• Art,  Garden,  Home Decoration,  San Diego,  WorldWide

    Artist Lulu Did Live House Portrait at Serena & Lily’s Store Soft Opening in One Paseo Del Mar

    Serena & Lily, opened their first San Diego location at One Paseo. Last Thursday was the soft opening day. Lulu was invited to do live house sketches for their guests. The sketches include interiors looks and houses’ looks. Lulu’s sketching station was set up at Serena & Lily’s patio, it was a beautiful table with roller chair – very coastal style with cozy and casual designs. Here are some live sketches that Lulu did at the event.

    The design shop showcases the California-based home decor brand’s signature coastal aesthetic, which blends classic influences with casual, fresh sophistication across home furnishings, bedding, décor and more.

    At Serena & Lily, they combine their love of breezy California style with the passion for great design. Serena & Lily’s look is casual and coastal, relaxed yet refined. Their designs blend classic influences with modern lines; eclectic inspiration with great American style. Serena & Lily loves spaces that feel put together, yet livable – well-traveled with a personal point of view. Serena & Lily believes home should be a welcome oasis – your favorite place to retreat, gather, and live well every day.

    Founded in 2003, Serena & Lily brings a fresh California spirit to the home. Known for its mix of original and curated designs, the brand inspires customers to cultivate their own personal style and express it with confidence.

    The Serena & Lily look is casual yet sophisticated, with a decidedly coastal sensibility. Categories include custom furniture, bedding, rugs, pillows, wallpaper, lighting, dining and outdoor. There are twelve design shops located in Atlanta GA, Boston MA, Chicago IL, Dallas TX, East Hampton NY, Newport Beach CA, Pacific Palisades CA, Palm Beach FL, Summit NJ, San Francisco CA, West Hollywood CA, and Westport CT. The company is headquartered in Sausalito, California. Please visit www.serenaandlily.com for more information and to explore the collection. The store is opening to public today on February 15th, by appointment only. To make an appointment, please visit here.

    If you want to know more about Lulu’s art, you can visit her website, www.lululiveart.com or follow her on Instagram @qululululu.

  • Art,  food,  Los Angeles,  New York,  San Diego,  WorldWide

    Lulu Did A Big Mural For Famous Joe’s Pizza at University of Michigan Ann Arbor

    If you have ever lived in New York City, you would definitely know or even have tried from this world famous pizza store – Joe’s Pizza. The first time Joe’s Pizza’s name comes out to the world is from the movie of Spiderman. After a late delivery, Parker is sacked from his job delivering pizzas for Joe’s Pizza, 233 Bleecker Street at Carmine Street in the West Village, New York. Now Joe’s Pizza has five locations in New York, 2 locations in Shanghai and the latest one in Ann Arbor Michigan.

    Established in 1975 by Joe Pozzuoli, who is originally from Naples, Italy, the birthplace of pizza, Joe’s Pizza is a “Greenwich Village institution” offering the classic New York slice for over 37 years.  First,  we served our customers from our corner location at Bleecker and Carmine Street and now three doors down at 7 Carmine Street.  At 75 years of age, Joe Pozzuoli still owns and operates the restaurant.

    Joe’s Pizza is a perennial top 10 listing in restaurant guides and publications such as Time Out New York and New York Magazine. NEW YORK MAGAZINE named JOE’S PIZZA “Best of New York” and in subsequent reviews referred to us as “the quintessential New York slice.” In 2009 GQ Magazine listed Joe’s Pizza as one the “Best 25 Pizzas on Earth.”

    Throughout the years Joe’s Pizza in Greenwich Village has become just as popular with visitors and tourists as it is with native New Yorkers who know where to come for an authentic New York street slice.

    After commissioned five times to draw all their New York locations by Joe’s Pizza, Lulu was invited to fly to Ann Arbor to do a whole wall mural for this latest opened store. She is so happy and honored to do this amazing commission. The photo above was a photo taken by Lulu – she is holding a slice of Caprise Pizza facing to the celebrity photo wall with her four custom Joe’s Pizza illustrations.

    The mural is 16”x11” on a smooth dry wall on the hallway of the store. She used quick dry acrylic paints.

    The mural tells a storyline of Joe’s Pizza, from their first location at Bleecker Street to the second, which is Carmine Street, then 14th Street, Williamsburg to Broadway, Times Square and then the latest location at Ann Arbor. All the locations are arrowed by the name and the visual of Joe’s Pizza’s signature pizzas. It took four and half full days with 14 hours per day. Lulu says she loves Joe’s Pizza, it has been a great experience working with Joe’s Pizza. She feels warm and happy, Joe’s Pizza is more like a close friend or family than just a client to her. So she wants to do it good, try the best she can. And it turns out great, she is very happy about the finish work.

    She said she could tell how popular this pizza store is in this campus neighborhood. From the store opens at 11am to 12am it closes, there is always a long line. Even in a cold windy snowy day, people still love to come here to grab a warm and crispy pizza – nothing is better than eating something warm and delicious in a freezing day. Lulu ate pizzas for 5 days during the working process, she never feels bored of that. She even said she would miss this delicious pizza when she left back to California. Ok, here comes a question to her. When Joe’s Pizza can bring the authentic Italian influenced New York pizza to Socal?

  • Beauty,  Fashion,  food,  Gift Guide,  San Diego,  WorldWide

    Be My Valentine at This February 14th

    First thing when I wake up, wait a bit, I need to do a special makeup.

    I used the GEN NUDE Eyeshadow Palette from the NEW bareMinerals Beauty of Nature Collection, as well as their GEN NUDE mineral-rich long-wearing blush for my Valentine’s Day makeup!

    A sweet nice breakfast is necessary for a sweet day. I have the home-made banana muffin with Tahini for the dip, also adding some fruits with coconut whipped cream. This tahini is one of my favorite thing I can add to everything – for salad, pastries, or even my sandwiches. It is the Mighty Sesame Tahini Dressings in squeezable bottles.

    Adding a Beetology drink is also a good idea to boost your nutrition and energy!

    I wear a warm long knit dress with a red bag for this special day! Being pretty, as the same time keeping warm, this is how smart we are! Lucy Paris has a lot of stylish fashion choices for you for any your special event. The cute red bag is from Urban Originals, I like it because it is very comfortable to wear, also you can have all your needs in this small-look bag no problem.

    A morning walk along the cove, I love the breathe and sunshine!

    For lunch, I prepare this wild Alaskan salmon at home, with my cat as my date, why not? I enjoy his company.

    Sitka Salmon Shares delivers premium, sustainable, wild Alaskan seafood from the fishermen directly to members’ doorsteps! Sitka Salmon Shares is built around a humble collective of committed fishermen that put quality first, handling fish one at a time, with respect and care. It’s their livelihood, afterall, and many of their fishermen have been using these highly selective, small-batch fishing methods for generations. Read on to know your fishermen—from how they got started, why they love life on the open water and why they are part of Sitka Salmon Shares. They also have a lot of recipes on their website!

    Valentine’s Day afternoon, I would love to share my time with my bestie – Galentine at Valentine’s Day. I love this double happiness. We went to SOMI SOMI, a super cute yummy tayaki & soft serve ice cream store. What I wear is from Brooklyn Cloth, which is a leader in on-trend apparel that enables their customers to express individuality. They pull inspiration from across the globe, and in their backyard of New York City, to develop their bold collections. Brooklyn Cloth stands out for its unique fabrics, eye-catching graphics, and must-have silhouettes. They observe trends that define today’s market to bring fresh, expressive collections to the table.

    Valentine’s celebration is always to be official at night. I chose to have cakes with Ryan at one of my favorite dessert spots in San Diego – Extraordinary Desserts.

    See these beautiful cakes, I just can’t help myself to draw them on my paper!

    There is always something else sweet waiting for me at Valentine’s Day! It is MarieBelle’s signature Ganache chocolate, which comes from New York’s famous Soho District. It is the world-renowned, luxurious bean-to-bar chocolate company, MarieBelle Chocolates.

    Before sleep, I need to be relax, because I want to have a sweet dream to end this beautiful day. A hot bath helps. Don’t forget to drop a cute bath bomb into the bathtub. This beautiful crystal bath bomb is from Village Naturals Aromatherapy‘s bath and body collection.

    I can say it is a full successful Valentine’s Day for me. And now I need to say good night!

  • Art,  New York,  San Diego,  WorldWide

    LULU Drew The Official 2019 Holiday Card for FIT Foundation

    This was definitely the most excited assignment for Lulu in 2019. Lulu was invited to draw the official 2019 holiday card for her school – Fashion Institute of Technology. The postcard was sent to all the special alumni and FIT’s sponsors by FIT Foundation.

    As we all know, Fashion Institute of Technology is one of the best fashion schools in the whole world. There are a lot of well-known fashion designers, interior designers and artists are graduated from this amazing school, such as Calvin Klein and Michael Kors are both from FIT.

    Lulu is graduated from FIT’s MFA Illustration Program at 2017. She is thankful to her professor Melanie Reim, who always encourages her and made great advices to be a good illustrator. She is very proud to be a alumni of FIT.

    Lulu, Yueming Qu was trained in the traditional Chinese painting style who moved from Beijing to New York to obtain second master’s degree in Illustration at the Fashion Institute of Technology. After spending 4 years’ in New York, Lulu relocated to San Diego in November of 2018 to continue her focus on professional illustration.

    When she was in China, she was different from other Chinese painting artists in that she love using bright colors in her artwork, She love drawing whimsical imaginative views of everyday life, and displaying her paintings in installation style. Lulu decided to come to the United States to broaden her art skills albeit she still uses traditional Chinese painting materials; such as, ink, gouache, and Chinese brushes while drawing the modern city landscapes, fashion and more recently food. She is passionate about combining traditional Asian art technique with modern Western art techniques together to explore more artistic possibilities. For example, she uses traditional Chinese brush and ink to draw the outlines, then uses pastels to make colors.

    From the East Coast to West Coast, Lulu always strive to take on more art adventures, bringing more influences from different cultures which she’s very interested in.

    You can check out more Lulu’s artworks from her website – qululululu.com or instagram @qululululu.