happy new year!

2011 was a crazy year for me, and upon reflection it is hard to believe the things that can happen in one year! from graduation to doing shows, being in magazines, moving to another country.. and then back again and all the things you learn along the way.  2011 will have always been a good year for me and I'd like to think i did pretty good for myself.  in school i started to notice my name becoming recognized and even outside of school finding myself on the top 100 list of emerging designers in Canada and being at number 40 i think is a pretty cool accomplishment.  But this is just the beginning.  Ive been taking a lot of time to evaluate what i want out of life and trying to combine my passions to set out a clear road for myself.  you can only make things happen if you take charge, and you can only go as far as you allow yourself so i am not giving myself any restraints.  2011 was good, 2012 will be better! i look forward to my new adventures!

Mario Nail Art!

Ok first off, Merry Christmas! however this is not a Christmas post.. that will come later.
So how did I spend today? I spent it painting my nails with Mario! I found this new technique that involves painting the image on a sand which bag and then transferring it to your nails. I found this technique on YouTube HERE. I used this for the Mario and Luigi on my thumbs, but I painted the rest on my nails the regular way with a paintbrush. I guess the good thing about my in-ability to paint large pictures or own large brushes comes in handy when I'm painting my nails.



Happy Holidays!

New Items for Sale!

Its about that time of the year again and since last year when I released my hand painted leather gloves, they have become quite popular.  So this year I went on the hunt for paintable gloves and this year I found mid forearm gloves in color!

I have posted the first batch of gloves including the gloves seen in my fall 2011 collection.  I have many more coming so keep checking! here is the link to my etsy account

apiana que etsy account

happy shopping!

Believe in Fairies

Check out these photos that were in the December issue of Onmag, a fashion magazine from Argentina.  The writing is in Spanish but translates to "believe in fairies".  The photography is by Fela dales, makeup by Trena Olfert, hair by Joanna Kemp. Models: Irene R. Ashley Q. and Brittany B.

So excited to have my work published in a magazine in a different country!

If you have a mac/iphone/ipad you can check the link to the magazine HERE, otherwise check out these screen caps

Just Because

Ive been told that I have a magnetic personality and an addictive personality.

Not because people like me, but because I become addicted to things I love, and I set off alarms.

If I had a blogging app on my phone I'd probably blog more often.

The mascot from the hitman game last friday grabbed my head and "made out" with me during a promo.  umm is this bestiality? mascot-ality? either way definitely something that I have not encountered before.

All these anti-bullying campaigns are really making me take a look back at my childhood. You never see people talking about the kind of bullying I went through though. Once I mentioned it on a social media outlet and I was called conceited, fat, ugly and full of myself among other things. However it has inspired me to maybe expand on my "meat dress, paisley dress, or whatever I may have called it" print where I first started to make art opening up about what I went through. Maybe work on doing a more intimate show and call it "Things a 15 year old girl should never hear". Every single person goes through bullying in some form or another I just pray that one day I can leave it behind me, and that everyone else can grow past what has happened to them as well to become a stronger person.

a mash up of some images where I modeled for Jessica Armstrong for the past show at art central we did as well as the upcoming performance for artawearness at acad.

busy little bee

I keep making a list of things I would like to blog about in my head yet it never seems to happen. In my Professional life things seem to be going very well! I recently dressed KD from "the girl with the messy hair" blog for the fashion Christmas event at the core and I’ve got been painting and working on products that will soon be appearing on my blog and etsy. However what I didn’t expect to be taking off is my modeling. It has always been something I enjoy doing but I never really thought I would take it any where. When I was preparing to move to LA I started realizing how much I missed modeling as it took a back seat to designing and recently I’ve kind of picked it up again. keep an eye out you may see me on a billboard from one of my recent or upcoming campaign shoots :) oh and if you do, send me a pic!
In the next week or so I should hopefully be getting some pictures up and I will make a conscious effort to blog online rather than in my head.

P.S I started watching Sons of Anarchy and my goodness I am soooo hooked. Love that show, I keep saying its like veronica mars but for adults.

An Interview with Krystle for ACAD

Here is an interview that Krystle Mendoza wrote about my inspirations, concepts, how I define art, and wearable art.

Krystle is currently a student at ACAD in the fibre department, she also keeps a blog as the textilequeen, click the link to check her out. Her work is based heavily on wearable art and I cant wait to see what else she comes up with!

Click HERE to see the interview on the ACAD blog.

two questions wernt posted on the blog, but if your interested to know more.. keep reading

q:Designers usually have a story behind their work, what kind of story do you look for when designing your collection?

a:My work has a somber feel behind it because I usually gravitate towards concepts that have a dark secret in them or as I like to call it "the ugly truth covered up by the beautiful, the embellished and the lavish". In 'Lover, Come home' The female waiting for her lover to come home is oblivious to the destruction and bloodshed that her lover is facing. HoweI tend to reference events or practices that no longer exist such as binding feet. I use these as a way to examine experiences we face now and how they parallel things that our ancestors had to face even if what is happening in the modern world is more or less severe.

q:Since most of your works are wearable, what do you enjoy about making them?

a:My favourite part is and always will be the printing. I love what I do as a textile artist and as a printer. Designing clothes has always been a secondary thing for me that opens me up to a different market and audience. However I do love designing and challenging the garments as well as the sewing-just probably not as much as the printing and artistic expression that goes into the first steps.