May's Paint Club is all about Coco Chanel

Since I started my online Paint Club in 2024, we have been able to paint and create with many different mediums and subjects together. I look forward every month to getting together with other creatives and painting, chatting and recharging our batteries together. It always feels like a reset!

I am starting a new series called Fashion Icons for our classes, and this month we will be using watercolor to create fashion illustrations inspired by the one and only Coco Chanel!

If you can’t attend live, the recordings for class are always sent out after airing to our students.

Bring paper, watercolor, and pens! And your Je ne sais quoi And here is a link to purchase your tickets:

https://jessicadurrant.com/new-shop?category=Paint+Club

I love creating new works and pulling out artworks from my archives as I prepare each month for class. Coco Chanel is always so fun to paint in watercolor and mixed media. She is iconic!

Thank you as always to my students who support me in my efforts & show up each month. Hope to see you soon!

Live Fashion Sketching for The Atlanta Falcon's!

Last week I had the pleasure of live illustrating for The Atlanta Falcon’s employee gala, Football on the Front Porch at the Mercedes Benz Stadium. I got to work with another local and very talented live sketching artist, Raegan Rowland from The Painted Party! I loved being apart of a team for this event.

We worked in a faster pace for this event, since the client requested us to get as many captured for the evening as possible. So this means, we often limit the sketch to be just about the fashion and omit facial details. Events can be done with more or less details, and we tend to adapt to the client’s requests and needs.

The woman above I recognized because she used to work for Spanx, and I had illustrated her back in 2019 for their company party. She now works at the Falcon’s developing fashion products. How cool is that?!

The event had cheerleaders, coaches and even Matt Ryan! That was super cool.

Thank you to the Atlanta Falcon’s for having us come out and live fashion sketch for your gala. If you’re interested in having this crowd favorite activation at your latest event, just email jessillustration@gmail.com and thank you!

Jess

Paint Club new series: Fashion Icons and Coco Chanel

I’m excited to announce for Paint Club I am rolling out a new series called Fashion Icons. For the next few months we will be exploring different iconic style muses for our class lessons. We are starting our series with the ever stylish Coco Chanel! We will be using watercolors to create our fashion illustrations of Coco Chanel.

Each month I teach students (of every level) a start to finish piece that we create together via Zoom. The last 20 minutes of our 1.5 hour class run time is when students share their artworks. It is always such a lovely and supportive crowd.

If you’d like to join us for class you can purchase your monthly ticket or sign up for yearly subscription here:

https://jessicadurrant.com/new-shop?category=Paint+Club

Thank you to everyone who supports my Paint Club. It feels vital in this day and age that we continue to create with our hands and share that expereince with others

Hope to see you there!

Jess

New Works: Dark Floral Paint Club Workshop

Since 2024 I have been hosting my once a month Paint Club online via Zoom. I am so grateful for this community of artist’s and our ability to get together and create. It has become one of things I look most forward to each month! I always leave feeling uplifted. I’ve gotten to know many of my students and even meet a few in person over the years from Denmark, UK and NYC this last week.

Last month our theme was Dark Florals inspired by the 1600’s Dutch Master’s. I’ve made some new works that I wanted to share below from class. I took a few patterns I painted, and then applied them to some fashion illustrations to create a textile layer.

Dark florals have always been one of my favorite patterns. I love the edge it gives a floral painting and the high contrast & impact it brings to the work.

I hope to add some new pieces as prints & originals soon to my shop. So stay tuned for those in the future. For now, I’m just enjoying playing and creating what I love.

Jess

Velvet Residence Live Fashion Sketching for a Greek themed affair in Atlanta!

I recently had the pleasure of live fashion sketching & illustrating some beautiful women here in Atlanta for Velvet Residence’s party at Palo Santo. This crowd was truly one of the most excited ones to get sketched. I think it’s because Gen Z is more aware of fashion sketching! Tik Tok has made more awareness around this type of activation at events. So my younger generation is always so keen to see this IRL and get their very own sketch. In a world of mass produced items & AI…the ultimate luxury is having something handmade :)

I got to use so many different colors in my kit, since there was a variety of outfits!

Next week I have 3 more live fashion sketching events…and one will be with the NFL team the Falcons! So wish me luck!

Jess

Creating Artwork for Excel Sports at this years The Master's Tournament!

Happy Tax Day…LOL. In more exciting news, I have been fortunate enough to work behind the scenes creating custom fashion illustrations for a sports agency at The Master’s. These were initial concept/mockup art designs with custom backgrounds for guests to choose from. I’m hard at work illustrating around 85-90 custom artworks and I’m so grateful for Excel Sports Management for giving me this opportunity! They are an amazing agency representing some of golf’s brightest stars.

I’m thankful to be apart of The Master’s in a small and artful way! And congrats to Rory for his back to back win ;)

I created 3 backgrounds of iconic Master’s scenes. Each guest was able to choose which scene they want their final illustration in.

I’m so thankful I get to find new ways to share my work with so many. Live & Virtual Fashion sketching seems to be on fire everywhere, and in this day and age…I am continually grateful for it all.

Jess

Neiman Marcus Live Fashion Sketching Event

Yesterday I had the pleasure of live fashion sketching for a beautiful luncheon at Neiman Marcus here in Atlanta. There was a mini fashion show put on by the stylists of their favorite picks for Spring Fashion! You know I loved getting to be apart of this event.

I love being able to sketch such fashionable women. It’s my life’s calling really. To show up, sketch people and bring a smile to their face. I’ve been doing this my whole life really. It’s just the last 13 years I can make a living out of it ;) And for that I am so thankful.

5 x 7” artworks with plastic protectors-make for the perfect take home momentum! These take about 5-6 mins each to create for me. And they are always a hit!

The pink dress & cute bob! What a fun illustration. I honestly love when I get to do these-and see clients reactions.

I was able to get around 28 guests sketched, and it was such a beautiful event to be apart of. Thank you Neiman Marcus Atlanta for having me out to live sketch!

Sketching over 100 people live in a week!

Last week I had 3 live fashion sketching events, and it gave me the opportunity to sketch over 100 people live in one week! I also got to work with my close friend Stephanie for 2 of them, which is even better! My first 2 events were private events in the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta.

On Saturday night I sketched for a wedding in Blackberry Ridge in Trenton, Georiga for Adrienne & Aaron. Who I actually met when I sketched them a couple of years ago at a Cartier event. How cool is that?

Stephanie Gentry sketched the far left piece, and I created the 2 pieces the bride was holding. They were so gracious to us!

The venue, the guests, the details of this wedding were so stunning!

Stephanie and I managed to sketch over 80 guests together, for this wedding. It was amazing to make so many people feel so good about their evening because of this extra artistic touch.

The Glasshouse Observatory at Blackberry Ridge, was a beautiful venue.

Stephanie and I have worked many events together and it was solidified our friendship and support for one another! We often work as a team.

If you’re interested in having live sketching apart of your wedding day, or special event please fill out the contact form on the website. And if you need more than one artist, I can help facilitate that as well!

Adrienne was a beautiful bride! I’m so happy I could be apart of her & Aaron’s special day!

Live sketching at a beautiful wedding in Gainesville, Florida last weekend

Last weekend I had the pleasure of live illustrating for the beautiful wedding of Gia & Javier in Gainesville, Florida. Thank you to Tiffany Delk Photography for sharing the first 3 snaps she got of me below!

In the 5 hours I was booked I was able to sketch 60 guests in full color on cute 5 x 7” watercolor art cards.

Gia reacting to the sketch I created of her and her hubby! This was so fun-see my smile below :)

The dress code was Garden themed, so there were lots of bold colors and floral prints. My favorite as you know ;)

This lovely lady was my first sketch of the evening. I wasn’t able to capture most of my guests, as I was busy sketching the night away. I am so grateful for the delightful guests, and for Gia wanting to make bespoke art apart of her wedding day and memories. I am constantly learning and growing with live fashion sketching. I get to meet so many people, that I otherwise would never cross paths with. My goal is to channel my inner child artist, and really take pride in the fact that what I have loved doing since I was 4 I still get to do. And while doing it, I in turn make people smile. The other gift of this weekend, was I got to spend time with my parents and Grandmother who live in Florida. So all in all, it was a weekend I am thankful I got to have.

Next week I have 3 events in one week! And I also will be illustrating with The Master’s next month. So stay tuned for some fun updates.

xo

Jess

Artwork for Future Society Fragrance Tote Bags out now!

I’m excited to share that I created artwork for these exclusive tote bags for Future Society Fragrances for Women’s History Month! You can get yours free, with any $100 purchase over at their website linked here:

https://wearefuturesociety.com/

I was thrilled to come up with this mixed media design. I worked with Future Society last year on hand painting 25 limited edition bottles of their #1 selling fragrance Floating Forest. (Which I proudly wear daily and always get complimented on! So I was happy to continue our relationship of collaborating together.

I am honored to continue working with women owned small businesses as we enter 2026. When we support one another, the sky is the limit.

If you want to get a tote bag, I would recommend getting this set which is perfect for the woman who loves niche fragrances:

https://wearefuturesociety.com/products/floating-forest-perfume-primer-holiday-set

Thank you again to Future Society for giving me this opportunity to take my art off the page and onto a super vibrant and artful tote!

Jess