Drawings of pandas at the National Zoo in D.C.

I just spent the past two days doing drawings and taking photos of the panda family at the zoo in Washington D.C. In this drawing the panda was leaning up against lots of rocks and gnawing away at his beloved bamboo. He was covered in bamboo so all you could see was the top of his body from the back. I didn't want to stand up front too long so this quick drawing only shows some of it. I think I definitely need to add some more. This is our second trip to see the pandas and I hope to visit them again in the late summer or fall if there is a new panda baby. They were all SO cute! More cuteness will be added soon. I will post more drawings, photos and videos later.

I've been drawing and painting since I was this little...

Santa and my Dad had similar handwriting. I went nuts over this easel. I remember especially loving the little paint palette that came with this- it is sitting on the little shelf up front. There is evidence of eaten cookies and hot cocoa on the floor to the left of the picture. The cookies were always gone but somehow the reindeer never ate much of the carrots- just a few nibbles.

This is me and my friend, Zephyr, painting in my family's apartment and showing off our artwork. This might have actually been either entirely mine since the paints are next to me or it's possible I was the art director and gave her direction since it was my paper and paints! I've been using lots of red and loving all things red since I was a kid. It even looks like I either just ate something red (maybe a red popsicle or a cherry Italian ice) or have red lipstick on. I'm sure that my nails were painted red too and that I was wearing my favorite pair of red mary jane shoes also. Everything had to be either red, pink, gold or sparkly. Some things never change I guess.

When asked what I wanted to be when I was older I always answered- "an artist", "an artist that makes books" (I thought this from the first time I saw an Ed Emberley thumbprint book- he actually lived in the same town), "a baker" (so I could lick frosting all the time and eat pink cakes and cupcakes all day long) and "an airline stewardess" (for the cute outfits and ability to go wherever I wanted).

Other artists that made me know that I wanted to make books were Richard Scarry (I used to have a Richard Scarry book that I carried with me EVERYWHERE I went),
Ezra Jack Keats (Whistle for Willie, Goggles!, Peter's Chair, The Snowy Day, Hi Cat! and Pet Show!),
Tomie DePaola (all of them- especially The Art Lesson, Strega Nona, Pancakes For Breakfast, The Popcorn Story and Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs), James Marshall (George and Martha, Space Case), Blair Lent (The Funny Little Woman), Ludwig Bemelmans (Madeline series), Kay Thompson (Eloise series) and later Shel Silverstein. If you look closely in this photo you can see the messed up stack of books that I lined up against the wall behind me. These are still some of my favorite children's illustrators and I have every one of these treasured books on my bookshelf. Some of the originals and some were bought as an adult. All of these artists use of line, little details, color and sense of humor still inspire me to this day.

Chopsticks New York cover

My first mailing of 2008

I'm looking forward to hearing from everyone!

UPDATE (April 26th): Thanks to everyone that I have heard from so far!
I will be sending out a new mailing in June.

Mira Stroika and The Stumblebum Brass Band at Don Pedro's

© Jodi Messina-Nozawa

Mira was amazing again. Go Mira! So much energy in this show which made it lots of fun to draw. A beautiful performance by Mira. The Stumblebums were a lot of fun to draw and listen to as well. Kota took this video of Mira while I was drawing these pictures.

Vote for Go!Go! Curry! NYC's Best Fast Food!

Vote for the Go!Go! Curry restaurant in Time Out NY's 2008 Eat Out Awards. Go!Go! Curry was nominated for NYC's "Best New Fast Food" in the Reader's Choice category. Go!Go! Curry has already been named "Best Fast Food" by CitySearch.com. Go!Go! Curry is the Japanese baseball inspired restaurant in Midtown that my husband, Kota has been managing along with his partner, Kenny. There are several of these restaurants in Japan and this is the first one that opened in the United States. Unfortunately for myself and other vegetarian/vegan people this restaurant is not at the moment "veggie friendly". Here are some of my recent drawings of Go!Go! Curry. To vote click here by March 9th. Go!Go! to Go!Go! Curry! Go! Kota!

UPDATE (May 1st): Click here to read one of the newest reviews of Go!Go! Curry.

Budos Band, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings at the Beacon Theatre

© Jodi Messina-Nozawa

On February 15th, Kota took me to see two of my current favorite bands-Budos Band (funk/afro-beat), and Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings (soul/funk/r&b). They played at the Beacon Theatre on the Upper West Side and the show was so much fun. We were sitting in the fifth row middle section so we had a great view of the stage which made it easy to draw. I used up half a sketchbook since I couldn't stop drawing once I started. These are a few of the quick drawings that I did at the show. My husband, Kota, took the photos while I was drawing. The video isn't from the show that I saw but it's a good example of their live performance. Last month I did drawings of two other new favorites of mine-Mira Stroika (indie/experimental) and The Stumblebum Brass Band (jazz/punk/blues). To see some of the drawings and the info for their upcoming show take a look at the flyer that my friend Katie and I did for Mira. You can also link to their sites from my post to take a listen to their music.