HAPPY WEEKEND!

Sat down and sketched this quick watercolor today
just to wish my wonderful
Instagram, Twitter, Blog and Facebook friends,
a fabulous weekend filled with sunshine!

Also just dropped by today to mention
that I just picked up prints

of my illustration of a glam dressing room
and am fulfilling orders right now ...
are those cute feet behind the door yours, I wonder?

The paper size is 11 "x``14" (a standard frame size)
and the image is 8" x 10" ...
perfect for a little dressing room or walk-in closet glamour!
Price is $20 for each print,
shipping/handling $7.95 U.S.

If shipping international, leave me a note as to country
and I'll get back to you with shipping costs.

Once more, because we can never say it enough ...
HAPPY WEEKEND, FRIENDS!

OOH LA FROU FROU

is the blog of illustrator

SANDY M

Illustrations in this post
are the work of SANDY M
(c) SANDY M ~ all rights reserved

First Week of Summer

Hi everybody!

In my last post, I announced that for the second summer in a row,

I would be taking the summer months of June, July and August

off, more or less, from my regular blog posts to:

(1) enjoy summer while it's here;

(2) soak in lots of inspiration;

(3) take some summer trips;

(4) illustrate some exciting things for fall!

But, I also mentioned that I'd be stopping in now and then

(not on any regular schedule) to say hello

and to let you know what I've been up to

and see what you all have been doing.

This is one of THOSE short posts!

So ...

since this was the first week of unofficial summer,

I thought I'd drop by!

Well, the first week of my summer has been

rather cool, so there's been no beach time yet.

The month of May had some fab mid-80's days

but this first week of June cooled off and we've had drizzly days

with highs of 70 in the afternoon ...

and that means mornings have been chilly most days.

So ...

during this first week, I've been

very busy in the studio with an EXCITING

new opportunity that's popped up

(more about that later!).

I've also been getting the first floor bedroom of the house

whipped up as a guest room especially for my dad to use when he's over

to enjoy some fishing, boating or swimming in the backyard lake. 

The room is being painted the same beautiful

 pale blue-green of the living room

(Benjamin Moore Icing on the Cake, a color I just love!)

but the backs of the built-in bookshelves are being painted

Benjamin Moore Deep Royal , allowing the

crisp white of the shelves to pop against the deep blue color.

Since my home is actually on some water,

I wanted to give his room the beach house style

that the rest of the house will have.

I've been picking up items for wall decor and bedding ...

(so a lunch and shopping trip with bff was required this week, of course) ...

and plans are in the works for a white upholstered headboard

that I will be making.

I'll be sharing some of  the room details in another post

once it's further along!

Even though I've been extremely busy this week

in the studio, each day of this first week in June,

 I've been breaking in the afternoon for a bit

to walk in the sunshine, sometimes stopping to read for a bit

in the park or take photos of lily pads on the water to frame in the house

or sit with my father when he dropped over one day this week

and wanted to fish for a while from the shore.

Each day is cherished.

But I'm so looking forward to the warmer weather

that is predicted to return next week

so my summer time will look more like like this ... 

   

I'll end this little hello post

with a few of my summer illustrations

that were previously on summer notecards ...

I have had many requests as to whether

previous illustrations of mine

could be sold as prints for dressing rooms, etc.

(one of the latest requests was for several of my prints

to be used to form a glamorous art gallery wall 

for a daughter's room .. chic!) ...

just let me know if you'd like to have a print created

and it can be done!

(...with the exception of custom illustrations created for clients)

Price would depend upon image and size but most prints are from

$20 for 8"x10" to $30 for larger.

If interested, drop me a line here with the illustration

you're interested in!

It's easy to browse past illustrations by looking through

Ooh La Frou Frou posts.

What has your first week in June been like?

I'd love to know!

'Til next time ...

OOH LA FROU FROU

is the blog of illustrator

SANDY M

Above images and sources can be found here

Let the Fun Begin

Summer.
It's Officially Unofficially Here!
Starting with Memorial Day weekend, it's as if confetti has been
shot into the air to gently fall to the ground all during the months of
June, July and August in celebration.

And celebrate I DO!
If you follow me, you know by now that I'm definitely a
SUMMER GIRL.
Nothing is better to me than:
the scent of sweet summer air from an open window in the morning,
days purposefully planned to contain NO plans other than the spontaneous,
spreading out a blanket in the sun, closing my eyes and seeing the shadows
of the leaves of the tree above me as they gently move in the breeze,
barbecues and bonfires,
lemonade on the porch,
trips to farm stands and farmer's markets,
the feel of sand under my feet,
the sound of soft waves lapping the shore,
long weekend trips & summer vacations,
early morning walks admiring beautifully landscaped homes,
sultry nightwalks past the golden-lit houses,
dinners alfresco,
outdoor soirees and pastel sundresses,
days and days of beach time and boating,
walks along wooded hiking trails,
bicycling, badminton, croquet,
good summer reads,
firefly watching and night cricket sounds ...
just to name a few.

You get the drift ... I feel strongly about summer ...

  

If you should walk past my home during the summer,
you would probably hear soft tunes wafting through the air
of some summer favorites like
this, this or  this.
My love of summer

is often reflected in my illustrations, as well.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that
during the summer months,
I will be on a "non-schedule" schedule here at the blog.
In other words, there will essentially be no set blog schedule
for June, July and August.
Rather than a weekly post every Monday during these months,
I'll probably be popping in only a couple of times a month
(on no particular day) to keep you posted on anything new
 and to say hello and hear what's new with you!
I'll always announce one of these laid-back posts
on Twitter, Instagram, Vine and Facebook,
so, if you follow me there (please do!), you won't miss a thing!

I did much the same thing schedule-wise last summer
and it was very restoring and highly recommended ...
(Remember how we felt in school with the summer off to play? Uh-huh.).
Along with having the time to enjoy the pleasures of summer,
it also gives me time to let inspiration soak in,
and to plan future illustrations and exciting projects.
During the summer, I'll still be busy with commissioned illustrations,
as usual, so if there's something you'd like, just drop me a line here.

In the meantime ...
as of now you can consider me for the summer ...
"Gone Fishin' for Fun!"

P.S.

One of my wonderful blog readers said that
the following photo from last week's post
(where I mentioned that the photo makes you wonder where
the girl in the floral dress is going
and what the storyline would be that would accompany this image),
made her crave one of my stories (thanks so much, Teri) ...
so maybe I'll have to create an accompanying story
 for it sometime this summer ...
what do you think?
After all ... we all like a beach read ;)


Hope you all had a marvelous weekend!
I'll be chatting with you sometime soon!

PRETTY THINGS

Have you ever thought about how many times every week
things cross our paths that we fleetingly acknowledge as pretty
and then go on about our lives?
Maybe we should start a PRETTY journal,
sort of like the better-known grateful journal ...
to make note of all of the many lovely things that
we notice on any given day.

I can't imagine a world without pretty.
They don't have to be big dramatic things ...
even though they sometimes are.

Here are a just a few of the pretty things 

that have met my eyes and were remembered lately ... 

My first pretty thing was SO pretty
that I had to illustrate it ...
this gorgeous glazed and dreamy Christian Dior floral skirt
reminded me of watercolors the moment I saw it on Pinterest,
so you know I had to create it in watercolor.
This bit of prettiness is from 

Paris Fashion Week, Spring 2013
and the tight black tee and flouncy black scarf

are the perfect accompaniment ...

For a different type of prettiness,
if you follow me on Instragram 

you may have seen two of the following three
personal photos of pretty things
snapped in the last few days ...

In the first,
as the sun was setting one evening, this crabapple tree in my backyard
with all of its white flowers seemed to glow
as I watched from the side porch swing ...

... and when those white petals fell, it looked exactly like big handfuls of confetti
being thrown and landing on the backyard path ...

Sometimes even a mid-afternoon snack can
beg to be photographed ...
this glossy and juicy pineapple was as pretty
as it was delicious ...

Speaking of Instagram,
three of the lovelies that I follow there
 never fail to fill my i-phone screen with
NYC PRETTINESS on a regular basis ...
I love their snapped glimpses of New York
(a city you know I adore).
Following are the Instagram links to each and
a photo that they recently posted ...

The first of these is @jessikaholiday ...

... the next is @iviwolf

and the third is @katiearmour ...

And we all know
there's so much beauty on Pinterest,
I had to include just a little of the prettiness that I've pinned lately ...

... you may think these gloves are real, but they're not ...
they're the decorations on the top of a cake ...

via

... what is it about macarons that makes them so pretty? ...

via

... I love a photo that makes you wonder what the accompanying
storyline would be ... and whatever the storyline would be for this image,
I'm sure it's as deliciously pretty as the picture ...

via

If you're like me, chocolate is always pretty ...
and this pretty Chocolate Truffle Tart is a good example ...
 
via

Whatever the new week holds,
I hope it's filled with pretty things!
Till next Monday ...

OOH LA FROU FROU

is the blog of illustrator SANDY M

For custom illustration inquiries
contact Sandy here