A couple of stops

We made a couple of stops along the way to Santa Monica; the first in Santa Cruz, where we stretched our legs in the strangely deserted amusement park, then onto Carmel-by-the-sea, where we spent a lovely evening relaxing :)

Big Sur

We left San Francisco and drove along the Big Sur in a Big Car! We followed windy narrow roads with a steep drop to the ocean through heavy mist, it was quite thrilling! It felt like we were in the clouds at times, and then suddenly we found ourselves above the clouds...!

San Francisco pics part 2

I wasn't my usual snappy-happy tourist on this holiday for some reason. Maybe I just wanted to experience it directly, rather than through a lens. Above are a just few I managed to take on our wanderings.

I was SO excited to find a couple of my picture books in the shop at the SF Museum of Modern Art!!! I also saw a Japanese version of "That's love" (Ai no uta) in the Japanese bookstore "Kinokuniya" in Japan Town, which made me very happy, although I failed to take a picture of that one so you'll just have to take my word for it ;)

San Francisco pics

We got back from our fantastic 2 week break in California on Tuesday. I'm just about recovering from jet lag, but can't seem to adjust to the sudden drop in temperature...London feels so very cold, brr!

San Francisco was brilliant, a charming city full of diversity, culture and surprise. We walked a lot (up and down hills in the scorching sun and in the pouring rain), ate a lot (big portions of dim sum, Mexican, Japanese and American food) and saw a lot :D 

One of the places we visited was the brilliant Musée Mecanique on Fisherman's Wharf, a big warehouse full of antique arcade machines...oooh fun fun fun!

holiday :)

I'm off to San Francisco and LA for 2 weeks from today :)
Didn't get much sleep from late night faffing and packing and general excitement!!
See you soon!

tweet tweet

I've been painting lots of little birds to sell at my exhibition in Japan this November.
Here are some finished pieces, although I might still tweak tweak some of them.

my moo cards

I received my MOO mini cards and business cards today, yay!

I'm happy with the colours, and even happier to be able to tick one thing off my big list :D

lovely treats :)

I treated myself to a couple of lovely books by two of my favourite artists.

The first is by the amazingly talented and inspiring Camilla Engman, titled "Troppo tardi". I love her colour palette, compositions and sweet little characters. There's lots of little surprises on each page. So lovely to see her work in a children's book format :)

The second is by the equally talented and inspiring Carson Ellis. I love how she portrays people - their facial expressions, posture, movement...I find her compositions, use of colour, pattern, detail and white space endlessly inspiring. Every page is a treat!

I'm so happy to have these two beautiful additions to my ever-growing book collection :)

mini pics

A few more mini illustrations to turn into mini cards :)
...now time for bed...zzz