A Little Announcement

Hello again. Today, I would like to make a little announcement. Some of you may know that I have already moved this art blog to this address recently. And I am moving it again to my web server blog before even starting to promote this blog :(
My new art blog addess is : http://blog.euphorianchic.com/.
Sorry for being hectic :D But this is one of my solutions to make my life less hectic and more organized....I hope...... I still keep this google account to say hello from time to time!

By the way, I have been doing some inner works recently, I am feeling pretty good. So, let me share the video that really suits my mood right now:-)

Singing In The Rain
Love, Yoshika

Free Giveaway at SandierPastures.com

Hello. My wall art and flower Room Illustration Prints are available at the lovely Dubai blog sandierpastures.com. In order to make it available internationally with free shipping, I had to keep the size small. But, the wall art would make a nice accent on a small wall space such as kitchen or bathroom. (It is varnished for durability.)
The blog owner Grace seems to have spent a great deal of time and created such a great giveaway entry for me. I really appreciate it! She is someone who went to an university in Japan and married Japanese man. She writes about her Dubai life there. If you are like me who has never been to Dubai, you would really enjoy her charming Dubai city tours with lots of photos and video:-)
The contest ends July 3rd. If you'd like to enter it, please visit SandierPastures.com and leave comments!


Golden Meadow 6"x6"


Set of 6 Flower Room Illustration PrintsLove, Yoshika

Introducing Queen Anne and Queen Anne Illustration Series vol.11

"Queen Anne's Birthday"

Covert: Narration is written in both Japanese and English (though they are slightly different and excuse me if there are English mistakes.) If you would like this entry to make more sense, please read earlier entries of "About Queen Anne Illustration Series". This series is work in progress. So, you might see some changes or additions as the story goes.

この時期クイーンアンのバーデイ王国では沢山の鳥達が毎日誕生日を迎えます。しかし一人一人の誕生日を祝うのは難しいため、みんなのために、二週間のバースデイ祭りが行われます。

クイーンアンももちろんみんなと一緒に自分の誕生日を祝うのですが、やっぱり家族のみんなにとってはクイーンアンの誕生日は特別です。キングジェームスがいつもこっそり素敵なプレゼントを渡しているのを知っている子供達は今年はみんなで相談して特別なプレゼントを用意しました。

クイーンアンの子供達、アルキオネ、リゲル、セダール、マイアは　クイーンアンの誕生日の朝、バースデイ祭りに行く前にこっそりクイーンアンを呼び出しました。

「誕生日おめでとう！！お母さん！」
マイアはさっと空に舞い上がり、用意していた手作りのバースデイの旗をひらひらと空になびかせました。
目隠しをされていたクイーンアンは目の前のプレゼントを見てびっくり！
それはそれは見事な等身大のクイーンアンの自由の女神像が立っています。
リゲルの友達のとても才能のある彫刻家、きつつきのウッデイーに特別に作ってもらったのです。左手にはもちろんクイーンアンのレースの花、右手にはクイーンアンの大好きな本をもっています。
「まあ、まあ、なんて見事な彫刻でしょう。。。」
クイーンアンはみんなのやさしさと、彫刻の美しさにとても感動し、うっとりと彫刻を見つめました。
でも等身大の自分の姿を見るのもちょっと変な気分で、心の中ではちょっぴり、

「でもこれ、どこにおけばいいのかしら。。。。」
と思っていましたが、それはもちろん誰にも言いませんでした。

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At this time of the year in the birdy kingdom, there are many birds who have their birthdays. For it is very difficult for them to celebrate their birthdays one by one, there is a Birthday Festival held for 2 weeks at Le pré d'Anges.

Every year, Queen Anne also celebrates her birthday at the Birthday Festival like everybody. She actually likes that way. However, for families of Queen Anne, it just doesn't seem enough for her, although everyone knew King James always prepares a special present for Queen Anne. So this year, Queen Anne's Children, Alcyone, Regel, Sedar, and Maia had a special plan.

It's finally the birthday of Queen Anne. In the morning before Queen Anne goes to the festival, Alcyone, Regel, Sedar and Maia all gathered under the Queen Anne's Castle tree, secretly brought their special present.

"1....2....3! Open your eyes!!"
Queen Anne who was lead to outside with her eyes closed slowly opened her eyes.
"Surprrrrise!! Happy Birthday! Mother!"
Said everyone all together. At the same time, Maia flew into the sky showing her handmade birthday flags to her.
"Oh...my my my....."
Queen Anne was indeed very surprised. There it was, a life-size Statue of Liberty Queen Anne version standing in front of her.
It was specially-made by Regel's talented sculptor friend, Woodpecker, Woody. The Queen Anne Statue is holding the flower of Queen Anne's Lace, and her favorite literature book.

"What a beautiful statue.... I have never seen anything like this...."
Queen Anne was so moved by kindness of her children and the beauty of the statue.
Looking at Queen Anne's happy face, all children are also very happy.

She of course meant every words she said about this great statue. However, it indeed feels a little funny looking at the life-size statue of herself. So, as if she was talking to the statue, or herself, she was also thinking...
"What am I going to do with you....."
But, of course she kept that to herself, and kept looking at the statue of her with amazement.


This illustration is available upon request:-)
Love, Yoshika

Sending You Happy Thoughts...

Today, I just want to share a little something that made my day a little more special.

There are actually many clovers growing on the sidewalks around this area. And this morning I went for my usual jogging (1/3 walking to be exact), I somehow felt like looking for 4 leaf clovers. And guess what....I found 2 of them. What I did was, whenever I felt like, I stopped, looked down for like 10 seconds or so...then, found nothing, and jogged again....And, after stopping like 3 times, I felt like changing the jogging route a little bit, and then again, stopped, looked down, looked around like 10 seconds or so.... then, there it was..... the lucky 4 leaf clover:-) And, about 1 foot away from there, there it was again, a little prettier 4 leaf clover! They were not even from the same root.
This is actually my third time 4th time picking lucky clovers. Last time was at least 3 years ago..... Anyway, since 4 leaf lucky clover is a part of Euphorian Chic's concept, I thought I would share it on my art blog:-) Hope you all have a Happy-go-lucky day!



And, today, Etsy picked my new flower room decor prints for FP!Thank you so much!

Love, Yoshika

Japan Day 2009

Actually I started to write this entry on May 31st which was Japan Day 2009. The huge Japanese event which includes, mini marathon, Japanese food samplings, music concert, Bonodori (Japanese traditional dance)...and more were held at Central Park.
Despite the decreased numbers of Japanese businessmen in New York, the event itself seems to be getting bigger and bigger. According to their website, the purpose of this event is to promote deeper understanding of Japanese culture and, to say "Thank you, New York!" It seems many American people visited this event last year as well. Which I think is very nice:-)))
This event was the third time this year. Last year, I was kind of busy preparing to go back to my country... So, I didn't know. The first year, I didn't know it at all. I think it used to be like a much smaller scaled street festival.... I have been to those a couple of times before. Since I haven't been to many Japanese events in New York, I thought I was going to go to this "Japan Day" this year...well, in my case, mostly for the purpose of Japanese food samplings, though....(It was free!) But there was a change of plan at the last minutes and I couldn't go. On the news that I saw on the next day, the event itself seemed a huge success and I was actually surprised with its scale. It's really a shame that I missed it.
So, instead of my photos or videos that I thought I was going to share on this blog, I was waiting to see someone else's nice YouTube videos to come out....
Well, unfortunately, I haven't found the one that really shows the whole thing of the event yet. But, I have managed to find a couple of good ones. What was funny to me the most was that there were many cosplayers (American people!) who wear costumes of some animation characters :-D As someone who grew up watching those Japanese animations, I really appreciate it!!

If you are interested in the event, you can visit the website http://japandaynyc.org/main/
There are some videos, including "how to do BonOdori" which is quite funny, actually.

Love, Yoshika

Behind The Scene Stories: Queen Anne's Children Part 2

As I said on the last behind the scene entry, today, I will briefly introduce Queen Anne's Children, Regel, Alcyone, Shedar, and Maia one by one.

Covert: If you would like this entry to make more sense, please read earlier entries of "About Queen Anne Illustration Series". This series is work in progress. So, you might see some changes or additions as the story goes.

1. Alcyone -- Great Knight (still single)
Alcyone is the one who supposed to succeed father King James's throne. Although he was a sensitive, quite one in 3 brothers when he was a baby, the death of Atlas affected him greatly, and decided to become a strong knight. He has overcome his shyness, weakness by disciplines both physically and mentally. However, when he also realized his limit of physical strength as a bird knight, he saw the need of different approach for security, and decides to learn eastern spirituality from a mysterious traveler from East. As the result, he has mastered how to calm his mind even in a chaos, hones the sense of hearing in order to sense the existence of other animals within certain distance. This ability greatly decreased the death rate of new born babies from predators. King James is very impressed with the result, and now both Queen Anne and King James are learning Yoga and meditation.

2. Regel -- Great Artist/Entertainer (still single)
When King James found out that Shedar didn't seem to be a right candidate for the king, Regel was initially his first choice. However, Regel started to grow his passion for art and eventually decides to leave the castle for several years. It becomes great sadness and disappointment for King James and Queen Anne.
Regel returns to the castle as a grown up, skilled artist as well as entertainer. And he starts to contribute castle's social events, and also starts to help Queen Anne's summer school by teaching arts to children.

3. Shedar -- Great cook/Care Giver (in a relationship, Gay)
Since Shedar was the most active and fearless baby in 3 brothers, everyone was initially thinking he would be the perfect king after King James. However, from early days, he started to show interest in all house works that Queen Anne does, and especially enjoyed cooking with Queen Anne. And then eventually he started to prefer dressing like a girl and admits that he likes boys. It becomes shocking to both Queen Anne and King James. Queen Anne again almost blames herself for giving him a little bit girly name. However, through Shedar, they learns that there are many other gay birds like him in the kingdom, and decides to accept gay marriage openly. The new rule of gay birds participation at Queen Anne's Masquerade was actually set from Shedar's request of wanting to wear Queen Anne's Lace on himself as well. As a result, he met a perfect partner, costume designer, at the Masquerade, now happily in a relationship with him.

4. Maia -- Herbalist,/Nature Lover, healer (Engaged)
Since the day Maia was adopted to a family of Queen Anne and King James, she has been like the small sun of the family. Her smile put everybody at ease, everyone wanted to be around her. She was especially fond of being around a garden from early days. And after learning what happened to her real family, she starts to grow herbs and becomes a herbalist. She makes herbal teas, healing remedies and ointment for someone who is sick or got injuries.
As Maia grew up as a beautiful young lady, Queen Anne and King James were planning to introduce her a great young prince of the far forest. But instead, Maia falls in love with a gardener who is from a poor family, but makes the most beautiful gardens. Queen Anne and King James were both shocked. And specially King James didn't want to approve him. However, after Maia's first-and-ever-massive resistance, their marriage was finally approved. And now they are happily engaged. On the other hand, King James is practicing meditation to calm his nerves more than ever.

There are still a lot of dramas in the family of Queen Anne. But they are learning and growing together as a family and are all happy birds now.

To be continued....
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That's all for behind the scene stories: Queen Anne's Children.
Next time, I will get back to the illustrations.

Love, Yoshika