Studio Update

Working on three paintings concurrently -which I don't do usually. I prefer to work one by one, but sometimes situation forces me to be a multi-tasker; I am expecting two person show and  group shows in summer, and these new paintings are for those shows. Do you think the summer is still far to go? No. I work hard but very slow, and I paint on canvas with thin layers of paint over and over, which is very time consuming.
For the purpose of productivity, I have to learn creating more paintings within a certain time frame. Hope to establish a schedule with deadline for all my studio work, but have no time to  work out on it. Will work even harder!

アトリエ日記。３つの作品を同時に制作中です。普段は一つずつ作品を仕上げる方が好きなのですが、場合によってはそうも言ってられません。。。夏に二人展といくつかグループ展の予定があるのでこれらはその展覧会用の新作です。夏はまだ先のこと？いえいえ、私は遅筆なくせに何度も塗り重ねるので時間がかかるのです。
制作効率を考えると、一定時間内にもっと作品を作れるようにならなければ～と思っています。
アトリエでの制作スケジュールを立てようと思うのですが、その時間が無い！がんばります（＾＾）

three paintings in progress

sneak peak before the show！
展覧会前にちょっと公開（＾＾）

Advice from Chuck Close

You may know it already, but I want to share this wonderful quote by Chuck Close:
ご存知かもしれませんが、チャック・クローズの言葉です。

“The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and somthing else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that’s almost never the case.” ~ Chuck Close

Rainy Tuesday

Got a text message when I was just about to leave home for my Tuesday morning routine -badminton lesson. Text was from the coach that today's lesson was canceled because of leaky ceiling in the gym! What a pity! I got a bad cold all last week and could not go to badminton lesson which I look forward every week. 
So, suddenly given a free Tuesday. I decided to rework on a painting that I would have finished a month ago...

バドミントンの練習に出かける前に、コーチから連絡があり、今日の練習はキャンセルになってしまいました。前から体育館の雨漏りがひどかったのですが、それがさらにひどくなった様子。。。
先週は風邪で伏せっていたので、今日こそは～と意気込んでいたのに残念。
仕方ないので（。。というわけでもありませんが）前から懸案になっていた仕掛中の作品に手を付けました。

 "Chrysanthemum #5" in progress (detail)

My chrysanthemum #5 painting is still unfinished. I have been trying many colors and types of brush touches, but I cannot still find the best ones or at least the ones somehow satisfying.

菊シリーズのNo.5は未だに制作中。様々な色やブラシタッチを試しているのですが、今ひとつ満足のいく感じになりません。

Facing to the painting in which I got stuck is not pleasant work. For me, the hardest time in painting is the time when a painting is close to finish; I have to pay attention to every detail of the surface. Delicate and weary moment. In order to neutralize such feeling of oppression, when a painting is close to be done, I start a new one-in which I can just enjoy, and do not have to be fussy about any details.
This is the one I am going to show in my two person show in summer in Osaka.  

煮詰まってる作品と向き合うのはあまり楽しい作業ではありません。私の場合、1番難しいのは作品が出来上がりかけのとき。画面の中のあらゆる細かいところに気を配らなければいけません。
繊細でそして疲れる時間です。それで、一つの作品が出来上がりかける頃、次の作品に手をつけます。新しい作品に取りかかるときは、細かいことに気を遣わなくて良いので、ただ楽しめます。
この作品は大阪での夏の二人展に出展する予定です。

NEWBIE!