San Francisco show

I popped in the STUDO Gallery SF in Polk Gulch at the weekend, to see the City Streets
Urban Views of the Bay Area exhibition.

There are 2 of my San Francisco Snowdome prints in the exhibition, and I’m so happy they finally get a showing! I made this series of prints, of an imaginary San Francisco snowdome, when we first moved here and I was still exploring and getting to know the city. I love the San Francisco Bay, and one of my favourite places to hang out when we first arrived was the Ferry Pier on the Embarcadero.

You can see an online gallery of all the pictures in the show here. The physical show is on until May 23rd.

London

For the last few days of my UK trip, I’ve been staying in central London with a friend, and managed a few excursions into town, when it wasn’t too busy…

I popped into HOBBS on High Street Kensington, to take a look at the artwork I did for the interiors, and was happy to see my work on the sock packaging and ceramic mug in the store too!

I went to see the Beatrix Potter exhibition at the V&A (my favourite museum) and loved her beautiful meticulous drawings and watercolours.

And no visit to London is complete with a trip to Fortnum and Mason in Piccadilly. The windows are celebrating the upcoming Queen’s jubillee, and I always love wandering in the ceramic and tea areas of the shop. There was even a royal visitor (no idea who) with a Rolls Royce outside.

Soon it’ll be back to California!

Book Arts event

This weekend, a selection of my artists books and hand-made zines will be on show at the Bristol Artists Book Event in Bristol, England.

I’m showing alongside other artists from the Tokyo-based Art Byte Critique art collective.

Most of my work on show is mokuhanga-based, like the accordian fold book ‘Between Times’ above, and my mini zines ‘Night Garden’ and ‘beetle’ below.

You can find more info about BABE here and more about the ABC participating artists here.

HOBBS mug

HOBBS of London has made a new ceramic stoneware mug featuring the London map illustration I made for them.

There are black cabs running around the inside of the mug, as well as a compass on the bottom and there are lots of famous landmarks on the mug. I especially like the packaging for the mug, which also features my illustration.

The mug is available in select stores in the UK, and online here.

France trip IV

For our last few days in France we booked a delicious airbnb in Le Rouret, about an hour away from Cannes. It’s run by a sweet creative couple and absolutely adorable! If you ever need a calm and relaxing place to stay there, I recommend them!

The weather was changeable but sunny and cool most of the time, and I sketched the view from our little terrace as I watched the clouds in the evenings…

We visited the picturesque artist town of St Paul de Vence, and saw Chagall’s grave and wandered in the pretty cobbled streets. Then had a cup of tea in a local cafe and I loved the pink walls and gold lettering on the doors…

We spent a wonderful time in the little Musee Bonnard in Le Cannet, where there was a special exhibition of Felix Vallotton woodcuts. I was inspired by Bonnard’s paintings set in the town.

I really enjoyed sketching out in the open, it’s been a while, and experimenting with different materials and paper. Every day there was something marvellous to see and I wanted to capture it all.

It has been an incredible 3 weeks, and I can’t believe it’s already over!

France trip III

In our third week in France, we started in the ancient village of Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, nestled into the mountains of Verdon en Provence.

The weather started sunny, but there were also a few days of cloud that gave the village a mysterious atmosphere. There were twisty alleys and fountains and the sound of water everywhere. As we were early in the season, the shops weren’t really open, and only a few of the restaurants, but it also meant that it was quiet and empty and beautifully private…

We then travelled through the Gorge du Verdon, stopping for a picnic lunch at this incredible spot. Everything is magnificent and it’s tricky to decide what to draw.

The road along the gorge is high and winding and I have to admit it was frightening as well as breathtaking. I’m not keen on these tiny roads with no barriers!

We are now closer to the coast near Cannes and Nice, enjoying our last few days in the South of France. I can’t believe the trip is almost over!

France trip II

Carcassonne was like a medieval fairytale, and we spent a windy sunny day walking the ramparts admiring the views. I loved the morning silhouette of the castle from our balcony…

After a few days there we moved to the countryside near Arles, and took up residence in a delightful renovated pigeonnier attached to an old Provencal Mas.

The whole atmosphere was homely , the lady who ran it was welcoming and the whole stay made me want to settle down and live there forever. You can rent it from airbnb here. I 100% recommend it!

I spent almost a whole day just wandering around painting things around the house and grounds. Such a pleasure…

I even took the time to draw some of the desserts I’d eaten - this is the pavlova by Remi Touja Pastry, champion patissier of France!

We also visited Arles, a wonderful little town that I absolutely adored. We kept arriving at the amphitheatre, whichever road we took, so we had galettes for lunch and I sketched the view. It was market day, and the hustle and bustle was such a refreshing change.

I loved the little details on the doors and the plants decorating people’s doorsteps, and of course all the winding streets…

This second week of the trip has been relaxing and warm, as the sun came out a little more, and now we’re off to the mountains…

France trip volume I

This is the first week of our epic South of France road trip - first stop Tarn-et-Garonne! We stayed in a lovely barn near Montpezat-de-Quercy, and explored the surrounding areas.

All the shutters of the local houses are painted in blue/turquoise/lilac and I love them all! The main house attached to our barn was a delightful pink, which made the shutters really pop.

We visited the cloisters of Moissac Abbey and the sun finally came out just in time to create deep shadows on the green lawn. I started this sketch on site, but we got chucked out at closing time and I finished it at home.

We went to the market in the picturesque hilltop town of Najac, and I managed this sketch at the bottom of the hill. What you can’t tell here is the extremely strong gusts of wind constantly buffeting us!

Another, even more spectacular hill-top town is Cordes-sur-Ciel, and we went to the top of an adjoining hill to enjoy the sight. These towns and villages look like fairytales…

Next stop: Carcassonne!

Spring flowers

I’m in the UK at the moment, visiting family, and trying to get a handle on all the world news. Walking in the garden, and in green spaces, is a priviledge and a joy.

tree prints

I have four prints of trees in our current group mokuhanga exhibition at the Southern Vermont Arts Centre. They form a quadtych I made while I was on an artists residency in Vermont almost 10 years ago, so it feels wonderful to show them publicly for the first time ever, in Vermont.

I was exploring our relationship to trees and nature, and put a human-made object with each tree.

I’m happy that three of the four prints have sold, and that the Night Tree and Rain Tree prints were sold together to a collector. I wonder if they’ll stay in Vermont…

The show continues until March 27th, so I hope you’ll be able to visit before then.

clouds

We can hold our loved ones close, and try to do what we can to make the world a better place, in our own small way. Stay safe everyone.

Winter Olympics - ice skating

I enjoyed watching the ice skating at the Winter Olympics this year, and tried to capture the incredible movements of the skaters in quick sketches…

These details show some of the wonderful poses the skaters held. I even managed to do a passable likeness of my favourite Yuzuru Hanyu!

I especially enjoyed the pairs skating, it’s less stressful to watch, and the skaters’ co-ordinated movements are wonderful to behold.

I didn’t have a favourite in the pairs, but I loved the outfits! Sketching this fast (or trying to!) is great practice.

COPE international editions

One of the most exciting things about the COPE series of books I’ve been illustrating for the last couple of years is that they are available for everyone to read for free. You can read them on the website, or download them to your own devices to read later.

We produce them initially in English, but over the yers we’ve seen them translated by our collaborators and made available in a variety of languages, to make them even more accessible…

The COVID-19 booklet has been the most widely translated and distributed. I really hope they’re helping kids in this pandemic to understand what’s going on a little better, and how to keep themselves safe…

You can find all the books on the COPE website here. Enjoy and take care!

mokuhanga show review

There’s a wonderful article in the Seven Days online arts magazine about our Mokuhanga Sisters show at the Southern Vermont Arts Centre. Thank you to Pamela Polston for the thoughtful review!

These are some of my floral prints in the show…

…and these are a few of Gotou san’s amazing abstract works.

This print of his has such a beautifully rich black along the top, and an incredible gold metallic shimmer that needs to be seen in person to appreciate.

The exhibition continues until March 27, I hope you get a chance to visit!

Hong Kong Willow coasters

I’ve just received these beautiful new ceramic coasters featuring illustrations of a selection of areas in Hong Kong, as part of my expanding Hong Kong Willow Collection.

I’m especially happy with the Wanchai/Causeway Bay/Happy Valley coaster, as I added some new icons like the historic wanchai post office and famous restaurant Amigo in Happy Valley.

The coasters are available to buy in Hong Kong at the Langham Hotel, tree, and Bookazine and as always, direct from faux.

I think they’d be a perfect Lunar New Year gift!

California

We left Japan at the end of the year, and moved back to our old apartment in California. It all still feels a bit unreal, but I’m slowly adapting to a different pace, and to the different light. The sun shines differently here, and the long, low, afternoon rays of light in the studio are beautiful.

The skies are different too, and somehow more vivid. Every evening, as the sun sets, I can’t believe my eyes. What beauty!

I’m looking forward to rediscovering the wonderful things here, and hope that Japan will be there waiting for me when I get back one day.

mokuhanga show in Vermont

The World Between the Block and the Paper is currently showing at the Southern Vermont Art Centre in Manchester, Vermont, USA. It was organised by Patty Hudak, a member of our printmaking collective Mokuhanga Sisters.

Photo by Yoonmi Nam

The show features work by the Mokuhanga Sisters, plus a guest artist we each invited, either a teacher or a student, and also a few local artists connected with us.

photo by Dave Barnum Photography

I invited my teacher Hidehiko Gotou san to show his prints alongside my own. His are the blue and gold ones shown here. They sold out on the opening day of the exhibition!

photo by Dave Barnum Photography

The exhibition is also a chance for us to showcase our collaborative project Borderless, co-ordinated by Lucy May Schofield. Borderless is an emakimono, a scroll, made up of prints by each of us.

photo by Dave Barnum Photography

The eight prints are black and white, mostly printed with sumi ink, and constructed by hand by Lucy. My print Night Garden is shown here at the beginning of the scroll.

photo by Dave Barnum Photography

Our Wood + Paper + Box collaborative project (with Yoonmi Nam and Katie Baldwin) is also on show, with the flat pieces of our boxed work under glass, and the 3-dimensional pieces on plinths around the room. My double-sided uchiwa fan is shown in the first photo above.

photos by Dave Barnum Photography

I’m especially happy that this quadtych of tree prints is being shown here - I made them on an artists residency in Vermont years ago, and they are finally being exhibited for the first time, in Vermont!

photo by Dave Barnum Photography

The show is up until the 27th of March. More information is available here. Hope you can go and see it!

my solo show in Tokyo

I had a solo show! In Tokyo! The one that was cancelled in Spring of 2020 due to the pandemic. I rethought the show, and turned it into a sort of goodbye event, as we were leaving Japan soon afterwards.

The show was held in the adorable Almost Perfect gallery, in the downtown (rapidly becoming hipster) part of Tokyo.

left photo by Lee Basford

The space was perfectly suited to the scale and tone of my work, and I was so happy to show there. The sunlight slanted in in the morning, and the gallery was bright and airy for the rest of the day.

Most of the framed prints were mokuhanga, but there were a few etchings too. I framed a few of the pieces specially for the show, and also experimented with mounting some of them directly onto wood, instead of framing behind glass.

As well as framed prints, I showed a selection of other printed products, such as artists books, handmade sketchbooks, greetings cards and postcards.

I also showed some of my ceramics - the HK willow and HK toile collections, and even a few London toile teacups.

right photo by Lee Basford

I was so happy that people came to see the show to say hello/goodbye. Happier still when everyone bought something to take home with them.

A special thank you to Luis and Yuka for hosting my show, and to everyone who supported me, by showing up, by buying something, and for saying nice things about my work. Thank you.