Chez Panisse Restaurant & Alice Waters have been on my mind a lot lately. Last Sunday, August 28th, the restaurant turned 40 years old! I’ve been feeling very nostalgic as the restaurant and Alice have significantly influenced who I am today… not to mention, it is my 40th year as well… which makes it even more special. I’ve been reminiscing through old flat file drawers full of various projects and menus that I have done over the years.
I came across this birthday menu that I created in 2007. There was a full moon that night and the restaurant created a feast celebrating fresh herbs. I found the full moon image in an old book of mine, the style of my calligraphy was inspired by French hand-written menus from the early 1900′s. I letterpress printed the menus and hand-painted each one!
Happy Birthday Chez Panisse…. and may there be many more ahead!

Today I delivered these hand-painted signs to Cafe Rouge Restaurant. I can’t believe that I have been creating various signs and invitations for this event for TEN years now! Think Pink is a festive night put together by the chefs at Cafe Rouge and Kermit Lynch wines… an evening with a special menu celebrating, and complementing, rosé wines!
August 11th – Think Pink!

I’ve grown to love July 14th, Bastille Day, as it is such a magical night at Chez Panisse Restaurant. Over the years I have created many Bastille Day menus for Chez Panisse, the above 2002 menu was my first. At Chez Panisse, Bastille Day is also a celebration of the garlic harvest. The decorations that can be found all around the restaurant are breathtaking… beautiful garlic garlands, olive branches, and French flag ribbons as far as the eye can see! The menu items are absolutely delicious and celebrate traditional rustic French fare, and lots of garlic! I feel nostalgic looking back at my design from 9 years ago. It’s simple execution still holds strong.

Lately I seem to have Pizzaiolo, and their delicious food, on my mind…
I think I need to go and visit!
Above is one of the best gifts I can think of, a gift certificate that feeds you! I designed and hand-lettered this gift certificate several years ago and I still love it’s simplicity and old world charm. I found the wood oven engraving in a book of mine and I think the image is just perfect. I letterpress print them in black and warm red. The image seems to glow very much like the restaurant itself… and the man at the oven even looks like Charlie!

Pizzaiolo Restaurant just had it’s sixth year anniversary! I have worked with Charlie, the owner, quite a bit on various projects. My favorite projects being the commemorative Anniversary Posters!
Sadly, I did not create this year’s poster due to my crazy schedule and timing. But I thought it was timely to share the poster I designed  for last year’s 5th anniversary. Please forgive the slightly warped image, this is a photograph of the poster on a stainless steel refrigerator in my kitchen. The Italian title translates to “Make Pizza, Not War!” and the tagline roughly translates to “Solving problems, one pie at a time” with subtle references to “manual labor” and “unloading ovens” as well. I love the bold simplicity of the image and how the pizza cutter cuts a diagonal line across the page to create a peace sign… and a pizza! Charlie wanted the “Pizzaiolo” to bleed off the top of the page, which I thought was a great suggestion. The posters were silkscreen printed by an incredible local artist, Natt Swope of Bloom Press. The gorgeous quality of silkscreen ink and vibrancy of the warm red really made the poster very special. Natt is a dream to work and I was so excited to get the opportunity.
Here is an alternate menu header that I designed, using beautiful hand-set type. I love the dimension of the 2-color “Pizzaiolo”.
I sure hope I get to collaborate on Year 7!

Today seems like the perfect day to share a wonderful project that I did for Lola Home Store. It is pouring rain and I feel inspired to make myself a pot of tea, which I always serve in my cherished cups and bowls by Molly Hatch!
Lola Home Store is a gorgeous local shop offering unique and beautifully designed items for the home and personal use. The store also hosts inspiring shows featuring various artist’s work. I have been very fortunate to work with Lois, the owner, on creating invitations, announcements, and posters for these events.
The image above is a tea pot shaped poster that I created to announce an opening reception for ceramic artist, Molly Hatch. I loved studying and recreating Molly’s illustrated floral motifs. Her designs are amazing!
Here is a picture of my coveted tea cup and cafe bowls by Molly… I love that her designs are playfully placed inside, around, and even on the bottom of her pieces…
true works of art!
This particular project was very special to me because, not only, did I get to meet the lovely & talented Ms. Molly Hatch, I also got the opportunity to work with Matt Pavlovcic on creating my first animated invitation! Matt, also lovely and talented, animated my illustrations and hand lettering to create a charming “e-vite”. Please click here to check it out. Stay warm and dry!

Spring has truly arrived here in the Bay Area. Flowers are blooming everywhere.
Today’s post is a “Spring Inspired” menu for Marion Cunningham’s 80th birthday,
a delicious Sunday supper at Chez Panisse Restaurant.
I printed a botanical line drawing of a crocus onto vintage paper and hand-lettered a birthday message on the ribbon.
I hand-painted each menu with soft water based inks.
Here is the inside of the menu, I hand-lettered each course using a mixture of my favorite lettering styles.
I love that there were EIGHTY different sweets for dessert!

I’ve been reorganizing my studio lately and sorting through drawers and drawers of my lateral files. I came across this menu that I created for a special birthday dinner at Chez Panisse Restaurant. A 60th birthday celebration for two of Alice’s close friends. I love the charming, funny little morel mushrooms, photographs from one of Alice’s books.

Here is the back of the menu, a long and impressive list of the wines and liqueur that were served that evening. I like the simple elegance of the calligraphy style I chose to work in.

Today I want to share a project with an inspiring story.
Anni contacted me to create some hand-lettering of “a little faith” for the artwork of her tattoo. Having created a few tattoo designs for myself, I was honored to be involved with such a special project.Anni wanted the phrase to be linked together, as if written in a continuous strand of thread. We explored many different combinations of upper and lower case characters, each one had their own personality. Anni ended up choosing version #1, shown at the top of this page.
And here it is, in the flesh!
I love the strong placement on her forearm.
So exciting to see one’s design so permanently displayed!
Once Anni had chosen her design she kindly wrote to me and explained her personal, and powerful, story behind her tattoo……
… here is a photograph of “A Little Faith”, a beautiful and wild 3 year old Mustang.
In Anni’s words “I adopted her based off of nothing more than a look in her eyes in her picture on the BLM’s website and named her “A Little Faith” or Lily for short. She is the absolute sweetest and most amazing horse, and having her name forever on my arm will be a wonderful way to remind myself that taking chances often pays off! ”
I get chills every time I read this. Anni, thank you for sharing such a beautiful story.
You truly inspire me to make decisions from the heart and to have faith in the outcome!

I wanted to share this birth announcement that I created for a friend/colleague. It is inspired by a wedding invitation design that I did, featured in Brides Magazine, last year. The theme was “vintage schoolhouse” printed on old school paper, mounted to old file folders, and packaged in manila envelopes. The look had such an old fashioned sweetness about it… also perfect for a birth announcement!
On the front of the envelopes I silkscreen printed my stork illustration and found the perfect use for my vintage “Special Delivery” labels.

On the back of the envelopes I played with the same “schoolyard song” as I had for the wedding invitations, only taking it a bit further… first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes…. Jameson!
I had so much fun creating schoolbook-like illustrations and hand-lettering. Using a clock for the time of his birth, a scale for his weight, and a ruler for his length measurement. I like how the parent’s names cradle each side of my baby Jameson illustration.