katie & gary's portrait

Good afternoon! Did you enjoy your weekend? I definitely did... it was spent with my best friends from college (Maggie, Leah & Grace) for a surprise birthday party for my friend Katie!

Gary (Katie's boyfriend) successfully organized the whole night. First, we had drinks and dinner at Double O, and then ended the night at Shadow's for more drinks. It was a lot of fun, and best of all Katie was so surprised!

I drew Katie a portrait of her and Gary as her birthday present. They're a super cute couple and I'm so glad that they liked it! I gave it to her in a black frame with a white mat and it looked really awesome :)

Happy birthday Katie! I had so much fun with you (& our mums!) this weekend!

-gabrielle.

sketches & work in progress

Sorry to reblog this again, but Blogger decided to take down yesterday's post that I wrote :( Here's a shorter recap...

Most nights this week have been spent in bed drawing with my lap desk. It's really convenient and super comfy.

This is a drawing I did one night. I hope to recreate it larger, with lots more flowers!

I also finished up my commissioned portrait, that you can take a peek of in the pictures below.

I've also been having a ton of fun on Instagram! You can follow me here!

Hope you like 'em!

Happy Friday the 13th!

-gabrielle.

weekend trip: coney island

Hey hey! As promised, here's my post about my weekend adventure!

Matthew and I decided it would be fun to take a little trip to Coney Island one day since he's never been there. We hopped on the subway Saturday morning and spent a good part of the day walking around, taking pictures and people watching.

It was a perfect day to go because it wasn't too hot or crowded. It was Matt's first time going, but I've been to Coney Island a few times... such as for the Siren Festival that happens every summer. Usually there are much weirder people and sometimes it freaks me out a little, but being there with Matt was perfect.

The craziest part was riding the Wonder Wheel! We chose the "sissy" route and sat on the stationary cart... which was scary enough! It was too bad that the carts are basically cages, so the pictures of the pretty views didn't turn out very well.

I had so much fun; I'm proud to say that I've already went to the beach so far this spring/summer!

I definitely want to take more local/road trips this summer! Do you recommend any interesting places to travel?

-gabrielle.

happy mother's day

Hello! I hope everyone had a lovely weekend and a special Mother's Day (if you celebrate!)

I had a great weekend (which will have to be it's own post.) However, on Sunday I came home and hung out with my mum while she planted flowers...I just watched :)

Little did she know I was actually painting an illustration for her! And here it is!

She really loved it which made me super happy.

Here you go, Mommy! I love you so much <3 I hope you had a great Mother's Day :)

-gabrielle.

quarter-life crisis

Happy Friday! Phew, it was a long week... at least it was partly sunny and kind of spring-like. But seriously, where is the spring? Hopefully this weekend will bring some sunshine!

I'm having a bit of a mini quarter-life crisis recently. I'm in a rut where I have a full time job that takes up most of my time... but while I'm at work I can only think of things that I want to do and make. And when I come home I'm way too tired to do anything! But there's also some annoying freelance projects still lingering that need to go away. There's too little time in the day to do everything!

Maybe I put too much pressure on myself, but I can't help it! I become very overwhelmed with the ideas I have.

I need to relax this weekend, write a decent to-do list (without rewriting it every time I cross something off!), and plan out a good strategy.

Does anyone know of any helpful resources for artists, illustrators and/or Etsy sellers? It would be much appreciated!!!

What kind of things do you do regularly to help you stay on track?

-gabrielle.

maggie and matt's portrait

Hey there!

I finished this piece a while ago but I forgot to share it... oops!

My college friend (and now co-worker!) Maggie and her boyfriend recently moved in together to their new apartment! I'm really happy for both of them, and as a house-warming present I drew their portraits!

I think they were both very pleased and I can't wait to visit their new abode and see it hung up!

Don't forget to visit my new Etsy shop where I am selling custom portraits!

Stay tuned for more updates :)

-gabrielle.

mother's day coupon code

Hey everyone!

Mother's day is just around the corner (May 8th!!)

Place your orders NOW for 30% off custom portraits!

Your mommy will love you :)

-gabrielle.