beach day

catching up with art house projects

Heavens, I've been in a downpour of work lately as we come to the end of the school year. So much to do! I have big plans for a huge dosage of personal Kimi-time during this three-day weekend and I hope it lives up to my expectations!

To kick it off, I've made a short video of my Limited Edition Sketchbook Project. This is the sketchbook that doesn't tour, but does get an image or two published in some kind of compilation. Can't wait to receive that! It will be fun to look at all the work that ends up in the book.

Have a look through my pages with me, if you like:

 

Hmm, I'm not sure about the quality of the video in the Blogger format. Can you see anything at all?

Anyhoo... in other Art House news, my 2012 Sketchbook Project was recently digitized and is presently available to check out in L.A. as the tour is there on Sunset Blvd. How I hope someone will check it out!

It's only been checked once so far on this tour, by Lelainia in Vancouver whose link you should follow as she wrote a nice and interesting summary of the event. She also told me she effusively hollered, "Narwahls!" to her friends when she got it. :) Also, that the book was passed around to numerous viewers during it's check-out. Ah, I was happy to hear that.

In just four days, the Sketchbook Tour will arrive to Oakland and hang around for an entire 17 days. I have so little time, I am going to have to work miracles to get over there and see it, but I am determined. Please wish me a little luck. :)

Meanwhile, wishing you all a very happy, relaxing and productive weekend. (That's what I'm hoping for...)

~ ciao!

spring art show ~ {yukie's studio}

Yukie's dish at the Spring Garden Art Show

Last year Yuuco contacted me about a trans-Pacific art exchange which I thought was a brilliant idea. She sent me a box with her paintings inside, as well as art from Shingo Akiyama, Ms. Pen Artist Santaac, Kanae Nagashima and Ikecoo. I gathered together some U.S. artists: Chiori Tasaki, Trina Chow, Toni Rica, Yukie Nakanishi (and me!) and we held our first show last December at Claymates, followed by a second show in January at the Bay Street Cafe' (grandly titled The Trans-Pacific Art Show). Along the way, a few pieces sold, many new people enjoyed the works and we had a lot of fun.

I had one more show planned ~ the Spring Garden show at Yukie's Studio ~ where the art made its appearance one more time last weekend. Yukie displayed and sold her ceramics, along with her friends Della and Akio, plus many of her pottery students. Additionally, there was glass jewelry by Margie, all in the beautiful garden setting (curated by Larry).

Della's ceramic display

Ms. Pen's book covers & Ikecoo's sculpture with Yukie's cups.

Yuuco's watercolor with Yukie's ceramics.

Paintings by Rica, Trina & Shingo with printed bags by Yuuco.

Yukie's pottery with Ikecoo's drawings.

Shingo's artwork with Yukie's ceramic creations.

More of Yukie's pottery with Kanae's triptych.

Unfortunately, I was not able to bring any of my work to the show, nor to coordinate much with the other artists, because I caught a terrible cold that lasted a full week. I barely managed to get all the trans-Pacific art up; I went early to set up when no one was there and left before the guests began arriving and then fell straight back to bed! I was really sorry to miss out, but Rica and Yukie both told me it was a great success with many visitors attending.

It was definitely a beautiful setting and many people came to buy things for Mother's Day, so the timing was good. When I returned to break down our art I was feeling a little better. If I can, I will set up another show in the summer before we get ready to send our U.S. art to Japan for display there. It's an exciting exchange that is helping all the participants reach out across the ocean to a new audience.

I must thank Yuuco for the great idea and Yukie for hosting us at her garden studio with such style!

a bee book

After completing my Art House sketchbook for 2012 and sending it off, I signed up for the Limited Edition project as there were a few openings left, a few months to work within, and a few friends that I knew had also joined in (to make it more fun).

The Limited Edition project differs from the annual Sketchbook Project in that the books do not go on tour, but at least one image from each book will be published in a set of books about the collaboration. I sent my book off to New York the other day to join the others in Brooklyn and I just posted the scans of my pages on flickr:

My Limited Edition Sketchbook Project on flickr.

I wished to share the pages as I created them, but had so much going on I ended up just feeling lucky to have the time to finish the book at all. So, here they are ~ all in one go. Please take a look and let me know what you think! Thanks!