I’m so excited to announce a new series, N’East Illustrated for Well Spent! My good friend Brad Bennet asked me to contribute some of my sketches to his amazing site for a monthly feature. The series will be posted the last Friday of every month on Well Spent. Each post will contain 5 sketches, a few of my favorite things that were posted on Well Spent that month along with some menswear related images that caught my eye. So head on over to WS to see the rest of Vol. 1!

This past summer the lovely ladies at the angela adams showroom in Portland (a regular stop for me) introduced me to The ROPES jewelry. They had a few of the bracelets in the showroom and I was immediately drawn to the colors and how they embodied so much of the Maine coast in such a symbol design, and without being trendy or overtly preppy. The designer, Shana Aldrich, is a Mainer born and bred and makes her jewelry collection out of marine tope and hardware pieces. Aldrich graduated from RISD and began a career as an apparel designer in NYC and Boston before returning back to her home state. Spending time back home on the water with her young son inspired her to start designing The ROPES pieces. The results are jewelry with the perfect balance of contemporary pieces and traditional with a twist. I picked up a navy bracelet with pink and blaze orange at the aa showroom. I wore it every day during the summer and received countless compliments on it. I’m looking forward to warmer weather when my wrist will reappear from bulky sweaters and I’ll be able to flaunt it once more.

My friend Oliver knows how to play the footwear game. His brand Oliver Clark introduced an amazing collection this past fall and winter and has followed up with an equally impressive collection for spring/summer 2012. The collection features on-trend silhouettes in rich hues of nubuck leather and maintain the impeccable craftsmanship Oliver is known for. I’m partial to the amazing Slip Boots, a beautiful version of the Chelsea boot which is popping up everywhere this season. Oliver keeps the collection clean offering three neutral hues for each style – blood (he knows his reds!), black, and natural. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to pick up your favorite pair in each color.

Original shot by Tommy Ton for GQ.

Todays’ sketches from photo coverage of Pitti Uomo are of Justin Doss, fashion editor at GQ (original photo taken by Sean Hotchkiss) and Nickelson Wooster, fashion adviser to Park & Bond and Gilt Man (photo taken by Nam of Street FSN).

Last year I did a post on my favorite photos taken by Tommy Ton at Pitti Uomo. This year I thought I’d do something a little different. I’m going to do a sketch or two a day of my favorite shots, sourcing from several photographers. There have already been some amazing photos coming out in the last couple days but I whittled it down to my two favorites. The top sketch is from a photo of a very cool older gentleman (anyone know who he is?) taken by the talented Justin Chung. The second is from a detail shot taken by Nam of Street SFN. I highly recommend fo llowing both of these talented photographers’ sites if you aren’t already. (Sketches are in graphite and micron pen).

Guest post from my boyfriend Ted Adams who now has his own tumblr called Kings of New England (taken from John Irving’s book Cider House Rules). Do yourself a favor and check it out, he has an impeccable eye.