckle down and focus on something great for my career and my living situation in the present - you knowutmsyn.

so, as stressful as it may be... things needs to be done.. some risks, some changes and some sacrifices need to be made.

if you guys have some tips on how you keep yourself focused and on track with staying balanced - that'd be great. :) always good to hear some friendly feedback and advice whenever you're having one of those weeks. or so.

- love, love, love,
B

ART & HUSTLE - 1

images: Charles Alexander Neckwear + Facebook fan page (like!)
design: Brandy Swope

see full interview HERE at A&H Mag.

i am so proud, excited and tickled to death to be a part of Art & Hustle Magazine - it's hard to put into words. I could not be more grateful and straight-up-pumped to be working with an awesome team and a beautiful magazine focused on men's fashion, style, art and interesting people. 

go "like" Art & Hustle here. :)

SERIOUSLY, WE WERE JUST . . .

wardrobe: American Apparel

styling + design: Brandy Swope

photography: Valerie Petralia

so the location of this particular shoot was kind of barren and we made the best of what we had, which turned out to be pretty great actually... these christmas lights were perfect because they were nice and bright - not the teeny little ones that probably would've taken us the entire day to unravel.  so grateful for that. 

and Valerie caught this photo of me that i love quite a bit i'd say. i was simply going to make it my super cool profile pic, but then i started messing with it. . . there is a beautiful window in the original image of this that i cropped out during my experimental process which i will probably make use of someday. but until then. . . i'm still gonna make this my profile pic. cause long hair, pretty glare - don't care. 

whaddya think? i'm likin the pattern! :)

EDITORIAL - 2

wardrobe: Maddie Flanigan

photography: Valerie Petralia

styling + design: Brandy Swope

model: Maddie Flanigan

this shoot was a lot of fun to say at the least. basically a mini party of 3 girls throwing shakers of glitter and dancing to a gloriously loud ipod.. it was a very cute surprise to find out Maddie gets her groove from lil wayne and rihanna.. i know there's a short video of this somewhere.

the beautiful dress Maddie is wearing is another one of her amazing pieces. my jaw dropped to the floor when she removed it from it's wrapper (that's the only appropriate name for this little droplet of eye candy) and then she told me it was hers... i adore the way it falls, the way it looks when she's dancing. simple yet fancy.. classy yet fun. actually, a lot like Maddie herself.

EDITORIAL - 1

 

wardrobe: Maddie Flanigan
photo: Valerie Petralia
styling: Brandy Swope
model: Maddie Flanigan

B&W

been feelin' like every one of these photos lately. it seems so much more impossible to pull yourself out of a slump when you really don't have the strength for slumps of any kind.

1/2/3/4/5/6

2 PHOTOS

these two photos remind me of one another. . . they somehow go together in my mind.

PILE IT ON

when it comes to design and styling in general, i tend to stay minimalistic. but then there's times where i run into styling and images like these and i'm torn between being particular and just being able to have fun with color and shapes and all of the possibilities that could happen! the temptation is just too much to resist. my inner child comes out running and screaming with paint strewn through my hair and toilet paper rolls tied around my waist wielding sparkly baton swords. yes, you should watch out.

swissted/youaremyfave/100layercake/yayeveryday

BLUE + YELLOW

just thought all of these looked great together.

these images are nat mine. flickr/trendytraveler

try.

found here.

two colors.

found here, here + here.

2 pretty colors.

found here + here. design by brandy swope.