all together now

Well in the mad scramble that has been my life of late, I forgot to mention that my drawing was selected as one of fifteen winning poster designs for the talented, sultry and sweet Gabby Young and Other Animals and their
All Together Now UK Tour! If you happen to be in one of the fine, lucky towns on the night of a show, I urge you to stop in and have a listen. It's eccentric, eclectic, electric and most of all, romantic. Swooning is inevitable.

Having returned from wooing Americans in New York and California, the group will be stealing hearts around the UK this autumn, and hopefully one day, pop on over to our fair city of Istanbul. Ms. Young's voice and our skies... I can't think of a more perfect match.

See the other winning designs here, courtesy of Amelia's Magazine.
They're simply fabulous.

in print

Guess whose winning Fluevog Creative ad is in this month's issues of BUST, Inked, and FILTER magazines? That's right! Many, many thanks for all your votes— we did it!

little red, unveiled

Check out the side of the LA Fluevog store on Melrose!
That's my winning Fluevog Creative ad there on the left, right next to my friend Aurel's awesome ad. Let's hear it for the creatives of Istanbul! Once again, thank you all for your support— I couldn't have done it without you.

If you'd like to try your hand at creating an ad for John Fluevog's oh-so fabulous shoes, stop by their site and check out the open briefs. Winning means $1000 worth of shoes and your ad getting published over 250,000 times in the coolest magazines internationally!

victory

Ladies and Gents, it's official. We have won the Fluevog Creative competition! I cannot express the joy I am feeling right now— not only did we win, but we grabbed over 63% of the vote! Thank you so very much for your votes, your encouragement and all the wonderful messages and emails I've received. It's a great feeling to win something I've wanted, but to have had the support I've gotten— wow. I feel truly honoured. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I need to go jump up and down, then get some sleep for tomorrow, as I'm off to visit my sister Natasha in Dubai. I can't wait!

the word

Thanks to some very lovely people, the word about my Little Red Riding Hood is spreading! Christan over at I C U In Paris, has written a wonderful post about the Fluevog Creative competition I am trying so hard to win, encouraging her readers to vote for me— and to swing by our humble little Harika. Christan has also shared some artwork from my website, and to my delight, the post received the nicest comments! I am thrilled, to say the least. I C U Paris is a delicious blog dedicated to unique and independent jewellery design, and is a pleasure to click through. If you've got an ounce of magpie in you, do fly by her blog.


Kenneth Edwards, photographer extraordinaire, has been so incredibly supportive, appealing to the readers of his blog, The Urban Nomad, to vote for me. Kenneth was an enormous help in the last competition, urging friends and readers to help me win— no doubt the narrow margin by which I lost was so thin in part due to his effort. Have a look at his wonderfully rich and atmospheric photographs at Urban Nomad.

Thank you both, Christan and Kenneth, I am so grateful for your support and kind words. I'd also like to thank my family, friends and all of you— the encouragement I have been receiving is overwhelming. I feel so fortunate. We can do this!

So my friends, let's get our vote on! There are only THREE days left.
Don't forget that you can vote every day until noon Feb. 8!

• VOTE HERE •

LET'S WIN THIS TIME!

Alright my friends, my Little Red Riding Hood is a finalist in the Fluevog Creative competition! Winning means my art will get published over 250,000 times internationally. Last time we lost by a mere 1%— let's do this!

Vote every day until NOON Feb. 8th at Fluevog.com.

If you tweet, blog, or are on Facebook, please spread the word. Get your friends, family, pets and strangers to join in— I need as many votes as I can get!

Thank you so much for your support!

if at first you don't succeed

After two weeks of hand-cramping, eye-straining, joyous inking and gouaching, I've finally finished my entries for Operation Win Fluevog Creative Phase II. You may remember how last month, I lost my first attempt at winning the Fluevog Creative ad design competition for my shoe, the Mini Zaza. It was a close battle— I lost by a mere 1%— and well, if at first you don't succeed, keep on trying.

So here we go. These are my two entries for the Hope shoe, in various stages of completion so you can check out some of the detail and effort I've scrawled into these two pieces. Both were created with labour intensive lines of India ink and gouache colour, but the heart one has a digital touch added to the background rays and doves.

Let's hope we make it to the finals!


Now where's that simitçi drawing I was working on?

back to the drawing board

Sadly my friends, despite our efforts, I did not win the Fluevog Creative competition. I so badly wanted to have the opportunity to not only get published, but to do the ad for the shoes I designed. There are more briefs that I might participate in, but I did not enjoy the stress of blasting out emails and facebook messages, etc. to try and win. If I choose to compete again, I'll just toss my piece into the mix and see what happens. Anyhow, ads come and go, but the shoes, they will stay— and those shoes are Zazas. I bought myself a bright red lipstick and got back to what I do best: drawing.

Thank you all for your support and words of kindness— surely I wouldn't have gotten as close as I did without you. I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.

Have a marvellous holiday!

fluevog creative

Fluevog has opened their doors to us shoe lovers to create an ad for a selection of their oh-so fabulous shoes. The lucky winners get to have their artwork, name and url printed over 250,000 times in the snazziest of magazines— oh and to top it off, $1000 worth of Fluevogs! Did I enter?
You betcha. I sent my drawing in at the last minute for my shoe, the Mini Zaza, and as fantastic luck would have it, I'm one of the finalists!
Am I hopping up and down as I type this?
Yes, yes I am.

So dear friends, if you like my ad, go to Fluevog.com and vote for me.
If you feel moved by the shoes currently involved (and I'm sure you will be), enter your own creation for a chance at shoe heaven.

Also, if you have a dream shoe kicking around in your brain and would like a chance at getting it made into a real shoe, draw it up and submit it to
Fluevog's Open Source Footwear. If your shoe is chosen, you have the glory of having a Fluevog named after you! It's a marvellous thing, I tell you.