April 24, 2013

Sketches | Girl in Andy Wolf Cat Eye Frames

girl in gold cat eye frames wacom digital sketch
I've been thinking about getting new glasses lately and I've been thinking about these gorgeous Andy Wolf gold flecked Bettie Page inspired cat eye frames I saw at Piyi Optical a while ago but sadly they are well over my budget.

I made this little sketch of those glasses when I first got my Wacom tablet and I'm better at using it now but this one has such cute colours I thought I'd share it anyways.

Whenever I pass by a Piyi Optical I can't resist going in and trying on a million pairs of their glasses (sorry sale staff!). And I've been looking for cat eye glasses that look good on my face since forever (like middle school probably) and these Andy Wolf 5002 are just the perfect shade of flattering granny for me.

andy wolf 5002 Bettie Page cat eye glasses


April 22, 2013

Sketch | Happy Earth Day

watercolor sketch of growing sprout plant for Earth Day
Just a quick little sketch to wish you all a Happy Earth Day!

Speaking of green things, I've been trying to start a small compost bin on my rooftop and I'm not sure how well that is going, I went to check on it today and it had an awful moldy smell. Yuck, I almost fainted.


April 21, 2013

Camping in Hong Kong | Sai Kung

I'm finally back with another Camping in Hong Kong post!

My friends and I went camping at Tai Long Wan, Sai Kung on a misty long weekend last spring. We slept right on the beach and fell asleep to the sound of crashing waves and played in the nighttime water with twinkling with little bioluminescence. This place is all white sand and crystal clear water, it's so beautiful you most certainly won't believe you're still in Hong Kong.

The hike to the beach is a little trecherous with all your camping gear but the trail still has cement pathways, wooden rails and stone steps. It gets pretty steep in parts and takes 2-3 hrs depending on your fitness level.

You'll be drenched in sweat but at the end of the hike you'll be rewarding with not one but two huge pristine beaches with the whitest sand you'll ever see in Hong Kong. The first beach has two little restaurants where you can get food, water and rent body boards. Rent the body boards! Tai Long Wan means Big Wave Beach in Chinese and the waves are big enough to surf on. You don't need any experience to body board and you'll end up gulping endless mouthfuls of salty water but you'll have so much fun doing it. After that you'll need protein so go back to the little restaurant and eat some "mountain spring tofu pudding".

Over the little hill at the end of the first beach is the bigger more secluded beach and that was where we set up our camping gear.

The ocean is deathless/
The islands rise and die/
Quietly come, quietly come/
A silent swaying breath.

–Agnes Martin

Being there that foggy weekend I was endlessly reminded of that Agnes Martin poem, maybe because the landscape was like one of her paintings, white and monochromatic but with endless depth if you stay and look beyond the mist.

Although the beach at Tai Long Wan isn't technically a campsite and doesn't have any amenities, we and the other 3 or 4 clumps of campers that were already set up there were not deterred. The beach is huge and very private so we walked over to the furthest point and pitched our tents by the edge.

The next morning we went for a hike in the hills surrounding the beach. It's a nice breezy little walk, there are rock bluffs and lots of interesting plants and insects to look at.

Once the weekend is over and you're back in Sai Kung town, end the night at one of the many seafood joints along the pier which is where we saw these horseshoe crabs, and if not there are lots of good Thai restaurants in the town to eat at as well.


Getting there: about 2-3hrs hike to the beach, the best way is to take the NR29 minibus to Sai Wan Pavilion and hike from there you can hike there following the trail. If you are feeling ritzy or lazy you can also hire boats to the beach from Sai Kung pier depending on the waves and weather.

My other Camping in Hong Kong post about Ngong Ping can be found here.

All photos on this post where taken by me on my Olympus Stylus 120 point and shoot film camera.


April 20, 2013

Featured! Tips and Experiences on Being an Fashion Illustrator

Hi guys! I've been having a pretty busy month with a couple of commissions and haven't had much time to update but that means I'll have some new illustrations to post coming up soon! In the meantime I wanted to share not one but two(!) interviews I got asked to do this month! Read all about them below.

Thank you so much to Jeanine Brito and to Rachel at LadyM Presents. Feeling so grateful!

jeanine brito kitty wong interview screen cap
The very lovely Jeanine Brito asked me '6 Questions' on what it's like to be an illustrator.

LadyM Presents kitty wong interview screen cap
And online fashion and lifestyle magazine LadyM Presents interviewed me about my series of Drawing Fashion Week illustrations. Read the interview here.

April 12, 2013

This Month I've Been: March Edition

kitty wong Tangram sketches girls in bikini bras
This month I've been:
Drawing, like always. This pile are my drafts for the series of lookbook illustration I've been working on for super cool HK clothing brand Tangram, who's about to launch a lingerie line.

asian animal crackers deer instagram
 Taking snack break with delicious Asian seaweed flavoured animal crackers.

chinese ink girl face with paint brush
Painting with ink, this is another one from the Tangram series.

amenpapa package lookbook with hong kong stamps
Doodling for Amenpapa. They are asking artists and illustrators to draw in their lookbook and send it back to them for a exhibition.

india ink girl in full skirt bun and gloves

Digging through the archives. This is an old illustration from my Ryerson university days, I was obsessed with minimalism, India ink and Rick Owens back then.

watercolor collage painting of macrobiotic vegetables, daikon, cabbage.
Drawing veggies. A friend of mine commissioned me to draw a few things for her new macrobiotic website. Working on the drafts here in pencil and watercolour.

smoothie and nat geo magazine on hk patio
Drinking smoothies on the rooftop, reading the National Geographics subscription my parents got me for my birthday. If you need a gift idea for someone get them a subscription, it's the best gift ever!

mint and rosemary in green planter box on hong kong rooftop
Gardening! My mom and I have been turning our barren forgotten roof into a green playground. So far we only have one planter with mint and rosemary and I've also started a compost, wish me luck on that, I'm feel like I'm doing it wrong. But it's already starting to feel like our very own "backyard" and I love nothing more than to bring my paints and papers up and do my work there.


Follow me on Instagram for more updates! @kittynwong