Apr 22, 2009

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day to you all!

Love, Yoshika

Apr 21, 2009

Introducing Queen Anne and Queen Anne's Lace Illustration Series vol.3

Stories behind Queen Anne and Queen Anne's Lace Illustration Series vol.3

Today, I will talk about a little more about Queen Anne and stories behind the character.
Like the last entry, what I am about share here is also what I found out after finishing 10 illustrations of this series. Actually I got this information just about 10 days ago or so... After learning about European Robin, this time I wanted to know more about Queen Anne and King James. So, I looked them up.

What I found out there was more intriguing than I expected. Well, even after naming the bird, Queen Anne, I still didn't even know that "real Queen Anne" was a queen of England. But, probably my image of "Queen" (which is coincidentally "queens of England") lead me to draw pictures that King James isn't included there, except one, "Queen Anne's Sweet Memory" which I drew "madly-in-love" Queen Anne & King James in a Queen Anne's Lace meadow. Somehow I didn't feel like including King James in any other pictures, at least so far. I was actually thinking what to do with it.

I do not know if any of you who would be reading this believe in "coincidence". Well, I personally do, and often find it very amusing. This time, after looking up the information about King James, what I found very interesting was that it seems there were indeed times when King James and Queen Anne were very much in love. And then, King James was later linked to another woman. (actually another "Anne"... I first thought "how dare him", but Queen Anne was also a big spender, and it seems there were some religious difference between them as well). And Queen Anne passes away before him..... that was the real history. I kind of felt I understood the reason why I somehow always pictured Queen Anne alone in my mind in my rest of illustrations.
Well, back to my Queen Anne and Queen Anne's Lace series. Now I know about European Robbin, and the real history of "real" Queen Anne and King James. As someone who always prefer happy-ending in any stories, of course, I have re-created the happy-ending setting for my Queen Anne and Queen Anne's Lace series! (After all, in my mind this is a family-oriented illustration series.) I think I will reveal the setting as I introduce my illustration one by one.

Anyway, it has been an interesting ride for me to create this Queen Anne and Queen Anne's Lace series. Although I am not planning to create a long illustration series with this, I think I will add at least several more to illustrate the life of Queen Anne throughout the year.
Queen Anne and King James
Just for a little note, "Real" King James also contributed English literature, his "King James Bible" is still considered as the best English translation by many people. Interesting. For more information about Queen Anne and King James, please visit:
King James: http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/james/jamesbio.htm
Queen Anne: http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/annedenmark.htm

From next time, I will start sharing my illustrations with a little narrations.

Love, Yoshika

Apr 19, 2009

Introducing Queen Anne and Queen Anne's Lace Illustration Series vol.2

Stories Behind "Queen Anne and Queen Anne's Lace" Series vol.2

Like I said last time, today, I will talk about the bird, Queen Anne more.
Last time, I talked about the reasons why I named the bird in my illustrations, Queen Anne.

As you may notice, Queen Anne in my illustrations is an orange-ish bird. Well, the reason for that was actually none. It was just because I felt like coloring her orange. She was brown at first, but I changed it. And I didn't pick particular bird in my mind at all while I was drawing it. However, since the only orange (wild) bird that I know is Robin (I remember one Japanese one, but I forgot the name.... anyway), after seeing robins playing on the lawn in front of our building recently, I felt like looking it up on the internet (again). Well, as many people know, robin is very common bird in North America. But, this time, while I was looking it up, I learned the existence of European Robbin which is not exactly related to "Robin" in America, but also has orange chest.

Well, basically the stories behind my illustrations are totally fictions, and not related to reality at all. But, to start from conclusions, I have decided that the model bird of Queen Anne should be European Robin, though the Queen Anne's feature doesn't really look like it.

As I told you last time, I always like finding the reasons after doing something I felt like it, or being attracted to something or someone. This time, when I knew about "European Robbin", I already finished 10 of Queen Anne series illustrations. And, as I was looking up the information, I was so excited about that there are facts that I really liked about this European Robbin.

1. First of all, it is also orange.
2. Queen Anne is a royalty who is originally from Denmark (Europe!). So, "European" is perfect.
3. European Robbin's female and male have a season that live separately. (Male stay in one place throughout the year, but female move to the warmer areas during winter.) I will explain more later, but this setting was perfect for the illustrations that I already made.
4. European Robbin is a Christmas bird in Britain.
5. There was also a legend about this bird that I really liked. Which is, when Jesus was dying on the cross, the Robin, then simply brown in colour, flew to his side and sang into his ear in order to comfort him in his pain. The blood from his wounds stained the Robin's breast, and thereafter all Robins got the mark of Christ's blood upon them.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Robin)

These are enough reasons for European Robbin to become the model bird for Queen Anne, don't you think?
And this is European Robbin. Very very cute!
European Robin

Next time, I will talk about Queen Anne and her love, and her life a little bit.
Before finishing this entry, there is one more thing that I want to mention as well. If you look back my old blog entry, you might find one of my Etsy treasury entry, "Happy New Year with Orange Birds!" which is my first treasury in 2009. Well, some of you may know that I kind of consider myself as Yellow Bird. But, at that time, somehow I was so attracted to all the great orange bird design products on Etsy. After starting this Queen Anne series, I remembered this treasury, and kind of found it very amusing. So far, as I make this Queen Anne illustration series, orange bird is indeed making me feel happy inside. :-)

Love, Yoshika

Apr 17, 2009

Introducing "Queen Anne and Queen Anne's Lace" Series

Stories Behind "Queen Anne and Queen Anne's Lace" Series

I have started this "Queen Anne and Queen Anne's Lace" illustration series recently. In this series, usually Queen Anne(bird) and her favorite flower Queen Anne's Lace are in each picture. (except a few of them).

And today I would like to share a little bit of the stories behind this series. You might think, I just picked my favorite flower and my favorite animal for the illustrations. Well, most of the parts, yes. You're right. It was just as simple as that. But, on this blog, I would like to dig a little bit deeper, because what I have found out in a process of making this series is quite intriguing to me. So, I would like to share it with others as well.

Well, before going there, if you knew me for sometime, you might already know that I am a kind of a person who is often amused to find out that I get first attracted to something (or someone), and find the reasons later. I must say, this series was born like that as well.

I am going to start with the key flower, "Queen Anne's Lace". This particular flower has been one of my favorites since I moved to New Jersey from NYC years ago. Especially my last place which was located in a little bit more wood side of North Jersey, was surrounded by this flower during summer. I would often enjoy picking them and decorating my space. Although this flower must be like a common knowledge to many American people, to me, actually it is only recent that I learned the name of this flower. Till then, I kind of misbelieved that it was a family of Akillea, Yallow flower (that is a kind of common flower in Japan, and I just learned that only a few grow in North America. And it is also my birth flower by the way). ...Anyway, Queen Anne's Lace has been my favorite, because it is a wild flower that has strong roots, and grow every year in a wasteland, and yet, its white flower has such elegance and a sense of innocence, and it makes a great decoration in a room. So, needless to say, when I learned its beautiful name "Queen Anne's Lace", I was ecstatic. :-)

And recently, I felt like drawing a picture of this flowers with a bird in it. And after making a couple of them, I was thinking about this particular bird, and then again felt like looking up "Queen Anne's Lace" on the internet. What I found out was very interesting.

According to the information on Wikipedia, the name "Queen Anne's Lace" was named after a legend. The Queen turned out a real person, Queen Anne who married British King James in 16th-17th Century. According to the legend, one day, the Queen Anne was challenged by her friends to create a lace as beautiful as the flower for the King James. So, the flower was named because of the resemblance with lace, and this legend. It is said that the red flower in the center of some of the Queen Anne's Lace flowers represents a blood droplet where Queen Anne pricked herself with a needle when she was making the lace. How interesting!

Needless to say, after reading this story, the bird in a picture became "Queen Anne", of course. :-)

This series is still work in progress. But, I think I will introduce the illustrations that I have finished so far one by one for next few weeks (while I am still doing a lot of decluttering :-D).Next time, I will talk about the Queen Anne more.

Love, Yoshika

Apr 14, 2009

3D Relief Wall Art "Balance" Color Variation

These photos are an example of color variation of my 3D Relief Wall Art Design "Balance". Some are available at my Euphorian Chic Studio Etsy Shop: http://www.euphorianchicstudio.etsy.com/ Custom Orders are available with your favorite color scheme! Please convo me through my Etsy shop or Email Me.


Balance Yellow/Gray


Balance Brown/Teal


Balance Red/Brown


Balance White/Red --Sold--


Balance Brown/Yellow --Sold--
Love, Yoshika

Apr 11, 2009

Happy Easter from Me & Peter Rabbit!

There must be so many people who grew up with Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit books. Well, I wasn't really one of them, but I've always loved her works... who wouldn't, really. They are full of innocence and very vibrant as if the characters would jump out from the pictures just like the scenes from the movie, Miss Potter. And speaking of the movie, especially after seeing the movie, I have become a huge fan of Beatrix Potter, her life, and of course Peter Rabbit too.

According to the legend, on the night of Easter, rabbits carry the basket full of colored eggs, and visit Children's houses. I am not a Christian. But, who wouldn't want to celebrate the day of Jesus's Resurrection & cute bunnies with lovely colored eggs! So here it is,
Happy Easter to you all :-)))


Happy Easter from Peter Rabbit!









I didn't create new Easter designs this year. But since this is one of my favorite Easter illustrations, here it is again.
Happy Easter from me to everyone too!


Baby Aprons, Stickers, and other gifts of this design are available at
http://www.euphorianchicgift.com/ Holiday Design Category.

Love, Yoshika

Apr 9, 2009

Spring is finally here! (And some spring Love birds!)

Spring is finally here.... Today was such a beautiful day here in NJ from start to finish! In the morning, Robins were playing on the lawn in front of our building, the temperature went up to around 65 degrees afternoon, sunny and breezy, and in the evening, there were a beautiful full moon and lots of stars in the sky. And the buds of Sakura trees (cherry trees) have finally started to open up around here and the smell of flowers is in the air, you can pick it up when walking on the street..... Really it was such a beautiful day.
.....And I felt like doing nothing (i mean nothing really creative...) So, instead I cleaned my place (a little), and decided to add a new entry on my blog.

And here is the photo of the love birds that I saw about a couple days ago on the street of my town.


Sorry for the bad photo, it was a little cloudy and already getting dark. But, the two birds were all over with each other and it was so cute that I couldn't help taking photos. As you can see, the flower buds were still closed at that time. But, today I saw them opening:-)

So, speaking of love birds, this lovely season made me create some more love birds designs. These are some of my "Save The Day" Products.
Save The Date Kissing Birds Wedding Postcard postcard
Save The Date Kissing Birds Wedding Postcard
Save The Date Kissing Wedding Birds Stamp stamp
Save The Date Kissing Wedding Birds Stamp


Kissing Birds Wedding Aniversary Magnet magnet
Kissing Birds Wedding Aniversary Magnet

These are totally customizable, you can personalize them on the site by adding your own information.
For more "Save The Day" Products, please visit:
my shop: http://www.euphorianchicgift.com/ , "Save The Day Products" Category
In the meantime,
hope you all enjoy this lovely season!
Love, Yoshika

Apr 5, 2009

Decluttering continues.... (and some new designs)

I have been really lazy about updating my blog for a while. What have I been doing??? Well, especially for last couple of weeks, I have been trying to declutter/reorganize my space, my computer, I mean, art files...etc. And somehow a lot of decluttering/reorganization are happening (or being planned) in my head, but somehow not in my reality yet. I have been digging up my old files and seeing what was in there..... apparently a lot need to be done. And just thinking about it exhausts me and delays my plan.....what a bad routine... So, probably decluttering will continue for several more weeks at least....

By the way, I would like to mention what happened in "far east" last night. Well, apparently, North Korea finally launched their rocket (satellite) and it safely went over Japan without falling any debris. Since my family is living in Japan, I was worried, even though the rocket was supposed to go through the northern regions which is kind of far from where they live. This incident surely made me sad. On the Japanese news that is run here in America, they were warning the possibility of it being a missile (because of the very similar shape), and its influence in case any debris falls from the rocket. And in fact, the area where the first part of the rocket falls was somewhere in the sea of Japan where many Japanese people go out with the big ships for fishing. Many people in the northern Japan make living with fishery and in this season, they catch fish worth more than $50.000 a day. So, just the event of launching the rocket itself was already affecting their living. At this point, I still do not know what happened there, but I did feel for them of course.

But, what makes me sad more is the fact that we still have to worry about our "safety" on these matters. The Japanese news was focusing on the worst possibilities....well, even though it was necessary for the safety of Japanese people..but it scared me a lot... And, some are saying North Korea's rocket test was a total provocation of long range missiles.....well, even though it might be totally true..... But, anyway, thinking of the world political situations, there is not so much I could do.... But, really, let's look at the bright sides, there are people who are working on those problems politically. Also, I recently read the article of the woman whose father was forced to work for Husein as a private pilot. According to her, even the people who worked for him closeby were constantly threatened by his sadistic nature. Well, what I think is, if the leader of North Korea also has that kind of quality as well, there must be people around him who are feeling like this woman and her family. Hmm... it's deep. But, anyway let's just hope things will change for the better in the most peaceful ways.

So, in the meantime, as I am saying usually, I just want to use those frustrations and change it into something positive. Creativity! I am sharing some of my new "Go Green" Designs today.

Earth Day Tree Birds Botton button
Earth Day Tree Birds Botton
Celebrating Earth Day! Magnet is also available.
Go Green Event Announcement Postcard postcard
Go Green Event Announcement Postcard
This is a total customizale postcard which you can change the information all by yourself on the internet. It is great for promoting your "Go Green" or "Nature" related events. 3.5x2.5 Go Green Event Promotion Card is also available with this design.
By the way, actually, this Go Green Expo on this postcard is a real event happening this year. This is the one that is held in NYC on April 17th ~ 19th. If you are "go green" person, and are living in the tri-state areas, you might be interested. It is open for everybody. I am actually interested in the technologies that creates "Go Green" products too. I may not be able to make it to this event, but I think it must be interesting and is definitely worth a visit!
For the dates for this event in other US cities, please go to http://www.gogreenexpo.com/.

And in the meantime, my decluttering continues...
Visit my shop: http://www.euphorianchicgift.com/ for more gifts
Love, Yoshika

Mar 19, 2009

Recent Etsy Treasuries!!

I hadn't added any Etsy treasury entry for quite a while. Today I just share a couple of my favorite ones and want to say quick thank you to those who picked my works in their treasuries for last few weeks.

I'll start with my favorite ones. If you find something you like, please click the image to see the larger size, and find the seller's name under the each item. You can find their shop at search at Etsy.com.

1. "Heads In The Cloud" Handpicked by Ratgirl



I really love the theme. I feel very flattered that one of my tote bag "Tears of Joy" was included in her super cute treasury. Thank you so much! Please visit her lovely handmade jewelry shop: http://ratgirl.etsy.com/.

2. "Free And Fly" Handpicked by Kumasakuzo



This is something that I found very very lovely, the colors, title and theme :-)))
Kumasakuzo-san is actually a registered user, not seller. From the username, I wonder if she or he is Japanese or not.... The name is indeed very hilarious in Japanese..... :-DDD So, I love everything about this treasury including his or her username.

And here is the list of some of the treasuries that my work was included. Thank you so much! Please don't forget to check out their shops!
  • "Purplicious" by vickiorion GORGEOUS artisan jewelry!
  • "Looking For Yourself Out There" by tinahdee I LOVE her metal work!!
  • "My Garden" by birribe Very lovely knitted accessories!
  • "Golden Sunshine" by blueheronquilt Lovely quilt work! I love heron:-)
  • "One Small Step VII" by Joonwalk
  • "Rustic Yellows" by sszumski (she isn't a seller, thank you so much!)
  • "Gold and Black" by Copperinc Congratulations on FP! Her artworks are beautiful!
  • "Eating The Peach" by Uncorked Congtallations on FP! I LOVE her work using corks!

Sorry, I have probably left out some of them..... but I'm sending lots of love & gratitude:-) to all. Thank you so much!

Love, Yoshika

Mar 16, 2009

My New Etsy Shop & Cuteable.com!

Hello!
I am introducing my new Etsy "Euphorian Chic Art & Design" Shop today.
I created this shop, because I wanted to keep my first shop EuphorianChicStudio shop mainly for fine arts. And this one for prints & reproductions of my illustrations, and maybe later for my designs. The shop itself isn't really what I want it to be yet... but, anyway.....

Please take a look at my new shop at http://euphorianchic.etsy.com/

And today, one of my this year's spring bird illustration prints "One Step At A Time" was featured at a popular blog in UK, Cuteable.com :-))))) Thank you soooo much!




http://cuteable.com/mosaic-monday-steps/4950

Mine was included in their Mosaic Monday, "step" theme. Their picks are literally so "CUTE"!!
If you love cute things, and are not a reader of their blog yet, please visit:
Cuteable blog of cute things
Cuteable.com!
Love, Yoshika