kung hei fat choi

A very happy Chinese new year of the rooster to you all!

women's march

I want to share my love and support for everyone who is out this weekend marching, all over the world, showing that they care, about equality, diversity, and inclusion, and most especially about the future of the planet itself. We really all can make a difference.

women who draw

I'm very proud to be a part of the women who draw website, an open directory of female professional freelance illustrators, artists and cartoonists. It was created by a group of women artists in an effort to increase the visibility of female illustrators. You can read all about it here and in this VOGUE article and in this one in the Huffington Post. This is my little lady illustration (recognise her from the Miss joker playing card?) that represents me on the site.She was even featured on the BBC news website this week, in an interview with the women who set up the site. I hope it will be a huge success. Thank you Wendy and Julia!

osechi

Hope the year has started out well for you all. We had our Japanese New Year osechi meal at home...and I made extra so we could have it again with a different set of friends...Hope this year will be bountiful!

happy new year!

We took a few days off during the holidays to have a little road trip down the coast to Capitola by the sea......and then on to Pinnacles National Park. I spent time sketching, walking and thinking about my goals for 2017.I tried to paint pinnacles in the red of the rocks, but then realised that I more interested in the shapes than the colour, and did a wider panorama in just blue and green.We also visited the Lick Observatory outside San Jose, which was fascinating.Hope this year will be full of wonderful views, and incredible possibilities!

holidays

Hope everyone is enjoying their between-Christmas-and-New-Year break! Here's a picture of the cake my dad made and that I carried back to San Francisco to enjoy...Stay cosy!

christmas cards

This year I splashed out and printed my Christmas cards properly. By that I mean they were offset litho printed (rather than digital) and included a shiny copper metallic foil stamped element. Hurrah!For the design I wanted to create a pattern, but one that wasn't a straight repeat. To do this I sketched different types of trees you might find in a  forest, and then all sorts of woodland animals. I then sprinkled the forest with twinkly stars, a moon and a greeting.This man (and his dog) printed them for me in Hong Kong. I would thoroughly recommend him. New Hip Lik Co. in Central. tel: 2541 1992 (old school and no website!)Have a wonderful Christmas everyone! M x

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!  

Hong Kong

I'm in Hong Kong at the moment, working on all sorts of projects, and loving being back after far too long. I had breakfast at the retro Hoi On Cafe with a friend and did a quick sketch..I adored the glossy red booths! I visited my favourite sort of hardware store......and wandered the evening streets, admiring the old and fast disappearing Hong Kong.

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!

nursery mural

I recently painted a fun mural for a friend's nursery. I was asked for simple scenes with friendly animals, in muted colours, that would work for a girl or a boy. I started with sketches of various combinations of animals and foliage, and put them into photos of the room to decide the best scale to paint them.I did one of the sketches in colour, to show how they would all look on the pale yellow walls... ... and then put together a colour pallette. I used the same colours in all three scenes, to hold the room together. Eventually I did add one additional colour as I was painting: a pale orange for the lion.This is a photo of the elephant scene half-way painted. It shows the building up of the layers of flat smooth colour.And here's a photo of all three finished painted scenes, after they were given a final protective coat of varnish. I love how they came out.Can't wait for the baby to arrive now and see if they like their room!

Christmas cards

Something I've been thinking about for a long while is opening a little online shop to sell some exclusive Mariko products. I'm often designing for other brands and companies (which I love doing!) but I'd also like to start my own little personal brand. I'm going to start slowly, with paper products like greeting cards, and then try to develop in an organic way. I'm working on my shop, which I hope to launch later this year, but in the meanwhile, here are some pics of my very first specially designed Christmas cards for sale.Please contact me directly if you're interested in ordering them, either for yourself, or wholesale! They are sold in packs of 5 cards with envelopes.

Star Trek improv

I went to watch Phasers on Stun a Star Trek improv group in San Francisco and I absolutely loved it! The actors was so versatile, playing starship crewmembers, aliens, animals, and sometimes even playing two characters on stage at once.This is the crew of the USS Golden Gate, exploring new worlds.I sketched throughout the show, trying to capture the strange situations, wonderful conversations and fantastical characters. My very favourite drawings are these little simplified characters I made of all the actors...Try and go and see them if you can, they have more shows this month. Live long and prosper!

exchange show

My printmaking workshop GAW has done a print exchange with a small gallery in Yokohama, Japan. It's very exciting! The exhibition of both our work and their work will be on show at the GAW gallery from next week 9 September to 1 October on fridays and saturdays, 12-5pm. I'm showing two of my San Francisco snowdome prints. The lighter one will be on show in Yokohama, the darker one in SF. There will be a reception at GAW on saturday 10 September 3-5pm. Hope to see you there!

There will be a reception at Launchpad Gallery, Yokohama, on saturday 17 September 7-10pm, with the show running from 16 - 26 September. Hope you can make it one or the other of the shows.

Los Angeles

Went to stay with some friends in LA at the weekend and spent an afternoon in their lovely back yard.Summer the dog, an adorable labradoodle, helped me with my watercolour sketch...Long live the sunshine!