I spent this Saturday having one of those good old, hanging about the city, urban-adventure, girly days with a new friend of mine, and very talented illustrator Leigh Wells (another thing I love about blogging – we met through sfgirlbybay). Our good intentions were to drop some money at the Modern Economy sample sale at Fort Mason, but holy cow – it was a mob scene! Lines wrapped around the inside perimeter of the gallery space, and there was some very cute stuff on sale, so I’m guessing they had an extremely successful day.

Since the sale lines were so long, we opted for food and headed over to the Polk Street Boulangerie for some lattes and the best french toast, this side of France. I-kid-you-not. Afterwards, Leigh was kind enough to share her art studio with me, the place she creates the amazing illustration work she does, for the likes of Time Magazine, Rolling Stone, Chronicle Books and too many ad agencies to count. These two beautiful images are illustrations from Leigh .

One big white wall in the studio is decorated very simply, and has really cool color aesthetic – there’s something very soothing about it. It’s a big letter ‘L’ for you know what, and framed book cover (which Leigh modeled one of her best ‘assets’ for) by another incredibly talented artist, Ruth Marten.

I loved seeing all Leigh’s sketches and messy brushes, covered with ink and paint. It even inspired me to paint something other than my walls this weekend, and I got out my long-closeted paints and canvases and had some fun.

Her space was filled with light and so much inspiration. Leigh also creates some amazing fine art drawings, which I hope we see more of. I love these! She has lots of work produced, and hopes to have a site of them up by the end of the year.

In another bit of creative genius, Leigh took these old musical instrument templates (like for creating a violin!) and mounted them to another wall of her studio, creating a beautiful wooden, almost Mosaic effect with the templates. I never would have thought of this, and it looked so cool.