My collaborative T-shirt design project for OuterEdit has just finished, and I'm super happy with the designs I made. I took bits from everyone's artwork and created something surprising and Mariko-style out of them...
My favourite themes that came up through the collaborative process were the fox, the stag, and the heart symbol. I played with these to create my designs.
Only the top 5 'hearted' designs will actually be produced as T-shirts, so please take the time to go to the site, register, and vote vote vote! There are a few days left to vote before a decision is made. Thank you!
Outer Edit half-way through
So far I've done 2 new images for this project, making use of several other artists' bits of artwork. In the first, I directly used Aude's fox mask and Kahori's flower to complement my bird branch theme:
In the next round, I didn't use the others' actual artwork, but was inspired to draw my own stag (thanks Hiromi!) and fox. I made a little scenario with its own Latin motto "a true friend is a rare bird".
Keep voting, and some of these t-shirts could become real!
Outer Edit starts today!
So, my Outer Edit collaboration project starts today. Please go the website, register, and vote for my artwork! The collaboration continues until October 16th, and then the T-shirts with the most votes get produced, yay!
The theme is 'Flora & Fauna', and this is my starting artwork...
Sketchbook Project - London
My cutlery proverb sketchbook for the Art House Co-op is on its world tour, and will be in London next week! 
All the European and Australian sketchbooks will be available to view at The Canada Water Library on these days at these times:
Oct. 12th 4pm-8pm
Oct. 13th 11am-5pm
Oct. 15th - 19th 4pm-8pm
Hope you can make it along!
OuterEdit starting soon!
I blogged about this a few months ago, and now it's finally here, the collaborative project for OuterEdit is about to start... They came to London and filmed a little video of me and here it is. I'm a little bit freaked out by how I look/sound, but there you go.
OuterEdit - FC04 - Mariko Jesse from OuterEdit on Vimeo.
Our 'collab' starts on October 9th, and my collaborators on this project will be illustrators Aude Van Ryn, David Humphries, Kahori Maki, and Bob Foundation. They're all amazing and I hope you'll check out the OuterEdit website and see what we produce together!
Max and Mei website
A fab new website has been launched for the Max and Mei series of bi-lingual children's books I illustrated. The books are Mandarin-English and really great fun.
The new site features all the characters from the books, and all sorts of interesting interactive stuff.
You can hear the stories being read aloud,
and play some fun language games (I was ok at the numbers, not so great at the word matching!)
The website has lots of (educational!) playful stuff for kids of any age.
The original books are based on Max and Mei meeting all the creatures in the Chinese zodiac. In the newest book they meet a dinasaur (sort of!) The books are available direct from the publisher PPP in Hong Kong, and amazon everywhere else. 
Enjoy!
canelé bordelais
A canelé is the speciality pastry of Bordeaux, invented in the 18th century. It's flavoured with vanilla and rum, with a dark caramelised crust and soft custardy centre. I tried as many different ones as possible over one weekend in Bordeaux...
Hugh's Three Good Things
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's new cookbook is here!
Published by Bloomsbury in the UK, there are lovely illustrations by me, and gorgeous photographs by Simon Wheeler, all laid out by the wonderful art director Lawrence Morton.
I've created illustrations of the ingredients in watercolour and pen & ink, and there are also some fun collages of Hugh interacting with illustrated elements, like this...
I love that I can incorporate a slightly surreal element into the photos...
and also play around with the recipe text a little.
I've done some hand-written text in the cookbook for the first time too...
The contents page is my favourite! Here's a corner...
You can buy the book from the River Cottage amazon page or any good bookstore, and there is even a kindle/ipad version (but with less pictures, just so you know). You can also get more information on the River Cottage website, and there are some sample pages you can view in full here.
Yum....
Janice's wedding
Another pretty wedding project for a client in Hong Kong. She asked for two pheonixes, a bird symbolising longevity, that could be used in various elements of her wedding. I created several stages of the pheonix motif, in two slightly different colourways.
The first illustration showed two flying birds, with the bride and groom's names interwoven into the design. This was used on the Save the Date notification and formal invitations, in the traditional Chinese wedding colours of red and gold.
The next version of the illustration showed the story growing, and included a little landscape, with a tree and butterflies. This was used on the first stage backdrop used at the actual wedding, in soft pinks, with a watercolour textured backgoround.
The illustration developed, with clouds and a golden moon, for the next stage backdrop in red and gold...
And the final development of the illustration included musicians outside a cosy house, and a little golden nest in the tree. This was used on a specially made china teacup, given as a wedding favour to each guest.
I adore this cup, it's such a lovely gift to remember the wedding... 
weekend in Paris
in drawings, lifestyle, sketchbooks, travel
A quick trip across the channel, and a weekend in Paris in August. Lovely. 
This is the view from our hotel, right in the centre of Saint Germain des Pres, on the left bank. Not many shops were open, it being the weekend, and also August, so we spent the time strolling in the parks,
sipping chocolat in cafes, and generally just having a relaxing time...
Lane Crawford summer card
My HK toile design has again been adapted by Lane Crawford, the high end department store in HK, in new neon brights, for their summer collection electronic gift card.
You can purchase it on the Lane Crawford website...
Olympic extras
in drawings, sketchbooks, sport
I went to see the men's indoor volleyball semi-finals last week, at Earl's Court. I had no idea what it would be like, but I really enjoyed the fast-paced game, and cheered for Bulgaria (I liked their outfits), although they eventually lost to Russia, the eventual gold medallists.
Olympics week two
in drawings, painting, sketchbooks, sport
It's the second week of the Olympics. It's still sunny, it's still fun, and I finally made it to the Olympic Park!
We managed to get some last minute athletics tickets, and couldn't believe that our seats in the main stadium were right next to the gorgeous Olympic cauldron. It was designed by Thomas Heatherwick (I love his work!), and it's truly beautiful...
Here's my little watercolour sketch of it...
London Olympics
in drawings, lifestyle, people, sketchbooks, sport
Hurrah for the Olympics in London! It's going well, the sun is out, and everyone is happy. This week I went to see the men's weightlifting. It was fascinating, and we saw the Chinese gold medal winner break two world records. Amazing...
It was pretty hard to sketch, as it happens so quickly, but it was sort of like this!
Venice trip
A few days in Venice is enough to make anyone happy! It was hot (so hot!) and sunny every day, and I saw beautiful paintings in churches, famous vistas, and even had time to sit on our hotel terrace and paint the view...
My favourite things in Venice are the winged lions of St Mark which are everywhere. Here's a sketch of the most famous, on one of the pillars at the entrance to St Marks Square.
We drank cold sodas in cafes during the heat of the day,
and ate icecreams as the night drew in...
happy birthday me!
Yesterday was my birthday, hurrah! Here's a little sketch of my birthday raspberry and rose cake, made with real rose petals...
Ling Ling app
The childrens book I illustrated called 'Ling Ling Looked in the Mirror', about a cheeky girl who dreams of all the things she can grow up to be (and her even more sassy panda friend), is now available as an app! I'm very excited about it. You can view it on any ipad or iphone.
You can have it read to you, or read it yourself. You can click on the pictures and it'll tell you what they are, you can get help reading a word if you're not sure what it is, and you can even record yourself reading the whole book. 
It's aimed at kids between the ages of 4-10, but really it's fun for any age at all!
It's available as a hard-cover book on Amazon, and as an app in itunes. The app is £1.99 in the UK, $2.99 in the US. You can see a preview of it here.
Istanbul trip
in drawings, painting, sketchbooks, travel
A few weeks ago I went to Istanbul and was amazed at the changes since my last visit twenty years ago. The sun shone, the Bosphorus sparkled, everyone was super friendly, and it was magical...
I loved the subtle shades and patterns of the tiles in the blue mosque, and also in the Topkapi palace.
The huge cavernous space of the Hagia Sofia was incredible, and I especially admired the Byzantine mozaics that had been partially uncovered under the Ottoman painting of the interiors.
First Merit Bank advertisements
I worked with the ad agency Brokaw in the States to create a series of animated/live action TV commercials for First Merit Bank. Each of the adverts features people who have achieved their dreams, and I created hand-drawn illustrated backgrounds that they could interact with. Hope you enjoy!
There was also a series of print ads that went with the TV commercials, featuring the same characters and backgrounds.
printmaking workshops
in design, hong kong, printmaking, teaching, travel
I gave several printmaking workshops recently, at an International school in Hong Kong. I showed the students various techniques for mono-printing (handy as no presses are needed) and we used the table surfaces to print from.
I encouraged them to experiment and explore, and they were so enthusiastic it really inspired me. I taught the IB students (16-18 years old),
and also some primary classes (9-11yrs old)
and they all produced amazing work...
I hope they enjoyed the classes as much as I did!