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 ;)))

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

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

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 :)

Chosen: The Harvard Art Show!! :D

I am super psyched to know Harvard has an Art Show~!! This is their second year.
This year they received over 665 artwork submissions and the Art Selection and Review committee have selected 120 individual pieces from 76 Harvard artists.



And 4 of my artworks were chosen :D I am SO HAPPY and honored to be a part of this superb art show! YAY!!

Date: April 30th, oh yes Happy Friday!
Time: 12 noon to 8:30 pm
Place: New College Theatre, 10-12 Holyoke St, Cambridge
Website: www.hcs.harvard.edu/artshow

Throughout the show, they will have refreshments, performances and a Silent Auction while you enjoy photography, painting, drawing, collage, sculpture, digital art, wood block print, pottery and jewelry and more! Prices range mostly from $30 to $2,000.

Huge Thanks and Warm Hugs go to Sweet ladies, Co-Directors: Alissa Schapiro and Julia Guren, and Lovely Artist Liaisons: Sarah Natow and Snoweria Zhang! ;D And this wasn't possible without the sponsorship and support of the Office for the Arts at Harvard!

Please join me at this fun annual event on April 30th!! You will encounter all the fun & creative people and art lovers! :D

Strand Tote Bag Design Contest :D

The Strand Book Store NYC partnered with the School of Visual Arts, TOON Books, Drawn & Quarterly and Fantagraphics Books to offer a Tote Bag Design Contest :D

I love Strand, it is a heaven of inspiration! I was so excited when I received the contest news from the School of Visual Arts! I submitted the design below, a New York skyline made from the top edges of books (many page lines) and decorated with New York City building facades. Hope they like it!!

I have submitted two versions :D

Keep A Child Alive!

I have donated two artworks for Keep A Child Alive! 

Keep A Child Alive is a non-profit organization based in Brooklyn, NY, dedicated to providing care and support to children and families who have been suffering from HIV/AIDS in Africa and India. Thank YOU very much, Alyssa, for organizing such a meaningful event. She says, "From the event, we were able to raise over $800 which goes directly to Keep A Child Alive. This amount of money will pay for all of a child's medication and surrounding care for over 2 whole years!"

I have donated these cats illustrations, which were originally created for "New Beginnings Feline Sanctuary" Charity Cards, requested by Welti & Rose Advertising Inc. I thought to carry the charity spirits all the way! All the cards are already happily sold out :D In the cat sanctuary, Ms. Brown has more than 300 cats!
"Cats Bamboo": to make Ms. Brown's dream come true in the picture, which was to have bamboo gates in the sanctuary.

"Cats Rainbow": to show happy running and playing cats in the sanctuary.

Thank YOU very much for purchasing the artworks, Diana! Hope these cats will make you smile and brighten up your day! ;D

Mihoko's Stamp Galore~!

Recently sold a lot of stamps~!! :D

11 sheets of "ART Your Life" stamp and 11 sheets of "New York Energy Skyline (black)" to Lynn in Long Beach, California ;D

10 sheets of "New York Energy Skyline (black)" to Susie in Connecticut and 1 sheet of "New York Energy Skyline (white)" to Kalee in Michigan! 

I am so happy to be found here! Thank YOU sooo much for your purchase and hope you enjoy the stamps as much as I do :D Have a gorgeous spring day~! YAY!! 

Donation to Hospice of New York

Recently I have donated the artwork "Vacance in Bonaire" to Hospice of New York. Hope the painting will make the patients feel relaxed and healed even for a moment... Just remember the quote by Marcus Aurelius, "Live each day as though one's last..."

Thank YOU so much, Ernesto Fana, for this wonderful opportunity and wishing you a fabulous departure!

Altpick : Face To Face Party : Gallery Bar : NYC!

Altpick Face To Face Party in New York City! I couldn't make it becase I had tight deadlines but here are the pictures! Here is the gorgeous Altpick founder and owner Maria Ragusa-Burfield ;D

Here is my dear friend Richard Borge! Check out his super cool yet elegant animation works at his website!!

Here is my Dubai Skyline illustration for Wassla Weekly, which won the Second Place in New Media category! Thank YOU so much for taking this photograph, Laura June Kirsch! :D All the above pictures were also taken by her. Check out her beautiful photography :)

Paul Lewis Photography ;D

Super fresh pictures from the talented photographer Paul Lewis~!!
My Relax and Feel Good mug looks super relaxed and happy in his gorgeous space :D Arigato SO MUCH, Paul!!

Paul Lewis is the one who took the below picture a while back at a flea market around W26th St in New York City! Clever Paul cut off all the crowd so it creates this surreal atmosphere. (Yes, I am not smiling because he told me not to! That was really hard to do!)
He is not only a superb conceptually-oriented photographer but also such a funny guy, so we got along instantly :D Then we met again sometime later in Washington Square Park and amazingly he was carrying this picture that day! What a coincidence!
Take a look at his surreal yet super real photographs here ;)))

Happy Amazing New Year~!!! YAY ;D

Wishing You A Wonderful Super Amazing New Year!! ;D

Hope you, your families and friends are all relaxed and feeling good with radiant spirits of 2010!!

And... Happy Fabulous Birthday to mihokooo, Happy Birthday to meee~!! I really appreciate your New Year's and Birthday messages!! Just what I needed to start a brand-new-born year! :D

My sweet friend Thomas Lehn from Switzerland, who soon will be publishing his first book, gave me bookmark competition information at Book Depository in UK. Congratulations again, Thomas~!! :D

I have submitted above design for the bookmark with a wish of saving lives of our precious trees! You can enlarge it by clicking the image. Hopefully mine will be chosen ;D

Let's make this 2010 another superb year with lots of joys!! ;D