Tiffany & Co. mugs

My Fifth Avenue Tiffany designs have been made into special little versions in Japan, with angled sides. Little and cute works well there! They're available exclusively in Japan, either in store or online.

Kansas

This week I'm in Lawrence, Kansas. Yesterday I gave an artist's talk at University of Kansas about my work, with an emphasis on my printmaking and sketchbooks. The students were very responsive and I really enjoyed discussing my work with them. It's nice to feel I may even have inspired them a little. I also visited Leila's Hair Museum in Independence, Missouri. It was a little creepy, but in a fascinating can't-look-away sort of way. There were old photographs with real hair glued on, as mementos. There were pictures in little frames with hair inside...There were large ornate gilded frames with decorative flowers made entirely of hair...There were even simple delicate snippets of hair...I enjoyed it, as a truly unusual obsessive collection. I recommend it!

happy Thanksgiving weekend!

Hope all of you in the States have had a great Thanksgiving! I went to celebrate with friends in Santa Barbara, on a ranch in the mountains... and in LA, by the beach in Santa Monica...I'm thankful for all the wonderful people in my life, and for the opportunities I've had to create the beautiful things I've always wanted to. I'm also thankful for ice cream. Mariko x

yoga journal

Here are a few nice white line illustrations I did for Yoga Journal a while ago. They are sort of back-drops, but more atmospheric than realistic. I just love the fish and coral!I tried to get a nice rich white chalky line quality, and did all sorts of sea creatures to follow through the underwater summer theme.

whale watching

I saw a whale! Actually I saw two. It was amazing. We went on a whale watching trip on a very cold foggy day in San Francisco, heading out under the Golden Gate Bridge. Even before we got far we'd seen seals and porpoises and all sorts of seabirds. But it was the lovely gray whale that made me happiest. They waved their fins, and dove down so their tails flipped out of the water... Also the murres, I loved them! Sort of like a penguin, but floating on the water. So adorable...

happy halloween!

I've been watching the fog rolling over the San Francisco hills for a while now, and so I decided that for my halloween costume I would be the fog! I made a headpiece with a cardboard model of the Sutro Tower and added some birds and finally a wave of felt fog rolling over it all, and then I dressed all in grey.This is how the tower in the fog really looks...I especially loved making the little pelican and seagull.Boo!

rodeo!

Last weekend I went to my first rodeo, the 2013 Grand National Rodeo, held at the Cow Palace (what a great name!) in San Francisco. There were all sorts of events, but most were just too fast to draw: bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, they only last a few seconds! There were lots of parades with people on horses holding flags...and displays where the horses galloped super fast too...I enjoyed it all, it was such a spectacle! Before the main event we went to see the animals, and I adored the goats and soft furry cows (that were having their fur blowdried to supreme fluffiness) and was super happy when they did a parade of the best-in-show.

Winchester Mystery House

I went to visit Winchester Mystery House in San Jose recently, home of the widow of the heir to the famous Winchester rifle fortune. She was a bit eccentric (to say the least) and built a truly bizarre house. There was a very nice little mini exhibit of all the things that the Winchester company made in their heydey, and I drew these sketches there. I really love old handtools!

Sparkhouse mural

I've just been to Sparkhouse, in South Orange, New Jersey, to add another little character to the growing collection on the walls of my friend's toy store. It's always nice to do a little favour...I'm now trying to think of a name for the mini supercute robot...

River Cottage veg USA

River Cottage veg everyday has been re-printed in the US, and the publishers here have taken the illustrated endpapers I made for the original UK edition, and put them on the front and back covers of the book, with a short dust jacket. I like it. Though I kind of miss Hugh on the cover.Vegetable books are super popular in the States at the moment, and I saw the book in a nice article in a foodie magazine...I was also super chuffed when I saw it in the anthropologie online store...and even more when I saw it in the actual store!It's available on amazon US.