Pacific Place

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I've just arrived in HK to do some promotional work for Pacific Place luxury shopping mall. I created an illustration about the celebration of Spring, for their Chinese New Year decorations.small fileI used red (a lucky & auspicious colour) and included all the 12 Chinese horoscope animals. It also features Chinese New Year elements such as peonies, plum blossoms and pine trees. The PP website features the design in a pink + brown colour combination.screen shot 1 copy There'll be all kinds of fun events at Pacific Place over Chinese New Year, so if you're around, please check it out! I'll be taking some photos of the decorated mall this week, so you can see those soon.

It's the year of the goat, and I especially do like drawing goats...goats

Sicily map

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I haven't featured any maps recently, so I thought I'd show this map of Sicily I did for Conde Nast Traveller in the UK . I painted it a while ago, and I like the way it's placed in the page, giving it lots of room to breathe.Exif_JPEG_PICTUREI also thought I'd show my rough sketch for the map:sicily map roughYou can see how the outer shape of the sea around the island has changed, and a few things, like the distance scale, have moved, and that I removed all the tiny outer islands. The final map became more streamlined, and focussed on the important elements. The bright Mediterannean colours were wonderful to paint.

Waitrose Christmas

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For this year's Waitrose Christmas magazine in the UK, I drew images that would be used as backdrops for the hampers special photoshoot.waitrose 1I created the illustrations, but as I couldn't be on location, a specialist did the physical chalk drawings onto boards on my behalf. I think they turned out pretty well! waitrose 2Pick up a copy in any Waitrose to see them all!

WOM dining guide

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I worked on the new WOM dining guide in HK, and I really like the glossy brightness of the cover. I created an illustration about food and drink in HK, and managed to feature all my favourite buildings.Exif_JPEG_PICTUREAs this issue is about award-winning dining, I drew all sorts of badges and awards inside, for the different categories.Exif_JPEG_PICTUREThe awards were also given to the actual restaurants, and it was great to see this on display!Exif_JPEG_PICTURE

Thanksgiving!

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Thanksgiving is this coming week here in the States. Every year it falls on the 4th thursday of November and everyone goes to see their families and have a huge turkey meal, and think about all the things they're thankful for.I'm thankful for having such a lovely husband, wonderful family, excellent friends, and for being able to draw every day. I hope you all have lots of things to be thankful for too...

Hearst Castle & Monterey

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We visited Hearst Castle last weekend, which was totally enshrouded in fog and completely crazy. It was fantastic to walk through the rooms and marvel at the mismatched objets...I liked the details in the carvings and sculptures...and I really loved the vintage phones in all the rooms!On the way there we drove down the Monterey coast along Big Sur. It was absolutely beautiful. We cruised '17 Mile Drive' and looked at the famous lone cypress and saw sealions and dolphins, hurrah!

open studio

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Today and tomorrow I'll be at my studio in Dogpatch, San Francisco, with lots of prints for sale. I'd love to see you, please pop by! Graphic Arts Workshop, 2565 3rd St. #305 San Francisco, CA 94107.                               11am – 6pm both days.For the first time, I even have a selection of my vintage prints for sale...

It's been fun sorting through my collection, I'm looking forward to sharing!

open studios San Francisco

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I'll be taking part in San Francisco's Artspan open studios next weekend: October 25 & 26th, at my print studio in Dogpatch: Graphic Arts Workshop, 2565 3rd St. #305 San Francisco, CA 94107.                               11am - 6pm both days

It's an opportunity to visit the print studio, and buy prints directly from the artists. I'll have a big selection of etchings...some lithographs, and also some Japanese woodblock prints... All available to purchase. Some work is framed, most is unframed. I'll also be selling some limited edition greetings cards. Bring along your wallets for some happy bargains!

Really hope to see you there.

River Cottage light & easy

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I illustrated Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's new cookbook, which is available now, and it's lovely! The recipes are totally amazing, especially when you realise that they're gluten & dairy free. My illustrations throughout the book are drawn in colour pencil, so I could make them feel 'light and easy'... I did some little drawings to add flavour to the page...and some larger ones across whole spreads.I did some drawings around the text...and some for the text to go around.I worked with the whole Bloomsbury team, as well as Hugh, but mostly with the wonderful Lawrence Morton, who art directed the book. There is now a River Cottage youtube channel, where they feature quite a few recipes from this book. Take a look, it's really fun!

River Cottage light & easy is available from River Cottage's amazon page. And of course all good bookstores. Enjoy!

Japan trip: Wakayama

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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!