Wedding Invitations for the D'Angelo-Earlys

Invitations I designed for the happy couple!

Last weekend I was a witness for one of my best friend's weddings. The ceremony was short and sweet with lots of laughter and none of the rigidness that I've come to expect from weddings. It was heartfelt (I criiiiied), wonderful, and in a beautiful location we're both very close to.

They're so cute together! And look at those sparklers on their fingers!

Shteppé D'Angelo is a friend I've known since I was 11. Her name is originally Stephanie, but more than a decade of inside jokes has led my family and all of my present friends to refer to her as Shtep.

Stephanie > Step-on-me > Steppy > Shteppé > Shtep

Totally normal. 


Shtep and I met in middle school on our first day of 7th grade. We were the new kids in class. I was moving from Los Angeles, and she was moving from another town in the south shore of MA. Basically, two guidance counselors pushed us together and said, "MAKE FRIENDS!"

Shtep was wearing a black snake skin vest with matching flared pants and an Axel Rose bandana across her forehead. I was wearing silver leopard print pants, a poofy vest and a bucket hat. The first thing I said to her was, "I like your pants." And our fate as friends was sealed from there.

We're super-duper grown-ups now!

I'm not exaggerating when I say I feel that her husband, Chris, is the perfect person for her. We've seen much of each others' lives (including some lame ex-boyfriends on both counts), and I have no doubt that they're meant to be together. It's already been years! I'm not worried about them at all.

Front of the invitations.

Back of the invitations.

Special gold envelopes with a big pixelated heart stenciled on them!

 I designed their invitation, and they wanted to go with an old school video game style. The significance of the Mario/Princess Peach spin-off is that they met while he was the manager of a video game store. They're both super nerdy gamer nuts (tattoos included), and they have such a blast together. They were really happy with how they came out, and that's all that matters to me. I made them a special poster too for guests to sign at the reception.

With the poster at the end of the reception - I'm so happy they loved it.  <3

Congrats to them both, and thank you for including me for such a special day. 

Love you both. 

Punching it up a Notch

Momo works as my studio assistant part-time

I work with so many incredibly talented people at Converse. I'm truly lucky to have such a wealth of different skills and talents around me to give/get critique and work on projects I normally wouldn't get to. Recently my coworker Katie Blauer, a super talented and trained eye for footwear of all kinds, asked me to add a little neon to some beautifully-crafted silk flowers for a pair of heels she was making.

 I told her I own all the neon paint ever and that this would be no problem.

The beautiful Matthew Williamson dress

Katie brought me a beautiful Matthew Williamson dress to use as reference, making note of the unique green and pink orchids printed on the fabric. I picked out about 12 tubes to work with and got settled in my studio on one of the nicest days of the year so far.

Holbein Acryla gouache

The finished flowers

And yes, I know what you're thinking: That's a LOT of paint tubes for such a tiny project. But I'm very picky about mixing and creating unique hues. I don't often use any color straight out of the tube. And especially working within the neon spectrum, I wanted to go balls-to-the-wall to enhance these babies.

The finished pair, with neon toe straps and champagne waterfall fringe.

The complete look!

You can check out more of Katie's work at www.katieblauer.com. I'm pumped to say that she's helping me with my wedding shoes next year!!

Nefertara

It's been a busy summer so far! I've been working on several projects including cd artwork for the band Oilhead, a piece for a show in London and all sorts of odds and ends projects. I've also been planning my wedding! I can't wait to design the living shit out of it. There are a lot of things I have to keep secret for now, but I'll post them as soon as I can!

But I wanted to post a quick drawing I made of the beautiful Nefertara. She's a sweet, creative, old soul who's been reinventing herself through her alter egos long before Lady Gaga. Probably Elizabeth Taylor in a past life, she never stops making new wigs, costumes, jewelry, eyelashes, and accessories. Check out her site if you get a chance!

 

 

Not that I even need to mention how striking her eyes and expression are, but outside of her natural beauty she's not afraid to look strange or grotesque for the sake of art. That's something I can really appreciate and identify with. As artists, we can have so much fun if we let go of our fears of what others may think. I'm still learning how to do that myself.

Nefertara even posted about me on her buzznet page if you want to check it out! Thank you so much! <3