I’ve been busy finishing up a project this week, so here’s an image I found recently of something I made at art college - it’s a book I hollowed out and filled with some bottles of imaginary scents, adding some handlettering, that was inspired by the book Perfume by Patrick Suskind. I also printed the flowers onto the vintage satin gloves as part of the project. I used to make a lot more 3-dimensional work. Maybe it’s something I could go back to…
Wood Paper Ink
Wood Paper Ink explores mokuhanga and its expansion from Japan to the international world of contemporary art. The exhibition is organised by the Mokuhanga Sisters and the Richard F. Brush Art Gallery, and it presents diverse examples of the environmentally sustainable printmaking process.
My tree print is featured on the brochure, and my 3-dimensional piece Into the Garden is on display in a case. I’ve never thought of these 2 pieces as part of a set, but I like them together.
Work from each of the Mokuhanga Sisters and a few invited guests, fills the beautiful space.
The Mokuhanga Sisters and the Richard F Brush Gallery at St Lawrence University in Canton, NY present Wood, Paper, Ink from September 12- October 8, 2022. Hope you can visit!
happy mid-autumn festival!
In HK, this is my favourite festival, when everyone lights lanterns and goes to the beach or the hills to light the way for the moon goddess to visit the earth…
This year I painted a little paper lantern with stars and lit it on my balcony. It was cloudy and I couldn’tsee the moon, but it still made me happy!
BRUSHED show
I made a sculptural piece for the BRUSHED show at the Compound Gallery in Oakland, curated by Courtney Cerruti. The opening was this weekend, and I went to take a look. I loved the wall my piece is hanging on - all the creamy pale pieces together.
I made my piece with an Asian wide brush, wrapping it in washi paper and collaging leaves made from my mokuhanga offcut prints. I tried to create a feeling of a dappled grove in the woods.
I originally thought I’d have the brush facing one way and put a hook on the back, but as I worked on it, I decided to collage both sides, and all the edges too…
I put a hook in the top, and now the piece can be hung whichever way forward you prefer!
The show is up for a while, I do hope you can pop by.
library card
Back in 2021, Burlingame Public Library held a competition for designs for several new library cards. There were two children’s categories and one for adults, and you had to be a Burlingame library card holder in order to take part (yay me!) The brief was to create a design that represented Burlingame, libraries, or reading. I came up with a concept that celebrated all three…
I’ve always loved the Burlingame library lions at the entrance to the main building, and decided to create the design around them. Using photo references I’d taken, I sketched out several versions, and adapted each iteration, adding a smile, a library book, and eventually also the main archway around the double doors to the library.
Next I starting playing with colour and shading. The line work was done with a dip pen and ink, and I added the colour and textures in Photoshop. I played with the tones in the metal lion, and added a pop of colour in the book. As you can see, right up until the end, the words on the book were the address of the library itself, until I suddenly realised it would be more meaningful to write ‘Wisdom and Wonder’, the names of the two lions, and also a wonderful motto for what the library itself represents.
I went to the library this week to get myself a new card and took these photos in situ…
Here’s a fun film that the library staff made to celebrate the winning library card designs.
I’m so pleased and honoured to now be a part of Burlingame library’s wonderful history!
storm drains
Earlier this year, Burlingame City held an open call for designs for a Storm Drain Murals Pilot Project: small murals to be placed near the storm drains on the pavements. They wanted to draw people’s attention to the drains and the fact that anything that goes into them gets washed directly out into San Francisco Bay.
I entered these two designs:
For the first, I adapted one of my San Francisco snowdome etchings, adding large raindrops, and for the second, I did some hand-lettering and placed it over my clouds and rain mokuhanga print. Both were chosen!
It was so exciting to to finally go and find them actually printed and on the street!
Both small murals are on Burlingame Broadway, and there is a map to show their locations here.
I would love to see any photos you take of them if you see them in person too.
ikigai Japan map
I illustrated a map of Japan recently for the new luxury spirits brand ikigai collection, part of the BBC Spirits group. The maps helps inform the bar servers, when they get specialised training in the brand, about the topography of Japan, and where specific distilleries are. There’s a huge difference between snowy Hokkaido in the North and tropical Okinawa in the South!
My brother Kenji Jesse is a brand ambassador for the collection, through his company nomu consult, and it was wonderful to work on a project together. He takes the Japanese philosophy of life and infuses it into his personal brand.
I gave the map a Japanese flavour, using traditional patterns in the sea and border, but kept it contemporary and bright, to suit the new brand.
I love seeing how the map is used in situ!
Creativebug class
Back in May, I filmed two classes for Creativebug and the first, a daily practice sketchbook class, is now available. You can follow along in short easy steps, with me drawing and showing you how to get comfortable sketching whenever you feel like it, in public, at home, wherever you fancy!
The sketchbook class is a ‘daily practice’, which means that every day, for a month, you spend a few minutes doing some sort of sketching, and hopefully by the end, you’ve built up a little routine for yourself, and will have fallen in love with sketching.
I show how I use 3 different sketchbooks for different types of things: everyday, special, and working. I always have a sketchbook in my bag, and if I’m out and about, in a cafe or a park, I’ll do a sketch. To create this scenario in the Creativebug studio, they built a mock cafe for me to sketch in, using a lot of my own products. I loved the set-up!
You can read more about how the filming went on the Creativebug blog here.
This is the trailer for the class. I’m not used to being filmed, but (I think) I got the hang of it. I really hope I’ve shared my love of sketchbooks and sketching. And maybe a few more people will be comfortable going out and sketching, and loving it too.
You can register and try out the class for a trial period for free. You can search for Creativebug online, or click this link to go direct to my class.
*I get a bonus if you end up signing up through this link! Enjoy!!
treehouse weekend
It was my birthday last week, and we went to stay in a treehouse, as a special treat! I have always wanted to stay in one, and it was as magical as I hoped. To wake up in a four poster bed, surrounded by trees and birds, was heavenly…
The house had been built into a fairy ring of redwood trees, and the light that came through at all times of the day was wonderful. I enjoyed just sitting out on the deck watching the sunlight through the leaves.
The treehouse was in the grounds of a ranch, and we wandered through the forests and pastures, marvelling at all the different wildlife. I especially loved seeing a group of California quail, with their funny head feather, but they ran away too quickly for me to photograph them.
My birthday breakfast was delicious and beautiful, mostly provided by the chickens and garden on the ranch…
The place we stayed was called FlipJack Ranch, but unfortunately they’re retiring and I’m not sure if you’ll be able to stay at the treehouse any more. Fingers crossed it will still be available in the future!
old postcards
I’ve been sorting out old files and boxes, doing a deepclean of my art cupboard, and I found a selection of postcards I’ve had printed over the years, going back to 1996! It’s wonderful to see some of these older works…
hike/walk in the peninsula
This week I went for a hike through the woods at the El Corte de Madera open space preserve with some new friends, and enjoyed the dappled sunlight through the trees. Saw lots of wildflowers, birds and even a lizard. Extremely happy that we didn’t see any mountain lions or rattlesnakes.
We visited the Tafoni Rock Formations and I managed a super quick colour pencil sketch before we went back. It felt so good to be outdoors in the perfect California weather!
Filoli visit
I recently spent a day exploring Filoli Historic House and Garden in the peninsula, south of San Francisco. There was a beautiful brick house, fountains and pools, a walled garden, rose gardens, and many more surprising delights, I’m sure I didn’t see everything!
It was a day for doing some filming, sketching and taking many, many, photos. I absolutely loved the charming orangery, and did a simple sketch of one of the windows inside, with plants and huge wicker armchair.
The grounds felt very European, and were a lovely burst of bright green. The cafe was great too and I’d love to go back and visit again for a more in depth look!
new studio wall
I’ve been tidying my studio all week, and it’s not complete yet, but I did finally unpack some of the framed artwork I had with me in Japan. I rearranged the wall above my computer to include some of these pieces - I love having things that inspire me around me as I work!
New York exhibition
Our mokuhanga group show Beyond Worlds opened at the Kentler International Drawing Space in New York last week. The opening reception was well attended, and four out of the nine Mokuhanga Sisters were there to hang the show and celebrate.
There were pieces by each of the Sisters, and also invited guests. Each wall was hung intuitively as well as thematically and there are all sorts of conversations happening between the works.
Our collaborative sumi ink scroll had pride of place in the exhibition, with a newly made display table. I never get tired of seeing this scroll and the beautiful work we all put in together to make it. Here’s a close-up of my Night Garden print in the scroll.
My tiny Black Poppy print had a little wall to itself in the black and white corner…
I especially like the dialogue that seems to be happening between this large print by Ayao Shiokawa and my Summer Blooms print. The matching colours and shapes of the flowers make the eye flow easily back and forth between them…
The exhibition runs until July 31st, please take a look if you’re in New York!
Delicious show
I have several pieces in the current food-themed exhibition Delicious at STUDIOGallerySF in downtown San Francisco. I chose to show some of my older dimsum prints, and this Peony Coffee pot and cup etching.
I visited the show this week and loved seeing all the work. It still gives me a thrill to see my work in amongst others in a gallery.
These are the last few days of the show, hope you can pop in!
Still We Rise auction
One of my Crimson Peony mokuhanga prints is in the fundraising auction being run by Still We Rise right now. It’s fundraising for two important organisations who are fighting to provide access to reproductive health for everyone in the US.
The auction runs until 7pm PST on June 13th, and you can bid on the Still We Rise instagram here. Thank you for your support!
wood + paper + box residency
For the past week, Katie Baldwin, Yoonmi Nam and I, have been doing a wood + paper + box artists residency at In Cahoots in Petaluma, California. We stayed in wooden cabins, enjoyed the wonderful sunshine, and I especially loved our working lunches sitting around the outdoor table under a large oak tree.
We worked together on our latest collaborative project Mise en Scene, letterpress printing a colophon and postcards, and putting together a booklet to accompany our box full of prints.
We discussed our upcoming show (Autumn 2023) and the next stage of wood + paper + box. So many exciting things on the horizon!
volcanoes COPE book
The newest COPE book is done! This was a great book to illustrate as I researched Indonesia and Mount Merapi, that erupted not too long ago.
The book was launched at the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction for the United Nations, in Bali, Indonesia.
It was translated into Bahasa and read with local children’s groups, and introduced COPE to a wide range of potential partners, so hopefully we can spread the COPE message of disaster resilience even further!
The Volcanoes Book can be read on the COPE website here and also downloaded for free!
friendship book
This week I received my copy of you and me are so nice together by Storey. It’s a little book with beautiful illustrations by all the artists at Marlena Agency (including me!)
It’s a lovely combination of less famous quotes and contemporary pictures. I chose a Japanese proverb, and illustrated it with 2 beetles meeting on a leaf.
The book is available in bookstores an amazon.
Creativebug classes
This week I filmed two classes for the amazing website Creativebug. They created a wonderful set for me, filled with inspirational things, including quite a few of my own products.
I enjoyed the whole process, although I’ve never done anything like this before. The incredible team at Creativebug were so supportive (thank you!) and I can’t wait to see how the classes look!
As soon as my classes are online I’ll let you know!