New York
I've just come home from a wonderful visit in New York and Washington DC. I love NY, and it felt wonderful to meet friends and wander in all my special spots...
I showed my portfolio, ate fun dinners, and saw some inspiring exhibitions in both cities.
I was super excited to see the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, the White House, the Museum of American History and the Capitol.
I was especially moved by the Jefferson memorial, as he's my favourite US President of all!
I did some chalk drawing backdrops a few months ago for Dr Oz The Good Life Magazine in New York, and I just got a printed copy, yay!
I love this one with the frosty blue colour and wintery trees. Here's a detail of the actual backdrop, where you can see the chalky lines.
And here's a sequence showing my progress as I was drawing.
For the home interior, I started with a more elaborate staircase, but developed my sketches to create a simpler scene. 
I even drew a simplified version of one of my own prints in the background ...
It was a real pleasure to be there on the day of the shoot, here's a little scene of me sketching the set-up.
Let's all walk more this year and get healthy, whatever the background...
I just got back from a quick trip to New York, where I worked on a lovely project for Dr Oz The Good Life magazine. I can't show you what it was yet, but here's a sketch I drew on the photoshoot day. 
I also drew the model several times, in various of her outfits...
The view from the studio was gorgeous, so New York!
I had a fantastic dinner one evening at the Brooklyn Diner, and sketched while I was waiting. The waitress was so happy with the sketch that she gave me a bag of delicious pastries to take home with me! 
I love New York, I really do. I'll be back soon, just you wait and see...
I've just been to visit the first stop of the Brooklyn Art Library's Sketchbook Tour 2012, in the home of the library itself: Williamsburg New York. 
It was a gloriously sunny day, and I wandered in, got myself a library card, and browsed some of the delightful sketchbooks on offer. There were so many! 
Of course I checked that my own sketchbook (you can see some pages from it on one of my previous blogs) was there safe and sound, which was a great feeling. 
The sketchbooks will be in Brooklyn for another few weeks, and then off around the States, and in London in November. You can check the dates on the website. Hope you'll make it!
In my last NY blog I mentioned that I went to a gig of a friend of a friend (Stephan Said) and did some sketches... well, my friend showed him the sketches, he (Stephan) loved them, and asked me if I could do some more for his new album. So I did.
We discussed the album, I watched videos of his live performances, listened to the songs, and then worked out a concept for the album cover: I drew each of the main band members, and the image wrapped around the front and back of the CD packaging to show them all.
I did extra sketches for the inside of the booklet, and also did most of the hand-lettering in the same loose pen style, for the titles and track names. I think it holds it all together well.
Here's an interview with Stephan on PRI, and you can listen to the single 'Take a Stand' on the Huffington Post, and of course you can find out all about Stephan on his own website.
The album was released yesterday, September 21st, International Day of Peace.
So, my good friend Ping got married this May, and I designed his wedding invitations, and also created a special map for him of Central Park in NY (where he made his romantic proposal). The style brief for the invitation was a vintage, country feel, with a quirky, hand-made aesthetic; light-bulbs hanging from wooden rafters and flowers in jam jars, that sort of thing.
I created a simple, hand-lettered invitation, in two slightly retro colours, with a few illustrative details. Inside, the card was also hand-lettered.
The card design was used as a detail throughout the wedding, with cards on the tables as menus, place settings and memory cards, where everyone could write notes for the bridal couple and hang them up on a washing line...
The map I created for them was a narrative of where they walked that day, where Ping hesitated, where they got lost, and where he finally proposed.
It was used as an animated feature in a mini-movie of the wedding, and also as a back-drop for the stage at the reception:
What a lovely wedding...
*the photographs were taken by Tec Petaja
Hello again, here are a few items of Mariko news from NY... I went to see my ceramic products on display in Tiffanys on Fifth Avenue. Hurrah! They’d sold out of the mugs, which was great to hear.
I painted another mural (an alien this time) for Sparkhouse Kids toystore in South Orange.
They're using the ‘Sparky’ character I designed as the store mascot and logo now too. You can even get mini stick-on tattoos with him on!
I went to Pennsylvania to visit some friends in the countryside,
...went to a cool gig of a guy called Stephan Said, who had all sorts of interesting-looking people accompanying him,
and finally, enjoyed wandering in the Union Square farmer's market, looking at pies. A wonderful end to a wonderful trip.
