05 February 2013

hello again


I've finally emerged from a winter hibernation and with the new year already in full swing, I'm ready for a fresh start. But first, I must catch up with the many enjoyable tasks that fell by the wayside while I was reeling from the dismaying clobbering that 2012 gave me. I can only hope those who have been waiting for these projects will forgive my delays; meanwhile, I intend to take the remaining ones up, one by one, until I'm all caught up and ready for entirely new things this (hopefully more gentle) year.

So, an embarrassing number of months later, I'm mailing off the little accordion art book collaboration started by Valeria Poropat in Rome. After the book traveled around Europe, the U.S. and Canada, Jeannine Saylor sent it to me last summer for me to add my page, which I did... eventually. 

I was inspired by a quietly alert deer that I met near Pismo Beach in the woods behind our house. I first noticed the very fresh deer droppings I'd nearly stepped in, then looked up to see huge, soft brown eyes staring at me. It was early in the morning and no one else was awake, just the two of us under the oaks on a quiet hillside. The moment stayed with me, so I added it to this thoughtful collection. Here you can see the work contributed by the other artists:

Valeria Poropat, Tatjana Odovic, Jules Young, Anika Starmer
Lisa Grabenstetter, Jessica Gowling, Jeannine Saylor, Kimi Kobashi
I'm sending the book on to the poetic Thuraya Lynn in Kuwait, who I imagine will add some mysterious black-and-white drawings of sly characters making mischief in their own worlds... we shall see if my guess is close or not!

In the meantime, I wish you all much peace, satisfaction and creativity this bright new year...

xo kimi



12 comments:

Miss Aoki said...

Hi!
Your drawing is so lovely!Color is awesome!
The collaboration project looks so great!All drawings are nice.
I hope the poetic book works very well!
Good luck!:)

kimi said...

Why thank you, Miss Aoki! It's so nice to have positive response to an artwork, isn't it? And coming from you, whose illustrations I so greatly admire, it's even more uplifting. :) Thank you for the good wishes ~ I am hoping the little book makes its way safely to Kuwait so it can fill itself with art from around the world.

Valeria said...

Can I say: at laaaast. But it's worth the wait :)

kimi said...

Carissima Valeria ~ I've been awful, I know! Mi dispiace!! But glad you like it, and very happy that it's traveling across the world to Thuraya Lynn now. It's a lovely project and I like how its organically developing its own theme and color scheme. Thank you for starting it!

tricky said...

yeeey :)
and the blog is looking great!

kimi said...

Thank you, Tanya! I thought I'd try something new... it was nice to see your work firsthand in the book while I had it. :)

anika said...

Glad to see your addition! Fun to revisit all these images. Oh, and I love your story of the deer! What a magical moment!

kimi said...

Hi Anika! It was fun to see your art and everyone else's work close up. I am slightly on your "here to there and back again" theme as I saw the deer while on vacation and basically went 'there' but am now back 'here'. ^_^

Juriko Kosaka said...

Hi, Kimi:)
Beautiful colors! Your colors are always gentle and a little mysterious for me.
I like this composition too.

SaylorMade said...

Such a lovely illustration, Kimi! Glad to have you back online. I've missed your sunny disposition.

kimi said...

Arigatou, Juri! I'm happy to be told I have gentle and mysterious colors. :) Hope to be posting more art here soon...

kimi said...

Happy to be in touch again, Jeannine. I've missed you all too. I wasn't so sunny so I waited until I was again. Looking forward to a happy year and our little chats.