A very happy Chinese New Year to you all! 
May this year be lucky, prosperous, and fabulous for everyone.
Here's another dog that I drew for the Keswick Foundation in HK. Enjoy!
design
children's murals
I'm sorting through images for my new website (hopefully launching soon!) and found these photos of several children's room murals I've done over the years. 
These two were for my neices...
This jungle themed room is in a new baby's room in California.
This subtle white line painted floral was in Hong Kong, for two lovely girls who shared a room.
And this London-themed corridor and bedroom is in a suite of rooms in Mayfair...
I love painting these murals, and always happy to take comissions!
happy christmas!
I always have trouble thinking of what to draw for my winter card, so I was happy to come up with a snowdome illustration this year. Here are some of my initial sketches.
I was originally thinking of having a page of a differently shaped and sized snowglobes, but then chose to keep it simple and focus on just one. I wanted a cosy house in a forest, and did several little watercolours to experiment.
For the final artwork I painted a little house on a snowy hill with smoke coming out of the chimney, and then had it printed with an extra layer of silver foil to show the glitter inside the dome. I love that it sparkles as you move the card!
Hope you all have a wonderful, cosy, warm, and sparkly Christmas holiday!
Christmas cards
I've got these supercute robin and ivy blank holiday cards in my shop right now. 
There are 2 designs, and they each come in packs of 5.
They're blank inside for your own holiday message, and come with matching white envelopes. I can ship them from either the US (now) or the UK (in 2 weeks time). Happy card-writing!
Hawaii conference
In September, after a short holiday on the Big Island, I went to Oahu with my friends Katie Baldwin and Yoonmi Nam, to attend the 3rd International Mokuhanga Conference at Honolulu University.
We installed Into the Fold, an exhibition of our newest collaborative mokuhanga project. It was an extension of our current project (un)fold: we invited three printmakers, Sarah Hulsey, Fuko Ito and Mia O, to collaborate with us, exploring the ideas and acts of folding and unfolding, and the lineage of learning the mokuhanga technique. We also gave a presentation about the project during the conference.
Here's a close-up of my piece Into the Garden. It represents an abstract garden, is printed so that it can be viewed from either side of the paper, and has a printed enclosure. It's lovely when it sways slightly in the breeze, and the plants seem to be alive.
My Meyer Lemon Curd Recipe was also shown in the juried international group exhibition: Beauty of Mokuhanga: Discipline & Sensibility 木版画の美：修練と感性 
I did quite a few sketches in the presentations I attended, and also at the conference opening and closings, of the speakers and committee members...
I had never participated in the open portfolio at the previous conferences so I thought I would give it a go this time. I showed a selection of my mokuhanga prints and artists books, and spoke to anyone who was interested...
Here you can see my blue Into the Garden piece in an alternative configuration.
Katie, Yoonmi and I also showed our previous wood+paper+box print collaborations on a separate table, and everyone was encouraged to open and handle each of our individual prints in the boxes.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable conference, where it was great to meet up with old and new friends and colleagues. It encouraged me to spend more time on my printmaking practice and I can't wait to start more prints.
Here's a little sketch I did from the window of our manoa airbnb, of the misty rainy mountains. I loved the area where we stayed; there were more rainbows there than I'd seen in a very long time.
Hong Kong visit
I'm in HK at the moment, for various projects, and just took part in the Symposium for Disaster Risk Reduction at the Hong Kong PolyU.
Author Martha Keswick and I gave a presentation as part of the campaign for Disaster Risk preparedness, to launch our new childrens picture book series: 'COPE - How to be Ready for Natural Disasters'.
It's a series of books featuring a team of kids who travel the world teaching other kids how to handle various natural disasters. The first book is about Earthquakes. We hope to eventually have books that include what to do in hurricanes, wildfires, floods, tsunamis, blizzards and volcanoes.
Because of increasing climate change, natural disasters are becoming more prevalent, and it's so important that children know how to deal with them.
We are actively looking for partners to help us publish and fund the series. If you know any NGOs who might be interested, please contact us! We have a temporary website here for more info:
www.COPE-natural-disasters.com
If these books can saves lives, I will feel like I've done something worthwhile. Please help if you can!
animals asia Christmas cards
I've designed some Christmas cards for my favourite animal charity again this year, Animals Asia.
I worked on lots of different ideas, and three were chosen for the cards. I tried to make them cute, but not too cute...
If you're considering buying some charity cards, please help us help the moonbears! 
You can buy the cards here. Thank you!!
River Cottage much more veg
in books, design, drawings, food, illustration, London, painting, people, special commissions
Hugh-Fearnley-Whittingstall's new River Cottage cookbook has just been published, illustrated by yours truly. 
I debuted a brand new illustration style, to keep the flavour of the illustrations I've done before for River Cottage, but adding a new dimension.
I created a painted collage style, a bit reminiscent of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, but with thicker paper, so there's a very definate shadow on the pages, to give the impression of depth.
I worked with the art directer Lawrence Morton to come up with the theme for this book's illustrations, which is 'the preparation' for cooking. So I focused on the tools and equipment in the kitchen...
and also the preparation of the ingredients themselves. For example, how to cut them...
and how to select them...
This wonderful book is available from Amazon US here and Amazon UK here. It would make an excellent Christmas gift!
mokuhanga print
I completed one large-ish print while I was on the mokuhanga residency in Japan: one that features plants in a garden. I was inspired by the abundant greenery all around the house, and in the surrounding gardens.
I did some initial pencil sketches and arranged them in a wide landscape.
Then did a painted version to work out solid areas of colour.
I then started carving a long block of shina wood. And then carved, 
and carved some more...
When the block was fully carved, I set up, ready to print.
It's the largest mokuhanga print I've ever made, and was extremely challenging. But I learnt alot, and really pushed myself. I had only meant to do a pink and green version, 
but felt that blues might work too. 
I'm now fond of them both!
I intend to take the print further, and create an artists book out of it. It'll be shown in Hawaii in a few month's time, and I'll blog again when it's all done...
toile ceramics online
My toile ceramics are now available to buy online! You can purchase them from faux in Hong Kong here, and they can deliver internationally. You can buy both the HK toile collection...
and the London toile collection...
Happy shopping!
HOBBS USA
HOBBS of London, a boutique fashion brand I've done a bit of work for recently, famously known for being a favourite of Duchess Kate, has just opened their first US store in Greenwich Connecticut. I did several pieces of new artwork for both the store itself and its launch.
Some of the artwork I did for the London stores, plus a few new pieces, have been printed and framed inside the elegant new location.
I love the way the artwork has been mixed and matched and hung together in different combinations to create a 'collection'. Some has even been framed up for the changing rooms...
I also did a detailed map of the area around the new store, full of interesting buildings, a park, and some historic houses...
...which is now framed up and on display.
It looks like a wonderful store, I hope I'll get to visit one day. 
Thank you to Hobbs for providing these photos.
wood paper box website
The collaborative printmaking and book arts project I've been working on with my friends Katie Baldwin and Yoonmi Nam has finally got its own website!
It chronicles our two complete projects, the titular 'wood paper box', our most recent endeavour 'alabama california kansas', and our brand new project '(un)fold'.
There are links to process blogs for each project,
where you can read in depth about each artwork, and see photographs of shows we've put together and the meetings we've held. The chapter illustrations are my very own pen drawings, of our work and our portraits. 
Hope you'll take the time to visit and let us know what you think!
women who draw
I'm very proud to be a part of the women who draw website, an open directory of female professional freelance illustrators, artists and cartoonists. It was created by a group of women artists in an effort to increase the visibility of female illustrators. You can read all about it here and in this VOGUE article and in this one in the Huffington Post.
This is my little lady illustration (recognise her from the Miss joker playing card?) that represents me on the site.
She was even featured on the BBC news website this week, in an interview with the women who set up the site. I hope it will be a huge success. Thank you Wendy and Julia!
christmas cards
This year I splashed out and printed my Christmas cards properly. By that I mean they were offset litho printed (rather than digital) and included a shiny copper metallic foil stamped element. Hurrah!
For the design I wanted to create a pattern, but one that wasn't a straight repeat. 
To do this I sketched different types of trees you might find in a forest, and then all sorts of woodland animals. I then sprinkled the forest with twinkly stars, a moon and a greeting.
This man (and his dog) printed them for me in Hong Kong. I would thoroughly recommend him. New Hip Lik Co. in Central. tel: 2541 1992 (old school and no website!)
Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!
M x
BEYORG Christmas packaging
I drew a variety of cosmetic products for BEYORG's Christmas packaging in HK this year, creating a fun repeat pattern. It's been used on the website and shopping bags. There are 2 colourways...
... a very Christmassy red and green, and a more modern red and white...
If you see anyone carrying a bag with the design, do let me know!
Discovery magazine
I recently managed to get a copy of Cathay Pacific's inflight magazine featuring my HK toile bowl on the cover.
They even gave me a nice little write up inside...
I still love this toile so much, and am thinking of doing another...
christmas cards for sale
I designed a limited edition small batch of christmas cards for sale this year. They're bundled in packs of five, and there are still a few packs left if you haven't sent your cards out yet. You can purchase them from my shop here. 
There are two designs, both featuring a cheeky robin in some ivy and berries.
If you're interested, please contact me and I'll get them to you as fast as possible!
Caution May Be Hot
I made two pieces for this show of paper cup art in San Francisco. The brief was to turn this ordinary object into a work of art, and artists from all over the US were invited to participate.
I tried to create the effect of blue and white china, and used my collection of Chinese ceramics as reference for the design. I made a cup with separate decorated panels first, and then did another based on the famous willow pattern design. It was interesting to work in the round, after working flat for such a long time.
https://vimeo.com/192408212
The show was on simultaneously at Long Weekend store in Oakland...
and Fayes in the Mission...
Today was the last day to see the show at Long Weekend, but Fayes will still be open to visit this week. Hope you can make it!
BEYORG organic market
This weekend I visited the BEYORG organic market pop-up store in Pacific Place mall, Hong Kong, to see the bags I designed for them.
It's such a lovely idea, it was super fun to see! I love the way they animated my illustration in their instagram feed too:
[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/BLix95mlS5n/?taken-by=beyorg[/embed]
The little market stands are just how I imagined them...
and I think I captured the atmosphere of the market quite well...
Hope you can pop down and see the market for yourself and buy a bag for charity!