Portfolio

Camp: 2019 Met Gala

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“Inspired by Lizzo in Marc Jacobs” by Stephanie Khattak.

“Camp [is] larger than life, all fun and games—don’t take it too seriously, darling!”
-Lizzo in Vogue.

“Inspired by Kacey Musgraves as Barbie in Moschino” by Stephanie Khattak.

The Met Gala’s red carpet is always a lot of fun to see. Each year, the theme changes to match the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual fashion exhibition, and “Camp” is the theme for 2019.

I found favorite looks faster than my drawing skills can keep up with, so there are a lot of screen shots saved for later. These were two of my favorite pink ladies.

We’re going on our annual trip to NYC next month, and the “Camp” exhibition is definitely on our itinerary! I’m sure I’ll come back with even more inspiration.

These are digital paintings made with the Apple Pencil and Procreate app on an iPad Pro.

Dancers

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“Star Wars Dancer” by Stephanie Khattak. Created with iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate app. Animated in Photoshop.
“Coco Dancer” by Stephanie Khattak. Created with iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, using the Procreate App. Animated with Photoshop.

This past weekend, I went home to East Texas to watch my best friend’s daughters in their annual spring dance show. It had been ages since I had been to a dance recital, and I really enjoyed watching the dancers and seeing their beautiful costumes. (I also really enjoyed watching my 85-year old grandfather try to make sense of an interpretive dance of “Paul Blart, Mall Cop,” but that’s another story for another day!)

Despite a decade of dance lessons, I was denied a spot on my high school dance team both times that I auditioned. The only dance I was ever any good at was Appalachian clog dancing, but I was GREAT at it. I was on a showcase team and even today could probably clog circles around any other sedentary 43-year old who wanted to challenge me. Oddly specific, but true.

Anyway, I took so many photos and videos of Saturday night’s performances, and immediately tried to recreate some of my favorites once I was back home. These were two standouts: “Star Wars” opened the show because it was on May 4, (May the fourth be with you….) and “Coco” was so pretty with the dancers’ face paint, flower crowns and beautiful full skirts.

These were fun to draw and animate – maybe I’ll do more soon!

Flower Power

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“Flower Power” by Stephanie Khattak. Acrylic Gouache, Watercolor and Metallic Drawing Ink on Paper. 2019.

I don’t paint many still lifes (still lives?), preferring instead the gesture and movement of figurative drawings. But I’ve noticed that every six months or so, my style and preferences evolve a bit. I wouldn’t say they ‘level up,’ because that means that one is better than the other, or that I enjoy painting one more, and other than improving as an artist, there’s not that much of a change. Maybe a better phrase is “level across.”

This potted plant isn’t found in nature. I started it because I had some new paints I wanted to test out. (Holbein Acryla Gouache.) I do like the way it turned out, though. I enjoyed filling in the pattern, and the flowers remind me of butterflies!

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Happy Birthday, Molly!

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Birthday Cat!

Our sweet, senior cat Molly turns 17 this month. Not sure the exact day, so I mark the milestone around the middle of April.

She really is an amazing cat, although I am fully aware that every cat is amazing. She’s got her own distinctive personality, likes what she likes, and displays a lot of empathy and individualism for someone with a brain the size of a walnut.

I’m still friends with the person who I got her from, so I know her mother lived to be 16 and a sibling made it to just a few weeks ago. There’s still another sibling, Lucy, who is still kickin’ it in East Texas.

Happy Birthday, Molly. I love you to pieces.

Shine

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“You Shine, I Shine, She Shines, We Shine,” multimedia digital art on iPad Pro with Apple Pencil. Animation in Photoshop. By Stephanie Khattak