umbrellas in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is the city of my heart, and it's totally breaking. I can't believe what's happening. I was there just over a month ago, and although there was tension in the air, it was nothing like what's going on now. Please show your support and spread the news.I love you Hong Kong!

fabric bag

I got myself a little eco fabric bag to keep my computer cables in while I travel, and it seemed a bit plain, so I drew a cable monster on it. Hope he'll be able to keep my cables in order!

Japan trip: Wakayama

I've just spent a lovely few days in the Kii peninsula, in Wakayama, Japan. We stayed in traditional guest houses, in onsen towns along the Kumano Kodo ancient pilgrimage route. Our first stay was in Yunomine.The tiny public onsen 'tsuboyu' there is the only UNESCO world heritage recognised hot spring! After enjoying that, and cooking our own onsen eggs, we walked part of the Kumano Kodo, over a mountain, enjoying the moss and ferns.I love the combination of lush green, tall trees, and ancient stones.We then stayed at the delightful Kameya Ryokan in Kawayu Onsen, on the Ota river.We sat on the rocks and swam in the river, where the cold running water mixed with the bubbling hot spring water rising up through the stones.I love onsen holidays!

Tokyo

I'm in Tokyo for the 2nd International Mokuhanga Conference, where I'll be giving a presentation as part of our group project wood + paper + box, and also showing some work in the corresponding exhibition. Photo to follow of that next week! In the meantime, here's a tasty picture of our okonomiyaki dinner last night...

Puerto Rico map

I've been doing city and country maps for PCMA Convene magazine in the US for quite a while, and for the most recent issue, I did a clean, bright, minimal map of Puerto Rico, highlighting a few places with black & white pencil icons.

phonograph project

I've just completed my prints for the group portfolio project Phonografik Collectivo. I was invited to join, and assigned a letter, or glyph, from the Phoenician alphabet, and asked to create an edition of prints based on its sound. I was given the glyph

which has a sound like nu-n, or noon.

I listened to the sound over and over, and realised it reminded me of the repetitive sound of oars hitting the water. I've always liked Phoenician galley boats, so I developed my work from there as a starting point.I then decided to make etchings, of scattered Phoenician coins, that featured the glyph, in a sort of minimal, hidden way. I mixed a dark green/black ink, sort of an antiquey colour, with gold highlights and details.It's going to be so interesting to see how the other participants have responded to their glyphs.

best of Chicago

I did some fun line drawings for the annual 'Best of Chicago' special for Chicago Magazine recently. I really love how they turned out... I did drawings on the headings for each section,and little icons throughout.I especially enjoyed drawing on some of the delicious photography.Hope I get to Chicago again to try some of these places out!

ICON 8

I attended ICON 8 the illustration conference in Portland last week, and had a wonderful time. I met some amazing and inspirational illustrators, and learned alot about things every illustrator should know. I especially enjoyed meeting Carson Ellis, Jon Klassen (who did 'This is not my hat'), Leo Espinosa, and Vivienne Flesher (a true illustration icon!)all of whose work I totally adore. There were just so many great speakers...I visited the animation studios of Laika, and got to play with some of the characters and props used in the Boxtrolls movie. I especially liked Coraline... ... and of course Portland itself was super to explore.I especially enjoyed the doughnuts!

Bastille Day

Here's a fun French style piece for Atlanta magazine, to celebrate Bastille Day. I tried to think of all the wonderful French things I could, to decorate the page. Joyeux Quatorze Juillet!

zoo & penguins

This weekend we went to the San Francisco zoo. We were given an adoption of a penguin as a gift, so we popped along to take a look. I love penguins! They were Magellanic penguins, several of them rescued when they swam too far north inland and were starving, and now they look very happy and healthy...We watched them floating, waddling, and swimming and my very favourite pose: just standing and thinking!We saw many  of the other animals, and I loved the golden eagle (a broken wing meant she couldn't fly any more) and the rescued grizzly bears, but my special favourite was the capybara!

HOKK fabrica interview

I was interviewed for the online fashion & lifestyle magazine Hokk fabrica this month. You can see the full interview here. This month's issue is about the concept of 'local', and they sent me questions which I was asked to answer by hand, like this... I was asked about my first memorable piece of artwork... It's a print I did in Japan. I really love it.Take a look at the full interview and hope you enjoy!

summer

There's a feeling of summer in the air, and the sunshine and singing cicadas and warm breezes are all delightful. Happy solstice everyone!

father's day

For my amazing dad, and all you other dads out there...

Art in Chicago

This weekend I'm in Chicago. The weather's perfect, and I'm loving it. I've always thought that Chicago is a wonderful secret that nobody tells outsiders, and I feel lucky to have discovered it. And I finally got to see 'the bean', aka 'cloud gate' by Anish Kapoor......on my way to the Art Institute of Chicago, one of my favourite museums in the world. It's just so full of famous paintings that take your breath away.Seurat's 'A Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte' has a special place in my heart. I can't quite explain why it moves me so much, but it's like visiting an old friend. The monkey is the cherry on the cake, it's just so delightful.This beautiful Georgia O'Keefe painting of clouds was a lovely surprise.There was also a wonderful little show of Utamaro mokuhanga prints, which crowned an inspiring day.

Yosemite

Last weekend, we went to Yosemite National Park. It was awesome. All the views were glorious, with constant unbelievably blue skies.We explored the valley and watched the clouds, and marvelled at the incredible waterfalls and towering rocks.I did some sketches, but mostly gawped!We walked amongst the giant sequoias at Mariposa Grove and I admired the structure of the trees and their sideways branches. I loved the sculptural roots of this fallen giant...We also drove through the Stanislaus National Forest, where there had been the fire last year, and it was eerily all brown and burnt, but still strangely beautiful.I can't wait to go back and experience a different season...

slice of pear

This year I'm working on a collaborative mokuhanga project with my friends Yoonmi Nam and Katie Baldwin. We're going to give a presentation and hold an exhibition of the work we produce at the International Mokuhanga Conference in Tokyo in September. It's very exciting! Here's a preparatory sketch for my first piece of work for the project...and a test print of the colours.You can follow the group's progress on our blog woodpaperbox.

gardening

I did this fun piece for the home/gardens section of the current issue of 5280 magazine, with growing vines and flowers intertwining the product photos. I really enjoyed drawing the little bugs and butterflies...

ice hockey

I went to see the San Jose Sharks play ice hockey recently. It was pretty amazing. Especially when the players all skated into the rink through a huge shark's head!I tried to sketch them as they played, but they moved so fast! Especially as they slammed into the walls. Here are my first sketches of ice hockey players in action...

Kung Hei Fat Choi!

I designed 2 different sets of adorable lai see red pockets for clients in HK this year. The first were for BEYORG, celebrating the year of the horse, with cute horses doing various traditional New Year things, in lucky red and shiny gold. . .The second were for Grand Century Place shopping mall. They asked for a pattern incorporating Chinese New Year elements, but also fashiony things like a dress and jewellery. I love the coppery gold colour they used for the foil highlights, to match the pink. They also made a promotional fabric ipad mini case for VIPS with the same pattern.Have a wonderful year of the horse everyone!

Morocco

I've just spent a wonderful five days in Morocco with my best friend, relaxing and seeing the countryside. We arrived in Marrakech, and stayed in a beautiful riad to the NW of the Medina. It was calm and soothing, and even had a hammam.We wandered around the souks, buying babouches and a rug, admiring the wonderful details of life in the bustling city.We then went on a three day trip into the mountains, with Desert Majesty. They were super helpful, and our guide Said was very sweet. Here's a map showing where we went.We drove up into the Atlas mountains and down into the valleys. Our first notable stop was at Ait Ben Haddou, a stunning UNESCO world heritage site. It was exciting to find that it has been used as a location for quite a few movies and TV shows, including Gladiator and Game of Thrones.We drove and drove, past huge vistas of mountains...and into an endlessly blue, blue sky...We explored an ancient Kasbah, and found an old display in one of the courtyards, like a lost moment in time...We stayed the second night in a Berber tented camp, and rode camels into the sunset, and in the evening, sat around a campfire listening to songs and drumming.And then on again, into the dusty, red and pink landscape.We drove through Rissani, where the Moroccan king's family comes from,and back again to Marrakech, to get the Saharan sand out of our shoes...All through the trip we were welcomed everywhere with hot, sweet Moroccan mint tea in beautiful little glasses, and invariably, a pretty silver teapot. Yum.