Mikki Lee

Anna Kalman played by Ingrid Bergman in Indiscreet (1958) is a famous theatre actress who has resigned to her single life until she takes an interest in a married man.

Fun pop art styleillustration of the enticing mafia boss wife Mia Wallace played by Uma Thurman in Quentin Tarantino’s film Pulp Fiction (1994).

Inspired by my bougie girlfriends.

Concert flyer I had fun recreating for John Coltrane back in good ol’ ‘63 when he was performing at Shelly’s Mann-Hole.

Definitely a summertime jazz concert I could’ve enjoyed this summer. A vintage and bit more minimalist concert flyer for Chet Baker Quartet on July 21st, 1954. He feels blue, like a sky blue. Got pending plans to see some shows at Santa Ana Civic Auditorium. I’ll be thinking about Chet gracing the stage there when the world was a very different place 69 years ago.

Today the world is celebrating Amy Winehouse’s birthday. This illustration was totally spontaneous. I was struck with the sudden urge to draw Amy last night and woke up this morning to discover that today she would’ve turned 40. I HAD to finish and upload this today in honor of beautiful Amy. I finished literally at the eleventh hour and uploaded this to my instagram a minute before it struck midnight. I don’t know, it’s crazy. I think her spirit was moving through the earth last night and I caught wind of it. Her legacy lives on. My Queen, My Lioness, Happy Birthday! I love you.

Neo-soul musician/singer Bobby Oroza’s Noches de Oro 2023 tour poster! Not official, just for fun, but it is a real tour.

A vintage ad for sunglasses. Inspired by the mysterious woman who hides behind her blond wig and iconic red shades - through the night and rain. Character portrayed by Brigitte Lin from Wong Kar Wai’s 1994 film “Chungking Express.”

My favorite look of southern belle Scarlett O’Hara from “Gone with the Wind” (1939) is the scandalous red dress she wore to Ashley Wilkes’ birthday party. I made a little leaflet ad for her gloves. Think of this as antique fashion inspo. She was always watched and the talk of the town — the OG influencer (lol).

A poster for the fierce and stunning Queen of Punk and frontwoman of the band Blondie.

The sultry singer and tragic femme fatale Dorothy Vallens of David Lynch’s film Blue Velvet.

Do androids dream of electric sheep? Maybe this super advanced experimental Nexus-6 replicant does, but she probably dreams more about her past life as Sarah Tyrell. Sean Young stars in Blade Runner (1982) as the mysteriously elegant Rachael.

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 thriller Rear Window stars the beautiful Grace Kelly who plays a fashionable socialite and love interest Lisa Carol Fremont - who is much more capable than she looks.

Maggie Cheung plays the elegant Su Li-zhen in Wong Kar Wai’s film In the Mood for Love.

Illustration of one of the selected poems in The Folio Society’s book of love poems. “The Good-Morrow” by John Donne.

I wonder by my troth, what thou and I

Did, till we loved? Were we not wean’d till then?

But suck’d on country pleasures, childishly?

Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den?

’Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be;

If ever any beauty I did see,

Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee.

And now good-morrow to our waking souls,

Which watch not one another out of fear;

For love all love of other sights controls,

And makes one little room an everywhere.

Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone;

Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown;

Let us possess one world; each hath one, and is one.

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,

And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;

Where can we find two better hemispheres

Without sharp north, without declining west?

Whatever dies, was not mix’d equally;

If our two loves be one, or thou and I

Love so alike that none can slacken, none can die.

Poem by Imthiaz Dharker

In a wasted time, it’s only when I sleep

that all my senses come awake. In the wake

of you, let day not break. Let me keep

the scent, the weight, the bright of you, take

the countless hours and count them all night through

till that time comes when you come to the door

of dreams, carrying oranges that cast a glow

up into your face. Greedy for more

than the gift of seeing you, I lean in to taste

the colour, kiss it off your offered mouth.

For this, for this, I fall asleep in haste,

willing to fall for the trick that tells the truth

that even your shade makes darkest absence bright,

that shadows live wherever there is light.

Poem by Jacques Prévert

He poured the coffee

Into the cup

He put the milk

Into the cup of coffee

He put the sugar

Into the coffee with milk

With a small spoon

He churned

He drank the coffee

And he put down the cup

Without any word to me

He emptied the coffee with milk

And he put down the cup

Without any word to me

He lighted

One cigarette

He made circles

With the smoke

He shook off the ash

Into the ashtray

Without any word to me

Without any look at me

He got up

He put on

A hat on his head

He put on

A raincoat

Because it was raining

And he left

Into the rain

Poem by Catherine Wing

Then came the darker sooner,

came the later lower.

We were no longer a sweeter-here

happily-ever-after. We were after ever.

We were farther and further.

More was the word we used for harder.

Lost was our standard-bearer.

Our gods were fallen faster,

and fallen larger.

The day was duller, duller

was disaster. Our charge was error.

Instead of leader we had louder,

instead of lover, never. And over this river

broke the winter’s black weather.

Poem by Colette Bryce

This business of driving

reminds us of our fathers.

The low purr of fifth gear,

the sharp fumes, the biscuity

interior – has brought them,

ever-absent, nearer.

And has brought us, two

women in our thirties,

to this strange pass,

a car wash in Belfast;

where we’ve puzzled

and opted for ‘Executive

Service’ (meaning

detergent) and have minded

the instructions to wind up

our windows and sit

tight when the red light

shows, and find ourselves

delighted by a wholly

unexpected privacy

of soap suds pouring, no,

cascading in velvety waves.

And when spinning blue brushes

of implausible dimensions

are approaching the vehicle

from all directions,

what can we do

but engage in a kiss

in a world where to do so

can still stop the traffic.

And then to the rinse,

and in view once again

of incurious motorists

idling on the forecourt,

we are polished and finished

and (following instructions)

start the ignition (which

reminds us of our fathers)

and get into gear

and we’re off

at the green light.

Poem by Emily Dickinson

Wild Nights – Wild Nights!

Were I with thee

Wild Nights should be

Our luxury!

Futile – the winds –

To a heart in port –

Done with the compass –

Done with the chart!

Rowing in Eden –

Ah, the sea!

Might I moor – Tonight –

In thee!

Front cover illustration for March 2021 spring fashion issue of a men’s luxury magazine The Robb Report .

The Duchess and the skirt-chasing Duke for the poster of Figaro.

Cherubino for the poster of Figaro.

Alternative movie poster for The Professional (1994) directed by Luc Besson.

Sharon Jones of Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. Inspired by the artist illustrations on Rolling Stone Magazine.

Design and branding project for high end Greek restaurant located in Chicago.