TAKARA Magazine Cover - Spring Mountain

For May TAKARA cover, Yasuko-san chose my Spring Mountain piece, yellow flowers version :D The weather has been so gorgeous and the air around us feels cheerful ;)))

Thank YOU so much for your support!! :D

(Bonni & Terry)

The "Art of Japan" event was successful! I meant to report this much earlier but because of final papers, presentation and exam, it had been delayed! According to the charming organizer Sophie, $3,720 goes to the Japanese Red Cross! WOW! How wonderful is that!! Thank YOU sooo much for having such an amazing event, Sophie!!

(Bonni, Bill, Mihoko and Terry)

And guess what! The gorgeous art/photography by Bill Downey was sold!! Bill and we were thrilled!! The buyers actually turned out to be my friend Bonni and her husband Terry! They are such a beautiful sweet couple!! They are going to hang it on the wall in their vacation home in Martha's Vineyard! Sounds amazing, right?! ;D

Happy smiles :D

(Brandon+Mihoko, taken by Bill ;D)

We all love Japan... :D

Love Pink?

and so do I! :D

Two "Sparkling Pink Flower" Mousepads are sold to Bruce in Michigan and Carol in Australia! Amazing, now somehow people can find my products even in Australia! YAY!!
This picture was taken by my sweet talented photographer Takami a while back :))) Big Arigatooo, Takamiiii ;D

Nuts about "Relax and Feel Good" :P

Made these for Brandon's video project :)))

"Belief" by Bill Downey!

The super talented photographer/artist Bill Downey produced this amazing image!! Please click to see a bigger version of the image :D

(photo: Bill Downey, hair: Brandon Welti, make-up: Mihoko Hakata)

It all started when Bill decided to support Japan by donating a piece to the benefit party called "Art for Japan," which is happening on May 6th. I submitted my pictures right away when I saw his posting asking for a model for this meaningful project. I wanted to support Japan in any possible ways. We talked on the phone and I just felt so comfortable with his great energy :D

Arrived at Bill's house. He even chose a Japanese radio station for me, so that I can feel at home, which he succeeded in doing :) He has a living space on the first floor, the second floor is a photo studio and the third floor space is for make-up and hair. What a great set-up! 

After a long creative conversation with Bill, he wanted us to re-create the hair and the make-up we did for I Heart Japan gallery show. Here are pictures of Brandon painting on my hair after he amazingly stood my hair up in the bathroom!

Brandon likes this picture of himself :P He looks very dedicated! 

And me working on my eye make-up. I love the red accents in this picture which Bill captured:

I didn't imagine doing a geisha make-up, which is my first time, and wearing a kimono, far away from home, in the United States! Thank YOU, genius Ben, for choosing this white face paint for me! ;D

I felt very close to my origin yet at the same time far away from my origin. I felt close because I could feel all the steps women had to go through to dress up, and I felt far because this was my first time to try it even though I am from Japan. Thank You So Much, Bill, for taking these pictures! They look like from a movie scene!

Here, I am getting directions from Bill. He is so wonderful to work with!! He has a cristal-clear vision, gives you precise directions, and says "You are doing great jobs!" which I love to hear ;P

Bill chose a black kimono, which is I rented from my sweet friend Dawn, thank YOU Dawn!!, because he wanted to focus on my facial expression.

The most challenging parts of this shooting was that Bill wanted to capture my emotions, such as sadness, hope, strength, thinking of my parents, even crying...! Oh my, I felt like an actress! This is very challenging because I felt like I am emotionally naked which is more difficult than physically naked.
These days, when I think of my parents and friends in Japan or read newspaper articles of Japan, I start crying so this shouldn't be so difficult for me but in front of camera, you feel a pressure! As you know, my neutral face is smiling, so this was a new level for me! I was happy he didn't choose a picture of me crying for the final version though :P

For the final image, he placed the Japanese sun-ray next to my energetic sun-ray hairstyle. What a great idea! Also, if you click the image to enlarge, you will notice the Japanese character "信念" on the bottom right, which means "Belief" in Japanese. The word and my facial expression work together perfectly!!

Thank You Sooo Much for this amazing evening, Bill!! I am very happy to have met you! :D

It was such a creative, emotional and meaningful project to me. I am really honored to be a part of this project...!

We finished our super fun preparation & photoshoot at midnight, which I couldn't believe it's been 6 hours since we arrived!! Time just flew by super fast!

Before leaving his house, Bill gave me a gorgeous white rose with sweet aroma (in this picture it looks pink, maybe she was blushed because I was taking many pictures of her!).
He said, he gives a flower to every model after a photoshoot. What a sensitive sweet man he is! :D Look, this flower has miracle twin babies!! ;D

Here is the poster for "Art for Japan" party!

Even though I was too late to submit my own artwork, (they quickly received 50 artworks and now it's full), I am so thrilled to be a part of the event!! Please stop by if you are free on Friday, May 6th, 6-9 pm :D

TAKARA Magazine Cover - Art Heals

For April cover, Yasuko-san chose this piece I made. The title is "Art Heals." We often receive happy sparkling energy by looking at your favorite art. Hope many artworks around the world is healing people and making them happy :D

Try the Delicious Easter Bread at Grandaisy Bakery in NYC!

If you are in New York City, walking around SoHo in a gorgeous sunny day, you should definitely stop by at Grandaisy Bakery, one of my favorite bakeries in NYC ;D For this year, they used my illustration as a card with beautiful matched colored ribbons around! Thank you so sooo much, Monica!! 

I really miss the taste of this magical bread Monica makes! To remember the taste, I went back to my news to see what I wrote before... 

... Crispy outside with sugar and almond, then you go into the many layers of softness and will be surprised at the refreshing open-minded orange peel+citron sparkles and Italian chocolate melty in your mouth... Mmmm I miss it!! If you are in NYC, taste this yummy-ness for me!! Super Happy Easterrr ;D

TAKARA Magazine Cover - Sinking City...

TAKARA Magazine Cover for March... Yasuko-san wanted to use this fish illustration because there was a seafood convention in Boston this month. Yasuko-san told me that the creative director of TAKARA loved this cover the best! The original collage artwork is called "Sinking City - New York," and we felt scared to know that the earthquake & tsunami happened one day after the magazine was published. This artwork originally depicts the greedy city, New York, is sinking into shredded money ocean and almost eaten by the huge fish which is made of money.

TAKARA Magazine Cover - You are My Target ;D

Oooops! Time flew so quickly! Sorry for the delay, but this TAKARA cover was for Valentine's month! :P Yasuko-san chose "You are My Target" illustration for February. Thank YOU so much for printing it so beautifully! Perfect Pink! :D

TAKARA Magazine Cover design & Interview :D

TAKARA Magazine is a free Japanese paper in Boston! If you are Japanese, you should know this super useful & fun magazine! :D Thanks to Yasuko-san, my artwork will be on the cover throughout this year! Woohooo!!

Yasuko-san liked my Mt. Fuji collage "Japanese Energy - I am Passion" because it's very New Year's festive "O-shougatsu" look, and chose for New Year January cover ;D
Below is my interview article! You can click the image to read in Japanese.  Thank YOU Soo Soooo Much, Yasuko-san, for such a wonderful article which gives me more energy & smiles each day ;)))

So, you might be thinking what's up with this mask?! :P This was made for Harvard Masquerade Ball party organized by HESA - Harvard Extension Student Association!  The awesome President Philip Harding & his sweet wife Rachelle Harding and the HESA team made this event so much fun with cool music & delicious dessert!!  

So for the Harvard Masquerade Ball, you have to bring your own mask to wear. This was my first time to make a masquerade mask! With Brandon's help, first I made my mask shape with sculpey clay and baked it in the oven, then colored it with silver spray paint. In the picture below, I am putting shiny rhinestones! Also I incorporated our beloved chicken feathers, sprayed in hot pink, neon green and silver. The flower was white but again sprayed in hot pink! Yeah you know my favorite color is ;P

The below picture was taken by a school photographer Evgenia Eliseeva who has great energy and took many pictures at the event! She made everyone comfortable in front of the camera and here is one of the pictures at the event! Thank you sooo much, Evgenia! :D

I really enjoyed wearing this mask and made me want to wear it every day! Brandon is wearing a safety mask which he got an idea when he was spraying my mask! It turned out to be a such a cool mask ;P

Above is the cool Harvard Masquerade Ball poster and 13 Harvard School logos!

YAY!! Sold more NYC Skyline Stamps! ;D

Thank Youuu, Janice in New York City, for purchasing 5 sheets of "New York Energy Skyline (white)" stamps, and Michael in New York City for purchasing 6 sheets! ;D Wow!! That's a lot!!

And Thank You Soo Soooo Much, Rachel in New York City, for coming back for "New York Energy Skyline (black)" so many times!! 

Love these spontaneous purchases! ;D Wishing this will continue happening... ;)))) Thank YOU sooo much for your support everyone! So happy to be found here!! :D

Eco Presentation @ Warren Prescott Elementary School ;)

The dynamite team Alisyn Johnson, founder of Quench, and Wayne Sentman, Oceanic Society Biologist & Naturalist, asked me to present something green and artistic to Warren Prescott Elementary School Green Team :D Since their teacher, Tina Champagne, is a science teacher, I decided to present something science related: a fun way to start growing vegetables at home (or classroom) ;D
(I have been thinking to upload this news and time just flew awayyy!!)

This is what I brought (all biodegradable):
- Organic Yellow Bell Pepper (You can take seeds out from a fresh one or use the dried ones you already took out; either one works!)
- Paper Pot Maker and 8.5 x 11 recycled paper (cut in half before using)
- Paper Egg Carton from Organic Eggs (You can either plant seeds in an egg carton or paper pots)
- Coir Pellets* or Soil
*coconuts husk fiber: excellent water retention, free from bacteria and fungus, saving the environment since they are usually are waste products!
- Hot/Warm Water

The fun part:
- You can enjoy watching your vegetable babies grow! Your appreciation for food goes up ;D
- When you have a fully grown plant, you don't have to buy vegetables from a supermarket = "super" local & organic produce at home (or in classroom)!
- This could be a fantastic gift with a personal message around the paper pot! (which I do sometimes ;D)

All the students had fun playing with coir pellets and watching them expand super fast in hot/warm water ;D They wrote their names and whatever they want to draw on the surface of the paper pots :) Some brought the paper pots home and some left them in the classroom :D
When those babies grow, the kids will smile ;D


Several days later, Alisyn, Wayne, Tina and the Green Team visited Harvard Community Garden ;D Brendan from Office for Sustainability and Tyler from Harvard Community Garden showed us around.

They have all the vegetables you can think of, even watermelon babies!! :D Watermelon plants need more care. They put plastic bottles to protect them from cold nights.
Below are super happy swiss chard and zucchini plants in the back. First time for me to see zucchini plants! They look very similar to cucumber plants but much bigger than cucumber plants!

Gorgeous Mesclun Lettuce Mix!! Bon Appetit~!! ;D

Thank YOU so much for this fun inspiring opportunity, Alisyn, Wayne and Tina! I really had fabulous time with you guys!! It was such a beautiful sunny day!!! :D

(from left to right: Chris, Wayne and Nolan)

About two weeks later, the organic yellow pepper babies stick their beautiful heads out!! ;D

Urban Homesteaders' League Market Stand Poster ;D

Designed the poster for Urban Homesteaders' League Market Stand!

Lisa, Thank YOU so much for your warm support and superb opportunity! Lisa Gross is the founder of Urban Homesteaders' League, and she continues inspiring local communities through sustainable activities :D

The poster hung on the wall at Crema Cafe in Harvard Square ;D

Lisa and me at the Union Square Market in Somerville :D

New York City Energy!

Yay! Thank YOU so much, Christina, for purchasing 5 sheets of "New York Energy Skyline (white)" stamp, and Jennifer, for purchasing 2 sheets of "New York Energy Skyline (black)" stamp! :D So happy to be found here! Hope you two are enjoying beautiful summer in New York City! I purchased "New York Energy Skyline (black)" stamp sheet for myself as well and loving it!

Fabulous Moo!

The Altpick Awards gave me the opportunity to create business cards at Moo.com; the Moo experience was so pleasant! Moo's logo and fonts are lovable and the web-interface is an eye pleaser. Their super-user-friendly instructions are crystal-clear all the way! :D

The big difference between a regular printer and Moo is that with Moo you can print various images on your cards! For example, if you are printing 100 business cards, you can have 100 different images if you like. And Moo cares about the environment! They now have 100% recycled paper, which is produced using wind energy! ;D 

My box of Moo cards arrived several days earlier than the estimate delivery date! I respect and admire Moo's packaging ability :D They are thinking about the person who is opening the package; it is a feast for your eyes and super smooth to handle ;) The quality of the "Moo Green" business card is really impressive! All my colors are printed exactly the way I wanted. Several environmental printing companies once told me that the hot pink is very difficult to print on 100% recycled paper but Moo makes it possible!! 

Now when I meet people I fan out a deck of my cards and let them choose the one they like, but they quite often love several of the different artworks so I end up giving multiple cards to each person. So the only problem is that you will give away a lot more cards, which is actually great for your business so it's not really a problem at all! ;D

Sending my Huge Thank YOU to Moo for making artists happy & sparkle, and special thanks to Maria Ragusa-Burfield, the founder of Altpick, for introducing me to Moo! ;D

As a side note, my name in Japanese is 羽方 美穂子 (Hakata Mihoko). On the information side of my business card you may notice the pink stamp, "hanko" in Japanese, showing the character of my first name 美穂子. I curbed the stone and polished it to create the hanko probably back in junior high school in Japan! Dango shape was my inspiration because it is so comfortable for our hands. When you hold this super smooth and sleek hanko, it will make you want to keep stamping! Usually we use red ink for hanko in Japan but of course I chose hot pink color for the business card! ;D

Big Arigatoooo!

BIG Thank YOU for stopping by, Bob Breslin, Coralie Henderson, Elvira Ivanova, Jeff Pike, Keyvan Nicoucar, Lauri Murphy, Leah Arnold, Mike Mahoney, Tony Tambunan, even though you guys are super busy!! That meant a lot to me :D You know I don't have many friends here yet! And Thank YOU so much for your emotional support, even though you couldn't make it to the show :D

Below is the Harvard Art Show poster with everyone's artworks :)