Chrysanthemum1 -working process 2

I have been working on the chrysanthemum painting for two weeks. I am expecting two one person shows in this year and it is for the one which comes first in Osaka.

Started working on the upper left section and bottom right section, which are supposed to have the same atmosphere but different brush touch and mood from other two sections.

Working details of flower and background.

I got in the middle phase of whole painting process. (I Hope!)
To be honest, I do not like this part of time;
Painting without any concrete idea on color or composition is like you lost in the maze.
It takes sometimes weeks until I get out from the maze. I believe that painting itself knows the right answer but it does not tell me that so easy.
It is like a waiting game between the painting and I.
I feel like I am tested by my own painting.

Seems a good color combination, but the background colors might be too similar.
I may want to change it later.
In any case, it is still far from the happy ending. Sigh.....

Chrysanthemum1 -working process 1

I have started working on  a new painting series based on the imagery of chrysanthemum, while listening to the radio for the quake and its survivers.

Chrysanthemum is not my favorite flower,since it is low-key and inconspicuous, but it is symbolic one for Japanese.

First, I made a sketch and traced it down on a white canvas.

Then I start to paint with white and black (actually low umber) to make light and shadow based on my sketch and photo I made for this painting.
This phase is usually called Grisaille, which means to paint in monochrome.

1/4 of first stage is almost done. I think this is fun part of whole painting process; Although I have to be careful about subtle change in light and shadow, this process reminds me of painting by numbers.

 Working on the second section.

In this painting, I divided the canvas space into 4 sections. I want to depict each section in slightly different taste but make it still look like one chrysanthemum flower.
This is my first trial to make a painting this way. I might give up but hope it will work. 
.

My Auction 2 -Japan Quake Appeal

This is my second auction item for Japan Quake Appeal.

title: Morning Glory
medium: waterbased woodblock print on white Japanese paper
paper size: 31cm x 31cm (apprx. 12 1/4" x 12 1/4")
image size: 23 cm diameter (apprx. 9" diameter)
This is hand-pulled original woodblock print, not a digital print.
It is signed by the artist (me!) as artist proof and will be shipped in a mailing tube.
Frame is not included.

How this auction works:

1. Bidding will start at U.S.$20.

2. You can place a bid by leaving a comment on this blog post with your bid amount. Please make sure that your bid is higher than the previous bidder. You must also leave a valid email address, you can write the address in the format of mymailname‘at’hotmail dot’com.

3. Your bid must be in whole dollar increments.

4. This auction is open to everyone. Shipping cost is FREE. I will send the item in a mailing tube and pay the international postage.

5. The auction begins NOW and will END at 17:00 Japan time on Saturday 26th March 2011 (which is 1:00 in California, 4:00 in NY, 8:00 in London, 18:00 in Sydney and 12:00 in Dubai, each on the same day).

6. At the close of the auction, I will contact the winner (please make sure your bid comment includes your email address). The winner will pay the winning amount directly into Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund at the Global Giving and send me proof of payment via email within 48 hours. If proof of payment is not made within 48 hours, then the item will go to the second highest bidder. Once proof of payment has been confirmed, I will send my item to you.

note:
-If you make a mistake or forget to add you email address please delete the first post and re-write it.

-You can make the donation either in dollar or pound, but if you do so in pound, it must be the equivalent value as the winning dollar bid.

Myself or any other of the auction/raffles raising money for this appeal are in no way affiliated with Global Giving, that's just our chosen method of getting funds safely to the affected area.

I am doing this auction not only for raising fund, but also for thanking to the people who will donate their money and for keeping people's attention to what happened in my country. 

I am auctioning two items and another one is here.

If this isn't to your taste, click here to check out the list of everyone elses auctions.
 (List of bloggers who will auction on their blogs are available after March 18.)

For more detailed information about this charity, you can read Jo's blog who is organizing this donation scheme.

Happy Bidding!
.

My Auction 1 -Japan Quake Appeal

This is just a little help I can do as a Japanese artist for my country and people.
As I mentioned yesterday, here is my auction.

title: A Village Scene
medium: waterbased woodblock print on white Japanese paper
paper size: 31cm x 31cm (apprx. 12 1/4" x 12 1/4")
image size: 23 cm diameter (apprx. 9" diameter)
This is hand-pulled original woodblock print, not a digital print.
It is signed by the artist (me!) as artist proof and will be shipped in a mailing tube.
Frame is not included.

How this auction works:

1. Bidding will start at U.S.$20.

2. You can place a bid by leaving a comment on this blog post with your bid amount. Please make sure that your bid is higher than the previous bidder. You must also leave a valid email address, you can write the address in the format of mymailname‘at’hotmail dot’com.

3. Your bid must be in whole dollar increments.

4. This auction is open to everyone. Shipping cost is FREE. I will send the item in a mailing tube and pay the international postage.

5. The auction begins NOW and will END at 17:00 Japan time on Saturday 26th March 2011 (which is 1:00 in California, 4:00 in NY, 8:00 in London, 18:00 in Sydney and 12:00 in Dubai, each on the same day).

6. At the close of the auction, I will contact the winner (please make sure your bid comment includes your email address). The winner will pay the winning amount directly into Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund at the Global Giving and send me proof of payment via email within 48 hours. If proof of payment is not made within 48 hours, then the item will go to the second highest bidder. Once proof of payment has been confirmed, I will send my item to you.

note:
-If you make a mistake or forget to add you email address please delete the first post and re-write it.

-You can make the donation either in dollar or pound, but if you do so in pound, it must be the equivalent value as the winning dollar bid.

Myself or any other of the auction/raffles raising money for this appeal are in no way affiliated with Global Giving, that's just our chosen method of getting funds safely to the affected area.

I am doing this auction not only for raising fund, but also for thanking to the people who will donate their money and for keeping people's attention to what happened in my country. 

I am auctioning two items and another one is here.

If this isn't to your taste, click here to check out the list of everyone elses auctions.
 (List of bloggers who will auction on their blogs are available after March 18.)

For more detailed information about this charity, you can read Jo's blog who is organizing this donation scheme.

Happy Bidding!

Japan Quake Appeal

All over the world, online donation are being held to help raise money for Japan's earthquake and tsunami disaster occurred last Friday.
I am taking part in Japan Quake Appeal, a fund raising auction and raffle organized by Jo at A Bit Of This and Bit Of That.
It would be great if you could get involved one way or the other.

All the auction and raffle will start at March 18, Friday and last for a week.
The master list of the auctioneers will be published on Jo's blog above mentioned.
All money are directly paid to Global Giving by the winner of the auction. Upon the receipt of the proof of payment, the auctioneer will send the product to the winner.

I am planning to auction my woodblock prints and will upload the images of the works hopefully tomorrow.

It is snowing today in the northeast of Japan. My heart breaks for the people who have been in the  evacuation center without enough food, water, or heat or the children who have been looking for  their parents since last week.
One good news was that a 70 year-old woman was found and evacuated yesterday, 92 hours after the quake occurred. It is said that threshold for surviving is 72 hours. I hope that other people buried in rubble, if any alive (I believe so), will be found as soon as possible.
I also want to show my greatest appreciation to the engineers and SDF members who try to protect us from any accident of nuclear power plant and all rescue teams from across the world, at the risk of their lives. I will pray for their safety from the bottom of my heart.

Survivals

Ships are running on the road in front of the houses and cars are driven away like tiny leaves floating on the river. Many towns were lost, zillions of buildings were broke down. Families, friends, or neighbors are missing. Nobody knows the exact death toll. As you see in the TV or internet, the quake hit the northeast of Japan brought tremendous damage to us.

However people are surviving through all the pain and grief while fearing aftershocks, another tsunami and possible exposure to radiation. I am proud, and it is our hope that people who are most severely suffered by the quake have committed no riots or robberies but have been helping each other.

For avoidance of doubt, western part of Japan (=west from Nagoya) have not suffered. For those like me who live in such unsuffered area, I think it is the most important to get back our normal life as much as possible in order NOT to stop economic or production activities in Japan, while obtaining and carefully filtering any information available to us from all of the media. Each of us Japanese should have our own job to save our country and I want to and will do mine.

Major quake and tsunami hit Japan- March 11, 2011

The highest level of earthquake struck Japan and big tsunami (tidal wave) crushed ashore in northeast coasts of the country. Nowhere in Japan is earthquake-free, but this one is the most severe quake in our history, not only in terms of its magnitude level of 8.9, but in terms of broad scope of the damaged area, of which nobody still do not know exactly.




Since yesterday, all media incl. TV, radio, internet news or even twitter are devoting enormous time and space into this disaster. I still cannot believe what is happening in front of us. I live in southeast part of Japan Island where fortunately was not directly hit by the quake, but am a bit confused and disquieted by all the news which release videos of the towns and towns ruined by tsunami and report the updates of the number of missing or dead people by every ten minutes.
Japan had massive M 7.3 earthquake in Kobe (The Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake) back in 1995 caused 5,600 deaths. Damages caused by the quake and tsunami this time will transcend that of Kobe and expand to the whole country including to the impact on our economy.
Same as in Kobe quake, the feeling of fear and confusion of people happens only after half day later from the event because nobody knows what happened or how big the damage was right after the quake, unless they live in the area directly attacked by it. Overnight into this morning, followed by a number of aftershocks, we still do not know whole picture of the damage. I heard that some coastal area of Russia, Taiwan, and Hawaii were also hit by tsunami. It will take several more days or weeks until we know the whole damages brought by the quake and tsunami.
All we know now is that whole country will need to help the suffered area and people, but contradictorily, we do not know what to do NOW. We just keep our eyes on what happens (and I hope that people who live outside of Japan or other damaged country will also do so), praying that as many people as possible will be saved from this terrible disaster. 

Troubles - It is part of artist's life

Came back from short trip to Tokyo. Before I went to airport to home, I stopped by an art supply store to buy some glassine papers. I bought  40 sheets (1016mm x 762mm, which is appx. 40"x 30")and they were so heavy! I knew that papers are generally heavy, but I did not expect that heavy because glassine  is very thin paper. I had shoulder bag and suitcase, both full of my clothes and portfolio of my work, etc., so I struggled with holding all of them and finally got to the airport. Then I got stopped at security check at the gate by an inspection officer who was suspicious about the long tube protected by thick covering paper and plastic bag. (although it actually included just papers..)  
I regretted that I should have bought the papers online.. should not have saved shipping cost.

Badminton Life

My enthusiasm for badminton has been growing up day by day.
Have I ever put myself into any sporting activities this much? Never!
As in my studio name "Pleiades" which is named after that I am taurus, my pattern of behavior and temperament is very much like that of cow; slow, stubborn and love to nap. 　
There are many local teams in my local city, from semi-professional level to kids' class.
Many teenagers also belong to their school team, where we hope turn out some national players for the Olympics.  My team is one of women's clubs of moderate performance.  Most of us are married women having domestic duties and job (and kids) in our both hands and enjoy exercising and of course a lot of chatting between our busy days.

We practice once a week in a gymnasium. I love this tiny gym, but actually the condition of it is awful... As you can see from the photo, it is only protected by one layer of wall and glass, and therefore conditions inside are directly influenced by the weather of the day. When it is sunny, it is like a oven, and if it is snow, the inside is cold like a fridge.  No curtain, no air conditioner. We had no choice because we did not have enough members and cannot afford a bigger space...
However, we are getting new members (actually I am one of the newbees) and our coach announced that she fill find another partner team to share the cost and space of the bigger gym ( with shower and locker rooms, air conditioner and curtains, for sure!) so that we can move out from here.
If it happens, we can play much more comfortably. I will pray for our play.

Groundwork for a new painting

Inspired by my own old sketches, I finally have got into action for a new painting.
It has been in my mind for a few weeks, even I was in the middle of tax application procedure, that I want to develop my own style of paintings. Maybe "style" is not the right term, but I want more sense of myself in my work as much as freshness as a contemporary painter.

 

This will be a experimental painting in order to pursue my originality, which I am sure is not easy to develop. But I will do it anyway. Continuous effort and groundwork for improving one's own art world is essential for artists.
I collected many reference materials, moved them around, and developing my idea about the painting; size, composition, or color combination, etc. Most important matter among all will be a rough final image, but I seldom reach it when finished painting because of : 1. change of my mind, and 2. painting itself start to talk. Well, I know I need more experience...
I struggled with the materials all day today, feeling very happy to start new work and left studio for night practice of badminton club.

Pencil Drawing - Yellow Lilies

Lily is one of my favorite motives. I like lilies because of its variety of sizes, shapes and colors.
The pencil drawing below was yellow lilies with dark brown spots.

detail

"Lilies" 16" x 12 1/4" (41cm x 31cm)

I used to buy a small bunch of flowers at flower shop; when I feel down, when I want to work with light medium, or when no creative ideas come up in my mind and I do not have good motif in my studio.They certainly filled my empty hands and mind with comfort.
Many artist of all ages and cultures have dealt with flowers, and there are zillions of styles.
These days I do not deal with flowers as my painting subject, but I want to restart working with them, hoping to depict them in the style that only I can do.