A few weeks ago, I was pootling around Notting Hill with my camera and wandered past the Diane von Furstenberg store on Ledbury Road. In the window was a beautiful girl (Clara) sketching a stunning woman (Antonella) in the DVF dress she had just purchased. Never being one to pass up a photographic opportunity, I whizzed in and asked the manager if I could take a few photos of Clara while she worked. Thankfully he agreed :)Clara Gomez is an amazingly talented illustrator — her work is utterly exquisite as you can see from her illustrations below. Clara grew up in Spain and has been drawing ever since she can remember. She studied fine art in Salamanca, Spain and then followed up with fashion illustration at Central Saint Martins in London. She does "live" illustrations at fashion parties and events and also takes private commissions. From chatting to Clara and exchanging emails, I know she puts her heart and soul into her work and takes so much pleasure from drawing people... making them look and feel beautiful, sharing her gift: "Drawing people during events is always an exhilarating experience, being able to share what you love doing most and see people enjoying it is such an amazing feeling."
Clara's illustrations are the kind I would draw if I could draw... in the same way I would write as Arundhati Roy does in The God of Small Things if I could write.
Antonella (who, coincidentally, was an Aussie!):
A sample of Clara's illustrations from the DVF event:
Clara's materials:
If you want to get in touch with Clara, just send me an email as she is currently in the process of setting up her website...