sobachoko

This week I went to the Boroichi fleamarket in Tokyo. It has been held twice a year in the same place for over 430 years, and is an intangible folk cultural asset of Japan. I wandered, browsed and sketched, and bought a beautiful little sobachoko. When I got home, I did some watercolour sketches of it...I enjoyed it so much, I did a few more, looking at old sobachoko online for reference.And then made a little design of my own...

juri's tea rooms

While I was in Tokyo a few weeks ago I managed a quick visit to Juri's Tearooms in the food hall of the flagship store of the Japanese department store Mitsukoshi in Nihonbashi.I designed the logo for Juri when she had her tearooms in the Cotswolds in England, and now she has a new branch in Japan!I also did several afternoon tea illustrations for the packaging of Juri's own blends of tea, which have now been updated with new paper packing around the foil packets.The scones were delicious, and I can't wait to try the full high tea...If you're ever in the area, do pop in and say hello from me!

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!

Labour Day sale

Here in the US it's labo(u)r day on monday, so I've put all my prints on sale for 4 days, from today. Hurrah! Please visit my shop here to take a look...

mokuhanga prints in my shop

I've just put some of my new mokuhanga prints in my online shop. I printed these while I was in Japan and have just completed signing and preparing them. There are two versions of this little imaginary trumpet flower, one in blues and one in red and green...And there are blue and pink peonies too.Hope you'll pop by my shop and consider a purchase for yourself or as a gift!

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!

London week three

This week, I visited more museums, and happily spent time sketching. These were both taken in the V & A my most very favourite museum in the world.And then at the weekend, a visit to the Cotswolds. We stayed in an adorable house in the tiny village of Lower Slaughter, and spent time chatting and walking in the countryside. We stayed right by this lovely watermill, and I took an early morning walk one day...We went to the farmers market in Chipping Norton......where I managed to do a few watercolours, in spite of the drizzle.This is a little sketch of the house where we stayed. I loved sitting in the tiny garden courtyard...And then it was back to the city for my last week, and no visit to London would be complete without a cake and cup of tea at Maison Bertaux.

shop update

I've just added some peony teacup etching prints into my online shop, hurrah! Some are from my archive: they're small editions and very sweet... and there are two new hand-painted ones too. I love this one with the polka dots!All the funds I raise are going towards my mokuhanga printmaking residency in Japan this summer. Please spread the word if you know anyone who might like to purchase a print, thank you!

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.

my shop!

I've finally launched my own little online shop! I'm going to Japan this summer for a mokuhanga print residency, and to help with funding it I've decided to try and sell some prints. There's a new small cat + jug print, exclusively and for the first time on sale:A new version of my Meyer Lemon print, this time with gold pigment in the lemons:And a selection of my San Francisco Snowdome prints...Please go and take a look and let me know what you think. Happy shopping!

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!

HKDI workshop

I've just got home from my trip to HK, and looking through all the wonderful things I did while I was there. It's especially great thinking about the monoprint workshop I did with the illustration students at the Hong Kong Design Institute.It was truly wonderful to see them making a mess and getting really into it. I think they were all happy with the work they  produced.Here are a few pieces of the students' work that I thought worked especially well...I also gave a presentation about my work and being an illustrator. I may have scared them, but hope I put resolve into the ones who are serious!  

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!

open studios 2016

Yes, it's that time again! I'll be showing prints at my workshop in Dogpatch, San Francisco, as part of the City's ArtSpan openstudio weekends. I'll be showing a selection of framed works, ready to hang:...and a variety of new unframed prints, such as these:I'll have some new mokuhanga prints,...and new playing cards:I'll be showing with 7 of my studio-mates over the weekend of 22/23 October. 11-6pm both days. I hope to see you there!

Animals Asia products

I was recently asked to design some products for the charity Animals Asia. These products are sold here and the profits go towards their work saving animals.I painted illustrations of wonderful moonbears, as I really love them and can't stand the way they are farmed and treated so cruelly. I tried to show them being curious and adorable, and most of all, hopeful.I started the project by researching and sketching moonbears, and playing with ideas on how to bring some colour and fun into the images. I then tried out different styles and media, and picked watercolour to give the illustrations a loose, free feeling.There's a teatowel, a tote bag and a tshirt, with different illustrations, and all available from the Animals Asia online shop.Buy them for all your friends! Please help save the bears!

HOBBS High Street Kensington part 2

The new HOBBS store in High Street Kensington, London is open! And lots of my specially commissioned illustrations are framed and decorating the walls...I was asked to create illustrations for the stores, in a variety of styles, that reflected their values of quality and British heritage.I also made a special map of the surrounding area showing the wonderful buildings and streets you can explore near the new store. I highlighted some of the HOBBS iconic fashion items...

... and added in elements like local British flowers and animals.Foxgloves and sweetpeas, foxes and a stag...

... and of course a countryside feature, the pheasant!I also did some hand-lettered quotes, some etchings, and included some pages from my sketchbooks.I hope you'll be able to visit and let me know what you think. Happy shopping!

Thanks to Nick Jesse for the store photos.

HOBBS High Street Kensington

I recently did some artwork for HOBBS fashion stores in London. I produced over 20 illustrations for use inside their stores, and also one very special one for the promotion of their newest store in High Street Kensington, inside the iconic Barkers building. Here's the promo they made for instagram: [video width="640" height="640" m4v="http://www.marikojesse.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/IMG_2885.m4v"][/video]

The illustration also went out on invites for VIPS and local customers......and I heard that a good time was had by all. Next post will have photos of the store!

colouring book

I recently illustrated my first colouring book pages. It was only four pages in a book that had many, but it was surprisingly complicated!There's so much detail involved, and all the lines need to match up nicely, and it should be interesting enough that you really look forward to colouring it in. Here's the flower shop as I drew it...This vase and bouquet is my favourite detail from one of the other pages...You can buy the book on amazon. Don't forget to show me your coloured pages when you're done ~ I'd love to see how they look.