Category Archives: Nature

Mushrooms!

Food, Illustration, Nature, Pen & Ink, Watercolor

A few weekends ago, we went on a mushroom hunting extravaganza near Mt. Rainier National Park, which is about 2 hours south of Seattle.  We rented a cabin with a bunch of friends and had an awesome time hanging out, cooking, eating, crafting etc. etc.

We saw many interesting mushrooms while we were out.  Though not all of them are edible, they’re sure beautiful!

Here are some sketches I made of them 🙂

Lobster mushrooms. Edible. Smells and tastes seafood-y. Good shellfish alternative if you don't or can't eat shellfish.
Lobster mushrooms. Edible. Smells and tastes seafood-y. Good shellfish alternative if you don’t or can’t eat shellfish.
lobster-mushrooms-02
More Lobster Mushrooms. Watercolor, pen & ink.
mushroom-sketch-01
Various mushrooms. Not so edible. Pen & ink.
mushroom-sketch-02
More pen & ink shroom sketch. They’re so magical and interesting looking!

Hope you’re staying warm and cozy 🙂  And have a wonderful weekend!!

Real Food Tattoo Art

Commissioned Work, Food, Gardening, Illustration, Nature, Pen & Ink, Vector

I love drawing vegetables, fruits, and animals.  I have a garden and love to eat fresh, local foods!  So I was thrilled when Kristy Gardner (who has an awesome food blog called She Eats) contacted me to create a custom art  for her new tattoo!!

First of all, it is such an honor to be asked to create an art that will be put on someone’s body forever (gasp).  Second of all, it is very exciting when I get to create something for someone who is passionate about something I’m also into.  AND, I mean, just look at things she cooks with wholesome, real ingredients…  mmmmmm!!!

Kristy trusted me to create an art that would be fun and vibrant and reflects her love and passion for real food.  Based on our conversation, I sketched some ideas and went to town!

food tattoo sketches
veggies, fruits, and pigs!

Initially, it was going to cover her upper arm, but when I turned in my final version of the first art work, she asked me if I could add some more elements to make it a full sleeve tattoo.  So I did.

Here is the final art I sent on to Kristy!

real-food-tattoo
An arm full of colorful things to grow, eat, and drink!

It is always a bit scary to create an art work for someone.  What if they don’t like it?  What if they think it sucks???  After I sent my work to Kristy, I waited with heightened anxiety and prepared some responses in my head in case she was not happy with it.

It turns out reality is almost always better than what my vivid imagination would lead me to believe (oh the burden of having a creative mind!).  Kristy was very happy with what I’d created and gave me an awesome review.

Here is what she said:

“Yuko’s talents are an absolute gift! I commissioned Yuko to design a “real food” full length arm tattoo for me and she came up with exactly what I had envisioned. Bright, colourful and so creative – I couldn’t have possibly found another artist who could capture the beauty and simplicity of what I was looking for. The lines were clean, colours vibrant and her communication was thorough and clear. I very much enjoyed working with Yuko and I’ll definitely be hiring her again in the future and recommending her to peers. Thank you so much Yuko – you are amazing! ”

WOW.  I mean, it is SO rewarding to know that I’m appreciated for something I love and enjoy and worked really hard to create.  I also love that I get to meet and work with really cool people like Kristy!

Life is good 🙂