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!
horoscopes
kung hei fat choi
A very happy Chinese new year of the rooster to you all! 
kung hei fat choi
Wishing you all the best for the year of the monkey! 
*This is an adapted version of an image I made for the Keswick Foundation charity in HK.
upcoming exhibition
I'm going to have a solo show in San Francisco, yay! It's in the little gallery at the front of my printmaking workshop in Dogpatch. The reception is on saturday 6 February from 2-5pm, I'd love to see you there!
I'll be showing a selection of my ongoing playing card etching series, along with a new collection of mokuhanga woodcuts and etchings about tea.
The show runs from February 5th – 27th on Fridays and Saturdays noon – 5pm, and by appointment at other times.
There will be a presentation by Linda Marshall about handmade Japanese washi paper at 1pm, just before the reception, so please do come along to that if you're interested!
Graphic Arts Workshop: 2565 3rd St #305, San Francisco, CA 94107
Kung Hei Fat Choi!
A very Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year to you all! Here's a little year of the goat card I did for the Keswick Foundation in HK. Love it.
year of the goat
Here's a video of me drawing a happy new year goat. It was made as part of the social media campaign for Pacific Place mall in HK. It's a visual pun on a traditional Chinese blessing about the rabbit's breath and the goat's eyebrows, which somehow translates to good fortune! https://vimeo.com/119728675
I did pencil sketches first to work out the order in which to draw things, how the goat should look, and the positioning of drawing and text.
This is how the final goat looks in ink and watercolour...
And this is the filming. I drew at my normal speed, but tried to keep it generally consistent, and the final footage was speeded up, and a soundtrack added. I've never done this before, but it was fun!
Pacific Place photos
The Chinese New Year decorations featuring my zodiac illustrations are now installed in the Thomas Heatherwick designed Pacific Place shopping mall in HK. In the large atrium, there are banners and lanterns,
which are also featured throughout the mall.
My favourite part of the installation is the glass wall of the lifts; it features my illustration on a huge scale, and looks wonderful when you travel up and down.
They're also on the connecting mall walkway, over the main road,
and there's a pagoda with flower maze in the lower atrium, with an illustrated rotating display and each of the zodiac animals on the outer wall. 
At the back of this display are some Chinese-style screens made of wood. I love the way elements from my drawn illustration have been transformed into 3D.
There's a smaller pagoda also, based on my drawings, with information screens and drawings on each side. I really like the flowers on the floor!
If you spend a certain amount of money while you're shopping at the mall, you can collect a special gift at this lovely kiosk.
You can get two of these limited edition fine bone china dinner plates, with my zodiac illustration in a lovely repeat pattern!
And if you upload an instagram photo at the mall, you may win a pack of these wonderful pink and gold lucky fai chun.
I do hope you'll go and have a look!
Pacific Place
I've just arrived in HK to do some promotional work for Pacific Place luxury shopping mall. I created an illustration about the celebration of Spring, for their Chinese New Year decorations.
I used red (a lucky & auspicious colour) and included all the 12 Chinese horoscope animals. It also features Chinese New Year elements such as peonies, plum blossoms and pine trees.
The PP website features the design in a pink + brown colour combination.
There'll be all kinds of fun events at Pacific Place over Chinese New Year, so if you're around, please check it out! I'll be taking some photos of the decorated mall this week, so you can see those soon.
It's the year of the goat, and I especially do like drawing goats...
introducing my portfolio
Today I'll be talking you through my portfolio: how I've divided and sub-divided the sections and why. The first section is 'editorial'. This features illustrations I've done for magazines and newspapers. I've split this into several themes: 'food', because I like doing work on this subject the most, 'lifestyle', because so much fits under its umbrella, 'people', because they’re always engaging and 'horoscopes', as every illustrator quite simply must have one.
The next section is 'special commissions'. This contains projects that are unique and don't necessarily fit easily into any fixed category. These are the projects I love best. Among them are ceramics for Tiffany & Co., backdrops for a photoshoot for Martha Stewart Weddings, and drawings on napkins for a charity exhibition.
'books' features all the large publishing projects I've worked on, from the detailed illustrations throughout the River Cottage everyday cookbook, to the many children's books I've illustrated, finishing with my book covers for various international novels.
I've been making maps for many years, almost from the beginning of my career, and the 'map' section shows a highlight of the various kinds: 'large scale' shows maps that are close-up and detailed, with road names and exact locations. 'small scale' tends to be maps of large areas, or whole countries, where capturing the atmosphere is most important. 'Penline' shows maps with a looser line, in a more graphic style, while 'concept' features more unusual maps, with a specific angle.
'editions' showcases my art prints: etchings (of ceramics and travel), Japanese woodblock prints, lithographs, and also a small selection of my medium-format photographs.
The section entitled 'personal work' shows the more intimate side of what I do. Sketchbooks are my constant companions, where all that I see and think are noted for future reference. 'things I've made' are objects I create, decorate and make interesting, 'greetings cards' is where I show the special cards I've designed, while 'exhibitions' contains photographs of the shows I've had of my work.
'about' tells you a little about me (you can see what I look like too), 'clients' is a list of some of the people I've worked for, and 'contact' tells you how you can find me to tell me, well, anything you'd like really. Or better still, that you'd like to commission me for something....
Oh, there's also a discreet 'links' button at the bottom of the page to let you know other websites I like.