OOTD Tuesday

Plaid shirt//Miss Selfridge

Ramones tee//New Look

Black skater skirt//Topshop

Neon statement necklace//New Look

Neon nail varnish//Models Own

OOTD

Leather gilet//New Look

Cream sheet shirt//Miss Selfridge

Gold cross earrings (worn as collar tips)//New Look

Denim stud shorts//New Look

Black suede chelsea boots//New Look

Aviators//New Look

Latest Purchases

I went to Manchester at the weekend with the boyfriend to see the amazing comedian Bill Bailey. Although it was a brief trip I managed to fit a little bit of shopping in, how could I not! The Arndale lured me in, but I behaved and somehow only bought two items. I'm quite proud of my restraint!

The new Topman store had just opened and I fell in love with their printed tees. I am a huge fan of the androgynous look, who needs 'boyfriend fit' when you can go straight to the menswear department! I also love a cross print, so this Topman tee was made for me :-) However I watched last weeks Celeb Juice last night and who was wearing my tee? Keith Lemon. Hmm...the stylists obviously have good taste!!

My other purchase was a cropped panther print tee with fringing from Ark, which is perfect for my upcoming trip to Benicassim festival. I'm thinking of paring it with denim cut offs, aviators and cut out ankle boots for a festi friendly outfit.

Holly Bon x

DIY Jewellery Display Board

I LOVE jewellery. I am also terrible at throwing things away and until recently had a huge hoard of jewellery from my teens. I decided after de-tangling my favourite necklace from a mass of other chains for the millionth time, that enough was enough and it was time to sort my collection and de-clutter. I managed to narrow my pendant necklaces down to a select few, but instead of them being hidden in my jewellery box, I wanted to display them.

I had a few cork boards left over from my time as a student and decided the perfect way to display my stash (and keep tangling to a minimum) would be to pin my jewellery to the board using standard drawing pins.

And there you go! A cheap and simple way to display jewellery, and minimum fuss when adding those all important accessories to finish an outfit. 

Holly Bon x

A Step by Step Guide to Building a Portrait

As a portrait artist, I am constantly asked how I draw like I do. To be honest it's pretty simple when you go back to the basics. I have photographed my latest drawing in stages, breaking the portrait into the simple steps that I work by. The portrait is of motorcyclist and TV personality Guy Martin. He is extremely popular on my island from racing in the TT races. He is also easily recognisable to many with his wild hair and signature sideburns. The piece is drawn using only a 2B pencil, my favourite medium to use when sketching.

Step 1-Before you start drawing, make sure you have these five key items, a rubber, a pencil sharpener, a pencil of your choice, a surface of your choice-I am drawing in a standard artist sketchbook and a high quality image to draw from-the better the quality, the more detail you can observe for your piece. Firstly I pick a starting point, for this drawing I chose the top of the jacket. I draw only shapes at this stage. I look to the dark and light patches on the jacket and draw on the shaded patches, this will help me later when I begin to shade my drawing. Proportions are very important, if the jacket takes up a third of the image you are drawing from then make sure the jacket takes up a third of your drawing.

Step 2-I start on the structure of the face. I constantly refer to my image to make sure the proportions are correct, once you lose your proportions you lose the likeness in the face. Again I am only drawing shapes at this point. Breaking down a drawing into shapes really helps me, but everyone is different.

Step 3-I start on the facial features. I always start with the nose in portraits because it sits central to the face, once you have the nose you can judge the distances to place the lips and eyes. Again sticking to just drawing shapes.

Step 4-My favourite part, the shading!! I always start shading by picking the darkest parts of the photograph. Once I have got the dark patches of the faces shaded by using lots of pressure with my pencil, I then move onto the lighter parts, graduating the pressure I apply with my pencil. Smudging often occurs but you can go over the darkest patches later on creating depth to your piece.

Step 5-The hair! Again, I start by observing the image I am drawing from and picking out only the dark patches. I draw shapes on the hair and colour them in with the pencil applying lots of pressure. Once I have all the dark patches filled, I lighten the pressure of my pencil when filling in the lighter patches of hair.

Step 6-The final stretch. The jacket works exactly the same, firstly picking only the shaded areas and colouring them in with the pencil as dark as I can. I then graduate my pencil pressure once again for the lighter areas, blending as I go. 

And there you go! This is how I draw. Granted its not as easy as I made out at the start of my post but it just takes practice :-) I've been drawing since I was tiny, which is why last year I started training to be an art teacher. I wanted to pass on everything I have learnt to the younger generation. I hope after reading this post everyone picks up a pencil and gives it a go :-)

OOTD : Grunge Saturday

I adore everything about the 90's grunge look. We had a 'Never Mind the 90's' trend at New Look earlier his year and I was in heaven!! I have a board on my Pinterest page http://pinterest.com/hollybonbon/ totally dedicated to 90's grunge which helps me with outfit and style inspiration. My idol, the blogger Luanna who blogs at le-happy.com, who is pictured below, is grunge inspiration perfection! The look, the hair, the everything. She's everything I aspire to be, but with a much better wardrobe!

My outfit today.....
Beanie//ASOS
Skull tee//Urban Outfitters
Black sheer shirt//New Look
Tartan leggings//Topshop
Biker boots//New Look
Cross pendant//New Look

Holly Bon x

Friday-Day 5 (A Week in my Work Wardrobe)

It's Friday....finally! Today will be my final outfit post for 'A Week in my Work Wardrobe' as my working week is now complete! I have the weekend off,for the first time in forever! :-) and I am thoroughly looking forward to it.
To round off the week I have ventured back to my favourite trend of the moment, monochrome. The focus piece of my outfit is my striped leggings, vertical stripes obvs, with a hope to elongate my very short pins!
I wanted the leggings to be the focal point, so kept the rest of my outfit as plain as I could. I styled my leggings with a black tee, black sheer blouse and cut out leather boots. I discarded the jewellery for today in order for the leggings to take centre stage.

I hope everyone has a fab bank holiday weekend. I know I will! :-)

Holly Bon x

Thursday-Day 4 (A Week in my Work Wardrobe)

I loved the jersey dress I wore yesterday so much that I bought it in graffiti print too! Cameo Rose one of our labels at New Look have gone all out on graphic prints for S/S '13, with everything from crop tops to midi dresses. Alas my body is not quite summer ready for flashing my midriff in a crop top just yet, but for now my graffiti jersey dress will work just fine :-)
I paired my graffiti print dress with yet another statement necklace, (I think I have an obsession!) seam free leggings, my favourite biker boots and a neon mani using the new Models Own polish in Pink Punch (LOVE!!)

Holly Bon x

Day 3-Wednesday (A Week in my Work Wardrobe)

I LOVE anything to do with leather. Leather jackets, skirts, leggings, bags etc etc. So when my best friend (and assistant manager) told me that a grey jersey dress with leather look sleeves had arrived in the delivery....I had to have it!! It is honestly one of the comfiest items I have bought recently, which is perfect for dashing around the shop floor and still looking trendy at the same time. I paired the jersey dress with a statement necklace, seam free leggings and black suede ankle boots. I can see this outfit being a favourite of mine for Spring :-)

Holly Bon x