art journal ~ {kimi kobashi}

industrial arts inspiration ~ {the crucible}

2012-02-23T00:16:00.000-08:00

I took a little drive up to Oakland for an afternoon of industrial arts demonstrations by numerous artisans who've no fear of fire. The Crucible is the kind of place that takes all your latent superhero fantasies of bending glass and twisting metal with your bare hands and makes them... reality! Wow.

We all left with visions of welding enormous metal sculptures, blowing glass bubbles and hammering out swords. Here are a few photos from this amazing, non-profit, educational facility. Once you've learned a trade, you can buy studio hours, go in and make to your heart's content.

He rolled the hot glass in the blue powder on the table for color.

I think the hot glass is so pretty!

(Eventually, he made a pitcher.)

Demonstration on bending glass tubes for neon signs.

He blows air through the tube during the bend so the passage stays open.

This guy was so cool. He gave me two linked heart-shaped tubes "to give to your sweetheart".

Everyone loved the blacksmith.

Twisting metal to make a very strong & handy hook.


You need a hood, protective clothing & eyewear to guard against the sparks & UV rays.

But then you can meld metal together into statues.

Yeah, I'm fired up! :D

Another way to bend steel.

This method feels a little spectacular. :)

Not trash ~ supply bins!

Melted aluminum being poured into ingots.

Hot stuff.

Art everywhere.

Right next to a BART exit so anyone can get there!

type-face

2012-02-12T18:26:00.000-08:00

Did you know that I'm taking a couple graphic design classes these days? It's true. I was recently given an assignment to make faces using only typefaces. Hm! Hadn't thought of doing that before.

Some of my classmates are extremely talented at doing this! As for me, it's not quite my forte', but it was fun!

Here is a flutist. (I meant for the hat to read "marching band" which didn't fully work out)...

A boy surprised by gas... "whoops!"

And lastly, a valentine ~ featuring a couple from perhaps 100 years ago (or more). We weren't supposed to use color, but what's a valentine without a bit of red and pink?

Perhaps some of you have done other interesting things with type? If so, I'd love to know about them! This is a new area for me. ^_^

in progress...

2012-02-10T10:28:00.000-08:00

Quick snapshot for you of a new acrylic painting I started last night. These days it feels like spring is here already and I'm looking forward to seeing bright colors again and the promise of fresh beginnings.

There's more to go on this one, but I was happy with this painting's start. ^_^

octopi journals

2012-02-08T15:58:00.001-08:00

I talked to Joy @limbic_lullaby last week about the handmade journals she was creating with hand-carved stamps and she offered to mail me a set for me and my two boys! They arrived so quickly in the mail and we adore them. I love the way she carved a voice bubble to fill in for the octopus and the name plate space inside.

I love Joy's paintings, as well, which you can see on her blog Limbic Lullaby and which you can even buy on her Society 6 page! She's been making some fun carvings and stamps ~ like these here on this blog post. I love the evocative portraits she paints ~ ethereal girls with haunted looks, children with visible skulls, bold colors and patterns. Do check out her beautiful work.

Thank you, Joy, for these truly lovely journals! I'm working on some mail art to send back to her, as well as to Jeannine, Juriko and Jessica. Four of my awesome J-friends!

sketchbook project 2012

2012-02-01T23:11:00.000-08:00

This was my second year participating in the Arthouse Sketchbook Project and I had such a good time! I was really pleased with my book this year and I'm sure part of that is because I learned a great deal last year of what works for me and what not to do. Since I like to use a lot of watercolor, rebinding my book with a lot of my own paper was an essential change. I used the original paper for the cut-out pages where it worked very well, and I was able to wet the pages to my heart's content by using heavier stock on the full-color pages.

My theme was Uncharted Waters ~ chosen because it made me think of exploration, seeking, learning and finding new worlds. Exciting! I thought about Columbus at first, but didn't really feel like drawing his old-fashioned boat. With just a little research, I discovered the Arctic and Antarctic explorers of the late 1800's and grew very attached to them. I decided to focus on the Arctic for my book since it seemed like more people got lost at the South Pole (admittedly, a bit depressing).

My book was not historically factual ~ I don't think they did much diving in the freezing waters up north and I don't know if super-enormous octopi or squid reside in the deep seas ~ but I did model my boat after the Norwegian exploration ship the Fram and I did paint many adorable arctic sea creatures.

beluga whales <3

Now I have dual themes in my two books of underwater scenes, white animals and a reality-fantasy mix (although my 2011 book was heavier on the fantastical). Using my own paper made this year's book much more cohesive as I wasn't alternating storyline with diary-type drawings in pencil to cope with ink bleed. However, I do love both books and I can't wait to check out many, many sketchbooks from friends around the world when the Sketchbook Tour comes to San Francisco.

I'll soon post scans of my full book on Flickr, but in the meantime I leave you with a video page-through of Uncharted Waters so you can see how the cut-out pages worked and following that, a list of some wonderful artists who made sketchbooks this year.

Looking forward to seeing these books in person and holding them in my very own hands. Leave me a comment if I've left you off the list, please! (It's quite late at night so I may have forgotten important people!) Click on their names below to go to their sketchbook or their twitter.

And I don't think she made a sketchbook but Ti-Igra painted a gorgeous image of Antarctica and Roald Amundsen's trip to the South Pole. I mention it here because the ship Roald used for the Antarctic was also the Fram! He used it some years after Fridtjof Nansen sailed it in the Arctic waters, trying to reach the North Pole.

Onward!

opening night!

2012-01-21T23:10:00.001-08:00

Our Trans-Pacific Art Show Opening Night was all I hoped for and more. I'm still in awe of all the wonderful people we had collaborating together to make this idea a reality. It was an event that attracted the nicest people around. May I take you on a tour of our evening?

Entrance to Bay Street Cafe'. My latest painting greets you!

Just inside, canvases by Rica and Trina, Ikecoo's sculpture, Yukie's pottery and Yuuco's printed bags.

Rica chats with two guests who are about to take up oil painting.

Many people were fascinated by the Mail Art Suitcase ~ so much to discover in there!

Where better to enjoy a chai tea than surrounded by art and music?

Speaking of music, Walter played for us most of the evening ~ such a treat!

The murals at Bay St. are lovely & complimented my canvas and Shingo's framed works.

Three of Chiori's new acrylics: Morning, Daytime and Night.

Rica's print went well with Ikecoo's Animal Kingdom illustrations.

Ben was inspired to sit down and start drawing. He gathered a crowd; Rica and I were thrilled to have live art at our show!

Kanae's triptych got a lot of attention. This quiet wall really displayed the detail of her work.

Anyone like sweets? Or savories?

Cheesecake... mmm...

As promised, Sayid made his now famous coffee art too!

One young artist brought us her portfolio to review. She's only 6 years old but very dedicated to art.

We hung one of her drawings in the show and took a picture together, posed like the lady she drew. Her mom has promised to send me photos of her new artworks now and then! :)

There actually ended up being three additional drawings from young artists added to our show, which was a delightful highlight of the night as they were so proud to participate and become a part of the "magic". We received the sweetest notes and drawings in the guest book describing the night as "magical"!

I am so thankful to everyone that came to support us, and everyone that helped to make this happen! All the artists, all the Bay St. staff, Davin (our coordinator), our families and all the musicians, artists, photographers and other art lovers that joined us ~ it was a splendid evening! Thank you!

Our art will be on display for three weeks, so if you missed out on Opening Night there's still time to enjoy!

a t-rex in my mailbox

2012-01-19T23:12:00.000-08:00

The cool clothespin photo inspired me to photograph these on the clothesline but the light wasn't quite in the right place and the line kept wanting to twirl. Harder than I thought!

My first mail art of the year arrived from the sweet and generous Jeannine Saylor, who sent me hand-drawn stickers, a charming assortment of illustrations, a stamped letter and photos all tucked into a handmade envelope. She sent this all to me even though I actually owe her at least two envelopes of mail (and now three!). But that is Jeannine for you ~ she is super kind and thoughtful like that. I am very lucky to know her. Check it out:

I pinned them to my grape vine trellis instead where I could admire them all together.

The T-Rex is colored in a soft palette with (I think) colored pencil. It makes me think he's very gentle and is probably opening his mouth to sing rather than to eat. The daffodil is also very soft and springlike. As the weather gets chillier here, I'm grateful for spring reminders!

Additionally, as she promised on her blog, she sent me Valeria Poropat's Traveling Sketchbook, which is small and delicate ~ not what I had expected from seeing earlier artists post photos of their contributions! I was expecting a big, fat journal and here it was so tiny and light. It was a nice surprise.

Each panel is fairly narrow and long and the theme is completely open. Here it is with all the accordion folds opened, up to my blank panel that awaits me.

The book started with Valeria in Rome and has since been to Serbia, and various places on the East Coast and in Canada.

What shall I draw? I haven't decided yet. Am still enjoying all the goodies Jeannine sent me and the seven illustrations in this booklet that have come before mine. Hmmm, this will be fun!

new painting in progress

2012-01-18T15:02:00.000-08:00

Hung my painting on the fence this morning to take a pic in the early light. :)

Hello! I wanted to share a work-in-progress that I'm preparing for this weekend's show. It has a couple layers of acrylic paint, medium and rice paper on it and I intend to do several more before Opening Night this Saturday.

It's developing into a vision of the world's creation, so I want to make it even busier, more colorful and hopefully exploding with spores and growth and activity. I posted close-up details of it on flickr and would love to hear what you think.

To me, creation is colorful, busy, wild and energetic!

xo kimi

10 artists at bay st. cafe'

2012-01-07T18:27:00.000-08:00

The far right panel will be the front page. Middle panel is the back when folded.

The tri-folds open up to reveal the story of the show and its 10 artists.

As you can see, I've designed a mini-brochure for our upcoming Trans-Pacific Art Show at the Bay Street Cafe' in Fremont, CA! There will be five artists from Japan and five from the Bay Area. We had a meeting today and I came home buoyed by everyone's warmth and enthusiasm ~ really, I was floating up by the ceiling with happiness!

I can't thank Lotfi and Zack, the owners of Bay Street Cafe' enough. The space is beautiful, from the brick exterior to the high ceilings inside and art-deco-inspired murals. Davin, an artist who is helping us put the show together, has also been invaluable in his support.

We found out today that there will also be some coffee art. Check these out!

I hope you'll join us on Opening Night, January 21 at 6:00 pm. 4000 Bay Street is the place to be!

suitcase of treasures

2012-01-02T21:51:00.000-08:00

A sweet artistic friend, whose middle name just happens to be Kimi, gave me a vintage suitcase! It's just beautiful and will be perfect for carrying art.

Trying it out, I filled it up with mail art from artist friends around the world ~ Jessica Gowling in Canada, Juriko Kosaka in Japan, Gizem Vural in Turkey, Emily Orpin in Korea, Jeannine Saylor in Canada, and Toni Rica in the U.S.A.

With a little work on the presentation of the pieces ~ maybe some in frames? maybe some strung on ribbon from the top? ~ this little collection could make a nice addition to our Bay Street Cafe' art show. I will ask the artists if they'd like to be included in this way.

a new year

2012-01-01T23:00:00.000-08:00

The start of a new year feels like a brand new sketchbook to fill with good things.

Hello, friends and happy new year!

I wish you daily inspiration, joy, friendship and creativity.

May you have a year of smooth sailing and discovery,

and may you reach your goals and have fun along the way!

Let's have a great new year!

I took a little time at the end of 2011 to prepare for 2012's arrival, cleaning up my house and artistic workspace so I could start the year off with a fresh space for getting lots of things done. Since I could see the top of my desk again and my materials were so accessible, I started a new painting for our show on January 21st, and finally got started on my Sketchbook Project (due to be mailed before the month's end). Hooray! Neither painting nor book pages are done, but I'd like to share the direction I'm headed ...

I added some of my favorite rice paper to the book.

I unbound my sketchbook and cut new pages for it, and I'm opening with two sheets of rice paper that have tiny gold threads running through them because coupled with the cardboard cover they somehow put me in the mood for drawing.

The next page uses paper from the original book. I've cut the top to be a mountainous skyline and am using it for a title page. For now, I've penciled in "uncharted waters" but I'll probably use a fine black pen for longevity.

The mountain page turns to reveal a larger landscape. I laid down a watercolor wash and will draw in a sailing boat in the lower right where I've left white space. Perhaps the mountain will be an iceberg?

I used watercolor paper on the new page to hold the paint better.

Next will come some cut-out pages that layer over each other to create the whole scene. I did a lot of drawing in my Sketchbook Project last year; this year I'm trying out some new approaches. I'm liking its simplicity.

Can you see it will become a breaching whale?

The background of these photos is from a corner of the painting I'm working on. I've just laid down two washes and will build these up with a number of layers. I'll share the progress as it comes... hoping for an artistically prolific new year!

Happy New Year everyone! Time for me to go browse your blogs and see what you're creating in 2012.

xo ~kimi

handmade cards

2011-12-31T11:32:00.000-08:00

I really wanted to make handmade cards this year, but with one thing and another I just didn't have time. (New Resolution: plan better next time!) However, I was the delighted recipient of a number of handmade cards from artists in Japan and Canada, so I want to share them with you here and also send a huge "thank you!" to my accomplished, artistic friends. <3

from Ikecoo in Japan

Painted on both sides; folded and tied with yarn to keep closed.

Getting to know Ikecoo in the past couple months has been very inspiring. Although I cannot understand all the Japanese on her blog, I love looking at the photos she posts and the brilliant ideas she comes up with using materials that can be found anywhere. Check out these brightly colored lamps she made in a recent workshop (scroll down past the text to see two photos). Neat, hm?

from Kanae Nagashima in Japan

Kanae made her card with washi tape and a print of an elaborate wreath that she drew. You can see a gorgeous picture of the original on her blog.

from Yuuco in Japan

Also from Yuuco ~ beautiful papers that I'll use in my art!

Yuuco is generous, talented and has a gentle style and a big heart. I'm so glad I met her in 2011! You shouldn't miss this delicate wreath of screen-printed cotton leaves that she made "to heal our hearts hurt by the earthquake in March". She calls it, "Beautiful World" ~ and it really is.

from Pen Artist Santacc ~ a traditional kerchief & a printed card

Pen's artwork has a distinct style and I've really enjoyed all the pieces she sent over for our Trans-Pacific collaboration. Pen is also the owner of the Make Merry Box Gallery, where artists rent out little boxes to display and sell their work. You might enjoy a browse through the gallery's blog to see the huge variety of handmade goods there! Lots of fun!

from Shingo Akiyama in Japan

Shingo's art ranges in scale from giant murals to tiny paintings. I would love to know more about his process, materials and inspirations, and I hope to visit Japan one day to see his murals on the city walls. In the meantime, I treasure my original Akiyama card. Thank you, Shingo!

from Jeannine Saylor in Canada

She used her hand-carved pine cone stamps inside and out.

I feel so lucky to know Jeannine, who is not only talented and creative, but one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. I love reading her blog and sharing ideas, gathering inspiration from each other. She's genuinely one of my favorite artists to talk to and follow along with her creations and works-in-progress. Additionally, she is really fun to exchange mail art with, and she is looking for more people to exchange with in the new year, so drop her a line!

* * *

Wasn't that a lovely tour? I really want to send something back to everyone. Thank goodness for Lunar New Year, which gives me a second chance to send my best handmade wishes! Thank you again, dear artist friends. ^_^

preparing for a new show!

2011-12-17T22:53:00.000-08:00

This morning Toni Rica and I had our second meeting with Davin, a Fremont artist who is helping us launch our Trans-Pacific art show at the Bay St. Cafe' in Fremont's Irvington District. The opening reception will be on Saturday, January 21st at 6:00 pm and there's much to do to prepare!

Bay St. Cafe' is recently under new management and the owner has been very generous with his assistance. He has many big plans for the arts and creativity at Bay St. ~ ours will be the first show to kick things off. So if you're in the East Bay or South Bay, save the date of January 21st and then make plans to return for all the other exciting music and art shows that Davin and Lotfi will prepare for you!

Davin, Rica and me

It was quite by luck that we chanced upon this venue. Toni Rica came by on occasion to have a coffee and one day she asked if it would be possible to display our Trans-Pacific art here. The idea was met with a lot of enthusiasm (both Lotfi and Davin are big on building community) and we're thrilled to be working with them and showing our art in such an historic building. The coffee is really good, too!

If you come to our opening reception, you can also catch a theater show upstairs in the same building at the Broadway West Theater Company. We're hoping to meet some of the cast members ourselves. :)

The building has such character, sitting on the corner of a five-street intersection and busy each time I've been there. I had fun taking photos of the building and the surrounding environment.

Bay St. Cafe' is located at 4000 Bay Street in Fremont at the corners of Fremont Blvd., Washington Blvd., Union St. and Bay St. Hope to have you join us on January 21st!

The artists participating from Japan are: Yuuco, Pen Artist Santaac, Kanae Nagashima, Akiyama Shingo and Ikecoo. If you'd like you can read a bit more about them in my earlier post here. Wish us luck for a successful show!

who's on society6?

2011-12-13T00:39:00.000-08:00

With the holidays coming up, I wanted to give personalized gifts to some of my family. Several of them could use new phone cases (including me!) so I went onto society6 to learn how I might upload my art. The end result is that I now have the beginnings of a society6 shop and with just a little bit of browsing I'm finding quite a number of talented artists I'd never met before. It looks like it's going to be fun!

I've only uploaded two artworks so far, but little by little there will be more because the gift-giving season is upon us and I've got to figure out what I'm giving to whom! I've quite a bit of art to upload that I think will look quite delightful on a laptop skin, phone case or print. So many possibilities... I'm curious to order some and see how they actually are in person.

Pretty!

If you're on society6 do let me know so I can follow you there. I'd love to find some of my twitter and blogger friends and check out your shops!

so thankful

2011-12-03T21:41:00.001-08:00

My painting is off to its new home with Sharon. ^_^

The past two days have been so rewarding. I am very thankful to Akio, Terry and Yukie for welcoming me to the Claymates show and sale. I met so many interesting people ~ many artists themselves ~ and got some very positive and heartfelt feedback about my work. This event was not only the first time for me to show my work in public, it was also the first time for me to represent and assist other artists as well. From the Bay Area, I invited Toni Rica, Chiori Tasaki and Sewasew to display their work. From Japan, five artists sent me their creations: Yuuco, Ikecoo, Kanae Nagashima, Shingo Akiyama and Ms. Pen Santaac.

On Thursday evening, Toni Rica met me at Akio's to help set up our art. Yukie and her husband Larry had gone out of their way to purchase a set of display grids that very morning and had them all set up for us when we arrived. (Thank you!)

Yukie's pottery in the foreground & our art on the panels.

Yuuco's flower bags, Chiori's oils, my acrylics & Kanae's postcards...

I should mention that it was my first time to meet Toni Rica in person; before then we'd only spoken on twitter, email and phone. It was a joy to meet her and to work together, as she is full of enthusiasm, warmth, positivity and talent! Together we placed all the artwork so that everything was ready for the show.


Sewasew's woven Ethiopian paintings below, Ms. Pen's book covers, postcards by Kanae and more...

On Friday morning, Chiori met me at Akio's studio to help for the day. We added her paintings to the display, added some finishing touches and watched as people began to arrive.

One of Chiori's en plein air oils, made while her husband and son were fishing.

There was already quite a crowd when the doors opened at 10:00 am and all the artists were busy answering questions or helping to wrap purchases. It was an exceptional moment for me when I turned to find a woman gazing with great emotion at my larger acrylic work. Wow.

She explained that she could not purchase it (though she would have liked to) but we talked for a bit and I can only say that to have my painting create such a positive impact on someone else... well, just that was enough to make my day utterly fulfilling. As a painter, and especially at my very first show, her reaction was tremendously rewarding and more than I hoped for. While she thanked me for making that piece, I thanked her for appreciating it so highly. It was quite amazing to connect with a stranger through an artistic communication. (Of course, I saw her again when she returned the next day to show her husband the painting, and I'm sure I'll see her again since she's beginning ceramics classes ~ so she won't be a stranger in the future! ^_^)

Other artists' work were beginning to sell. Lots of Yukie's and Akio's pottery was chosen, Margie and Bobbi's glass jewelery table had a big crowd, and Terry's homemade chocolate truffles and jams were extremely popular.

Debbie chose Yuuco's flower bag and also bought my smaller acrylic. Thank you!

Not long after my sublime experience in front of my painting, I heard my name being called. Two sisters (Sharon and Debbie) were very interested in my acrylics! We talked about my process and thoughts behind the works. I signed the canvases to each of them and in a whirlwind of a morning, my paintings were sold! I nearly had to catch my breath, it had all happened so fast. I was glad that Chiori was there to celebrate with me and I really liked Sharon and Debbie and felt very comfortable to send my art home with them.

Thank you very much, Sharon and Debbie.

I hope you enjoy the paintings for years to come

and that they bring you much happiness in your homes.

After those paintings sold, I brought out the large gold painting I'd just finished. Even though it was already spoken for, I thought it would be nice to get feedback on the work. Indeed, I enjoyed some very nice talks with other artists about the work, its layers and techniques ~ conversations I wouldn't have had without taking my work out of my home and putting it in the public eye. It was very rewarding.

I was also quite happy to get exposure for the artists who sent their work from Japan. I wished they could also be there to talk about their creations.

Ikecoo's sculpture and pastel with Yuuco's cute cards.

Yuuco's bird of happiness cleverly mounted on stained balsa wood.

Kanae's triptych attracted a lot of attention for its detail and emotion. Rica sold several of her prints too!

On Saturday Toni Rica returned and spent the day helping at the sale. Three of her prints sold and it was really fun to hear the stories behind her drawings. She has a definite sense of humor! :D

I brought another work in to display, a large 4' x 6' painting that I completed a couple years ago. I made it when my husband's family came to visit us from Italy so they would feel even more welcome in our home.

Displaying this painting led to many more engaging conversations with visitors and artists. It was really fun to meet so many delightful and passionate people who appreciate handmade goods and arts. I am very grateful to everyone who came to Claymates. It was such a pleasure to meet you!

Special thanks to Chiori and Rica for their help, to the other artists for a wonderful two days ~ Bobbi White, Margie Dickerson, Adriane Dedic, Yukie Nakanishi ~ and to our hosts Akio and Terry Aochi. I learned a lot and am looking forward to the spring show in May at Yukie's garden and studio!

So much inspiration ~ thank you all!

i triumph at last

2011-12-01T13:06:00.000-08:00

detail

Hello friends!

Do you remember, back in the sunny days of August when I shared some dappled light falling on a large blue painting I was working on for a friend? Well, I had pretty much finished the work when she returned to California after months of being away. I went to her home, saw again where the painting would hang, and realized that the painting was just way too blue. And way too white. Somehow, it was just not the right palette.

"No!" you're thinking, "So what did you do?!"

Well, I started painting over it. I realized her house had a lot of gold in it and I would have to make something richer and warmer.

I confess that the canvas went through some horrible stages. Being so large, it loomed in my living room, a silent eyesore. At times I thought it might defeat me but ... I persisted. (And I did not take any photos of its dreadful transition).

But at last! I finally finished it the other weekend. It's the first one I've done just using a palette knife to apply the paint. Here it is, propped temporarily in my dining room until I can deliver it:

Depending on the light, or where one stands, the elements and colors reflect and combine quite differently. I've never had that experience with a painting before, but I believe it's because I used several iridescent paints and because there's so much texture.

I may have this one at our show tomorrow. Hope you Bay Area folk can come by to see it!

2011 Claymates

Date: December 2 - 3, 2011 (Friday and Saturday)

Time: 10 am - 6 pm

Location: Akio's Studio at 1901 Mandan Court, Fremont, CA 94039

moustache for movember

2011-11-23T16:20:00.000-08:00

When I saw that Creaturemag was putting out a call for moustachioed creatures, I couldn't resist giving it a try. I submitted my moustache tree a few days ago and was happy to see him appear in Part 6 of the Moustache Illustration Awards along with numerous other entertaining moustache-folk.

It's all to promote Movember, a face-grown and hand-brushed charity event that makes November moustache-growing season to raise awareness of men's health issues (cancer in particular).

They've just extended the deadline to Monday, November 28th, so why not sketch a moustache critter and send it their way? All entries will be judged by: Matt Witt of Creaturemag, Lee Rubenstein of Eat Sleep Draw, Siobhan Leddy of Flamingo Magazine and Jon Cockley of Handsome Frank.

Details are here. Give it a try! It's for a good cause and it's a great excuse to let your imagination go stache-wild!

may i introduce you...

2011-11-22T00:21:00.001-08:00

to five Japanese artists that are part of a trans-Pacific collaboration with me! We are exchanging art to show and sell on each side of the ocean, with our first exhibit and sale at 2011 Claymates, coming up on December 2nd and 3rd in Fremont, California (all the details at the end of this post).

You must first meet Yuuco, who blogs at Seeds of Happiness and is on twitter as @cocotia.

Miss yuuco (illustrator)

Born in Kagawa, 1977. Studied ceramics at Osaka university of arts. Drawing and writing everyday just like sowing flower seeds. Hoping her tiny words and illustrations will bloom somewhere one day to make people who saw it smile. :) Also working on etchings in recent years.

Here is some of her cheerful artwork:

Yuuco is the originator of our art-exchange across the ocean and she has just sent me a precious package full of art from Japan! I have the ticket from the postman and have arrange for a redelivery tomorrow ~ so if you check in again shortly, you'll see pictures of the originals that have arrived in America. These will be from Yuuco and from and each of the artists below. Personally, I can't wait to open that parcel!

Next, please meet Ikecoo...

Miss ikecoo (illustrator)

Born in 1976, Kagawa. An artist who makes people feel happiness from her drawings. Studied design at Kyoto collage of Art & Craft. Started working as an illustrator in 2006. Drawing a lot every day, her dream is to make the world full of her happy pictures.

お絵描きでHappyを伝える人。
1976年生まれ。京都芸術短期大学（今の京都造形芸術大学）卒業。
絵の活動としては2006年より本格始動。Happyな絵で世界中をうめつくすのが夢。近年は架空の動物を描くことが多いです。
私の絵は描く場所やその場にいる人、その日の感情によって雰囲気が変わります。
毎回事前に完成図があるわけではなく、画面に見えてきた色を次々と塗っていくと、いつのまにか絵が出来あがっています。

And now, I'd like to present Kanae Nagashima ~

Miss Kanae Nagashima (painter)

Born in Kagawa, 1985, Kanae studied oil painting in the Art Department of Hiroshima City University. While in school, she studied abroad on a short term program at Kingston University, UK. After graduation, she has been working as a designer, showing her work regularly in exhibitions. She is presently working as an Art Master in Kagawa.

画家。1985年香川県生まれ。広島市立大学芸術学部油絵学科卒業。在学中にイギリスキングストン大学短期留学。卒業後、関東でイベントフライヤー制作やカフェなどで作品展示し、現在は香川県を拠点に芸術士としても活動中。芸術士≫http://geijyutsushi.archipelago.or.jp/

Our fourth artist is Pen Artist Santacc!

Miss Pen Artist Santacc (pen artist)

Born in Kagawa, 1978. Studied design at Kyoto University of Art & Design. She draws by pen with rough & swirling strokes. She is also the owner of the art shop 'Make Merry!' where she deals with arts, crafts, illustrations, and many kinds of hand made things. She's managing art events, art projects and workshops too; her shop is always full of young artists.

1978 年生まれ
2003 年京都造形芸術大学学芸学部情報デザイン学科卒業
お試し書きでよくみる「ぐるぐる」と「ぎざぎざ」で絵を描いています。

Last but not least, a gentleman artist! Mr. Shingo Akiyama ~~(for whom I do not have a website)~~, who not only has a beautiful website but is also on twitter as @akiyamashingo. I am loving this picture of one of his murals!

Mr. Shingo Akiyama (painter)

Born in Kagawa, 1983. Studied oil painting at Kanazawa University of Arts & Crafts. Has had many solo exhibitions, group exhibitions and workshops since graduation. His main style is line drawings with floating bright colors and illustrations. Recently he painted an enormous mural in the middle of town and also designed the packaging for a newly opened patisserie.

アーティスト。１９８３年香川県生まれ。金沢美術工芸大学油画専攻卒。
２００８年より数々の個展、クループ展、ワークショップを行っている。
抽象的な線が色彩の中を自由に浮遊・流動する絵画やイラストを中心に制作を続けている。
２０１０年には丸亀町に店内壁画、パッケージイラストを手懸けた洋菓子店「ボーク・ド・ボヌー」がオープンした。

If you're in the Bay Area on December 2nd and 3rd, you're invited to come by 2011 Claymates, an annual sale of pottery, jewelry, truffles and art!

All five artists above will be featured, as well as Toni Rica (prints), Chiori Tasaki (oils) and me!

Plus, a variety of works from the original founders of the event: Akio and Terry Aochi (ceramics and handmade chocolate truffles), Yukie Nakanishi (ceramics), Margie Dickerson (glass art jewelry) and her sister Bobbi White (lampwork glass creations). There may also be some Ethiopian art from Sewasew Meaza, who paints on "sefed" ~ a large, traditional woven plate.

There will be lots to see!

You're Invited to 2011 Claymates

Date: December 2 - 3, 2011 (Friday and Saturday)

Time: 10 am - 6 pm

Location: Akio's Studio at 1901 Mandan Court, Fremont, CA 94039

Hope to see you there. ^_^

my 100th post: preparing for a show

2011-11-16T00:47:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my 100th blog post, in which I'll share some new paintings of mine and some fine artwork from Toni Rica! ^_^

Not so long ago I received a note from Yuko in Japan, asking if I'd like to collaborate with her and some artists that she knew. We had only spoken briefly on twitter before (where she is @cocotia) so I was surprised but delighted by her suggestion. She had two venues, a "box gallery" and a cafe' where art could be shown. I hoped to find a couple show locations here in the Bay Area, and we decided to trade art so that artists on both sides of the Pacific could have their works displayed on the other side of the ocean.

I can hardly wait to receive the art from Japan so I can first ooh and aah over it, and then make plans for how and where to display it. I don't yet know exactly how many pieces are coming, or which artists ultimately decided to participate, so it's really going to be a lovely surprise. I'm all fired up!

I recently finished two paintings that I'll display on the U.S. side of things (they're a little big to send afar). One I've shared with you above and the other is below this paragraph. You may not recognize them, but I actually started these one year ago when I blogged about their first layers. They actually hung in my house, unfinished, for all that time. I knew they hadn't achieved their final transformation yet, but I enjoyed them anyway. Now that they're finished, I'm appreciating them even more. (Sometimes my art takes a very slow evolution.)

I titled this one: Resilience. But I think it could be interpreted many ways.

Toni Rica is one of the artists that will participate with me here in the Bay Area and then send her art to Japan for display/sale over there. She has been absolutely wonderful! From the moment I asked if she'd like to be a part of this collaboration she has jumped in with both feet and is full of ideas, warmth and positivity. So much fun! I feel so supported by her enthusiasm and am very excited that I'll soon get to meet her in person for the first time. We met originally on twitter (where she is @tonirica) and I feel so lucky that such a talented gal lives just 15 minutes away from me. It's quite fun to find a twitter friend that is also an actual neighbor.

Rica sent me some photos of some of the art she'll bring to our first Bay Area event in December. When I receive the art from Japan (and from any other local participants) I'll make an official flier but for now you can have a preview of some of the goodies to come from Rica's hand:

I find this to be so gorgeous!

The sea and hill make me think this is the Italian Riviera (though I've never seen this sort of elephantmouse there). I'll have to ask Rica what place she thought of when she drew it.

She's so good with the details! They flow out of her pen.

We have begun talking about how to display things and about further locales where we can hang our work. It's all new for us, and we don't know what will happen, but that is the fun of it ~ not knowing exactly what to expect, but being open to anything and enjoying the simplicity of creating and sharing what we've made with others.

And so my 100th post comes to a close. Thanks for reading!

mail art & rabbit

2011-11-12T12:27:00.000-08:00

Hello!

Last week I received two packages in the mail, both from across the Pacific! The weather was pleasant this morning, so I took them out to the back garden to photograph them in the grass. If you're familiar with rabbits, you know that they're naturally curious and mine is no exception ~ she hopped around and enjoyed checking out the mail art too.

The first envelope was from my new mail art pal, Emily Orpin in Seoul who writes the Good Things* blog that is always enviably full of worldwide travels, pretty photos and cute doxies, with splashes of fashion and crafts thrown in. She asked me what I'd be interested in receiving and I asked to see a bit of daily life in Korea. I was not disappointed by the many snippets of Seoul that she sent to me!

Pages of a Korean fashion magazine.


Magazine cutouts, handmade tags & a handmade book about Seoul by Emily.

Aren't the colors pretty? I am now under the impression that Seoul is full of soft, bright colors on pale, natural backgrounds. Let's look inside the amazing accordion book she made:

This was so fun to unfold page by page to always discover another view of her neighborhood, city and landscape. She also sent along tiny envelopes in pretty patterns with paper goodies tucked inside. I am going to be challenged to return something equally inspiring and beautifully presented to her. If I look around, I wonder what I'll find will be the palette of my city? Thank you, Emily!

The other treasure I received was a large envelope from Juri Kosaka in Tokyo, who I originally met on twitter (@juriko). We've exchanged some emails and come to know each other a little more. Although we've never met, I feel close! Earlier this year, she drew my desk from a photo that I sent to her. I liked it so much that she told me she would send me a copy. However, she also included many more things in her package:

The envelope has a frame of film stars and she also included a brochure from the Tokyo film festival.

Do you also see the beautiful bookmarks with her paintings on them? The colors remind me of Gaugin... a very clever and lovely idea as they have her contact information there, rather than on a regular business card. I shall surely use them when I read.

And here is the desk drawing... I'd better go clean it up so it looks nice and neat like that again!

When she told me she would send me a copy of this work, I asked her to send me a photo too, that I could draw for her. She sent me quite a number to choose from ~ but they're all nice... I don't yet know which one I'll pick.

As an added surprise, Juri enclosed a small set of watercolor illustrations. In her letter, she asked me to draw on them, collage them, or find some way to use them in further art so we can create a new collaboration! The drawings are so delightful ~ I'm getting many ideas of how to use them, but I hope I have the skill to do them justice. ^_^;;

Bunny likes them too.

These two packages brought me so much cheer and inspiration! After receiving them, I spent the rest of the week painting on canvases that I'll share with you soon. There's still one that I'm wrestling with and hope to conquer this weekend. It's for a friend, which is why I think I'm not quite as relaxed about it as I should be. Pressure!

I certainly have my work cut out for me... I now owe mail art to Jeannine Saylor, Jessica Gowling, Emily and Juriko. Time to create! Let's go! :D

glass adventure ~ {part 2}

2011-10-25T23:36:00.000-07:00

Originally sharp angles turned chubby after a stop in the kiln.

You might remember that I tried my hand at melting glass into little jewelry bits last month. The pieces went in the kiln and later I picked them up and put them on strings and chains. Here's how they turned out!

This was the largest piece. Fairly heavy, too. Not sure I'll wear it but it's neat.

I wish the picture were clearer so you could see its pleasing
purple/burgundy base color that feels right for fall.


Again, not the greatest photo, but one of my favorite pieces. I like its transparency.

It's interesting how the glass melted in layers, giving a different look when viewed from the front, side or back. See ~

I haven't decided what to do with all these glass necklaces now, but it was definitely fun to make them. Next time I'll try to create some matching earrings, perhaps.

a day at the museum

2011-10-18T13:27:00.000-07:00

We caught Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musee National Picasso, Paris at the de Young Museum on its last day. 'Twas a foggy, drizzly sort of day, softly warm. It put us in the right mood for viewing art.

I'd heard many good things about the exhibit and was curious to see it. Picasso isn't my favorite artist and I hadn't seen a large collection of his work before, so I wondered what I would think and feel when I stood in front of his work. The exhibit was quite extensive, displayed mostly chronologically, and included paintings, studies for paintings and sculpture. Perhaps the quote that resonated with me the most was:

"Painting is

just another way

of keeping a diary."

- Picasso

I hadn't thought about painting in that exact way before, but I liked it very much. For me, blogging is another way of keeping a diary - of artistic pursuits in particular - and I could see how Picasso recorded his experiences in his art. The exhibit felt both like walking through an experiment of multiple phases and also of browsing a journal of events and opinions. Sometimes the styles led from one to another - expressionism, cubism, neoclassicism, surrealism - and sometimes the leaps in style were huge with the art seeming to connect only by repeating themes (such as of bathers in striped blue suits on the beach). Why so many bathers? Why the stripes? I felt more curious about him by viewing the collection of work.

I enjoyed the studies on paper that led to canvas works or sculptures. I was impressed by the large scale of his work and his enormous capacity to create. I also found that I appreciated the design of his works more than many of the works themselves, or their message. There were not too many that I would feel like hanging in my home or living with on a daily basis. Sometimes it seemed that the message of the art was lost in the study of its process - although that wasn't the case with his Bull's Head, which just might be my favorite piece of the entire show.

Overall, the exhibit was quite fascinating and interesting. I was glad not to miss it.

Looking across the plaza to the California Academy of Sciences.

The next de Young exhibit I'm especially looking forward to is The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier, arriving in the spring. But I'm sure I'll be back to Golden Gate Park before then...

dragons

2011-09-29T17:10:00.000-07:00

I've been juggling so many different events and activities at work. They are all for the kids, so I feel good even though I'm a bit worn out. One of the more entertaining aspects of my job lately was drawing lots of dragons for the upcoming walk and bike event. Here's some of the artwork for the event fliers and T-shirts. Pretty cute?

portrait:landscape ~ on its way!

2011-09-20T18:04:00.001-07:00

The portrait:landscape book began its journey around the world today! Looking at the list of artists it will visit I wished I could travel along to meet everyone in person.

I put all the contributors' names in the front, added a table of contents, completed my portrait and landscape, and wrote a little something on a local postcard for the back pocket. Have a look!

Cover

End papers (front)


Title Page

Table of Contents

My self-portrait (mixed media)

My landscape (watercolor)

Blank Pages 8-9 ~ for Chiori!

Back Pocket (with my postcard peeking out)

Now it's in the mail, on its way to my dear friend @hooka111. The journey begins! ^_^

biking with my canadian mail

2011-09-19T16:05:00.001-07:00

Jessica's bison fluttered in the breeze.

What do you like to do with your mail art after you receive it? Hang it about your studio? Admire it on your desk for a while? Tuck it in a secret drawer? I've done all those things, but today I decided that my mail art needed some fresh air. So I borrowed a bicycle and gave my treasured envelopes from Jessica Gowling and Jeannine Saylor a first-class view from the front basket.

As we rode along, certain places seemed to fit particular pieces of mail art. Both Jessica and Jeannine are always very generous and full of creativity with their mail art. I'm excited to share how these treats from Canada fit so well in their new home in California. Away we go!

* M A I L - A R T from J E S S I C A *

Jessica's (signed and numbered!) roaring buffalo print felt at home with the tall grasses. Their bushy tails mimicked his fur.

The bay horizon made a nice contrast to the yellow stripe. (And I tried to have creative hands when photographing the "Creative Hands" book spine.)

Jessica's cute envelope of road trip stickers nestled in with the bicycle tire.

The lightning bolts on this sticker were a good match for the power lines.

Jessica also sent me a proof of her moose print. He was so fine we took his picture on the path where the grey road could let him shine alone.

I really loved receiving Jessica's package and discovering all the delights inside. She also sent a little book about apple picking, perfect for fall and back-to-school. I should have photographed it on the lawn by the park's playground, but by the time I got back there I was so hot and tired that I forgot! The mail and I rode about six miles today and I made the dreadful mistake of starting around noon on what turned out to be a very hot day.

The ride was definitely worth it, though. Look at all these pelicans!

And now...

* M A I L - A R T from J E A N N I N E *

Jeannine handmade her envelope from a magazine with a turtle on it. He liked this spot in the plant where he could appear to be climbing into the water.

This part of the path had lots of dry branches. A passport tag, a paintbrush and a teeny framed picture of the universe hung on in the breeze.

I really like her silhouette series. The feather and the leaves joined her cave mixed media piece in the flowers along the path.

Close-up of the cave ~ it's one of my favorites. So simple, yet very rich with subtle texture!

It turns out these flowers have the same name as me.

We returned to the turtle theme at the end of the ride. A tiny "outer space" envelope housed four Canadian stamps that hung out with the turtles in the sand.

Now I shall get busy putting their replies together and into the mail. As usual, I've been gathering bits and bobs but need to sit down and perfect the collection for mailing. Thank you Jeannine and Jessica for being so patient until I could get this post together and share the wonderful things you sent me. Keep an eye on your mailbox for my replies! ^_^

glass adventure

2011-09-18T22:09:00.001-07:00

Some years ago, my mother introduced me to her friend Margie, who is both a potter and maker of glass jewelry. Margie had six of us over last night to try our hand at making some glass art. This was my first time with this medium so I started with the glass bits from her scrap box.

Bounty in the scraps.

I learned how to score and snap-cut the glass into smaller sizes and shapes, but then decided it would be a fun challenge to use only the pieces as I found them.

I was a little hesitant at first, gathering colors and trying to figure out how they looked together. At first I didn't like any of the combinations I was coming up with.

Um... now what?

In the meantime, my friends Noriko and Hiroko (who had just arrived from Japan and were completely defying jet-lag) seemed to know exactly what they were doing. They were cutting tiny pieces for earrings and gluing pretty stacks of colored glass on top; scoring larger pieces for necklaces and making everything match.

Noriko's work in progress.

PJ, on the other hand, had already fused her glass on an earlier day and was now grinding off the rough edges and finding pretty cords and fixings from which to hang them.

A little water is needed when grinding, just like when cutting tiles.

Finally I got my wits about me and made five mini artworks for necklaces. The big white and silver piece had been fused before and tossed into the scrap bin, so I just added a couple accent colors on top. Perhaps it will make a good magnet.

Craft glue holds the pieces in place until they're fused in the kiln.

After everyone's pieces were ready, I closed the kiln and fired it up. It's all digital, so that was just a matter of pushing buttons. By now the pieces are fused and ready for finishing, but I can't return as soon as Hiroko and Noriko, who will finish their jewelry this week while I'm at work.


In the kiln: mini glass collages ready to fuse by Noriko, Hiroko, Yukie and me.

These are some fused pieces that Margie had for us to see as samples.

And here are just a few of her finished earrings made with this type of glass technique.

I'm keen to see how the pieces transformed in the kiln. I wonder how much "spread" occurs and how the colors I've chosen will blend. Looking forward to my next appointment at Margie's to find out!

Thank you, Margie, for a very fun and creative evening. ^_^

art & friends ~ {tuscany}

2011-09-11T23:51:00.000-07:00

from Miwako

This evening we went to San Francisco to have dinner with new friends from Siena, Vito and Dina. They are artists of a different medium ~ architectural gardening! If you desire an authentic Tuscan garden design, I would happily recommend this notably kind and enthusiastic couple, landscape architects and founders of Citera Studio. Dina also keeps a cooking tumblr where she shares authentic recipes passed down through her family. It's in Italian, but I find it quite soothing to watch one of her videos of how to make bread... I only wish I could eat some at the end!

They were sweet enough to courier a drawing to me, sent by our mutual friend Miwako. When I saw her illustration, I wanted to hop on a plane to Italy right away to stay with her in this beautiful old building. It was once a convent that has since been transformed into numerous apartments. I can already envision our little ones running around together in the grass or playing tag around the tree in her drawing. If I could go quickly, there would still be a blue sky and warm sun. September is the most beautiful month in Italy.

I've shared a small watercolor of Miwako's on this blog before. She has a delicate touch and refined aesthetic. I know she sent me this drawing because she wants me to move to Siena and keep her company... and it's very tempting! The power of her sketch is quite strong; she knows exactly what I love there. Maybe I can't move there right now but I surely want to plan a visit and spend as many idyllic days together as possible in the beautiful countryside. One day... arrivero'!

new traveling book ~ {portrait:landscape}

2011-09-09T02:10:00.000-07:00


The cover so far... I carved and stamped the girl and will add a title next.

We've been talking about it on twitter for a week, I've been bustling around on my end, and now ~ at last! ~ I'm ready to unveil our new collaborative project as it changes from bright idea to something we're actually doing. It's a new traveling sketchbook (a Moleskine Watercolour Notebook, to be precise) that has its own theme and a big line-up of talent ready to fill it up!

The theme(s): Self-Portrait & Landscape

Self-Portrait ~ Each artist gets a double-page spread to express their self-portrait in the broadest sense possible. The self-portrait is not limited to a bust or facial view, but can be abstract, representational and even figure-less. It is a portrait of the artist in whatever form pleases the artist or best communicates their character. I think it will be really interesting to see how each artist represents themselves.

Landscape ~ Because the book has many pages, each artist gets a second double-page spread on which to create a landscape of the area where they live. The landscape will be an interpretation of the artist's actual city or neighborhood (as opposed to a mental landscape or personal universe that would fall more on the self-portrait side). With each artist's unique style, it will be fascinating to see their interpretations of their surroundings.

I was initially nervous about choosing a theme, but I think the portrait : landscape theme is a fun play on words. Incidentally, artists are welcome to turn the booklet to 'portrait' or 'landscape' orientation for their respective drawings, but this is definitely not required in any way. Feel free to do what you wish!

The Talent:

Jessica Mack @BrownPaperBunny
Jessica Gowling @jessicagowling
Jeannine Saylor @saylor_made
Kye Sangha @KyeSangha
Anna Jane Searle @annajanesearle
Anika Starmer @aisforanika
Nicolle Cheung @heartleftbehind
Toni Rica @tonirica
Thuraya Lynn @thurayalynn
Juri Kosaka @juriko
Russelle Adams @HeedlessCeramic

and... room for four more contributors. I'm waiting to hear back from two more, so that leaves at least two spots open if anyone is interested! Just let me know.

The book will travel by mail to each participant and return at the end to me. I'll finish it off with an introduction, table of contents, etc. Then, one day in the future... we'll have an art show of collaborative books and we'll all gather together to eat, drink champagne, dance and have an art party. Perhaps Toni Rica will play guitar and sing for us! Doesn't hurt to dream, right? ;-)

The very simple and general "rules" of this collaboration:

1. When an artist receives the book, they have two weeks to complete their artwork. If life intervenes and you must take three weeks, then take three and don't panic or fret. However, a two week limit is more ideal since there are 16 artists that need a turn. Just do your best! :)

2. In the back pocket, each artist is encouraged to place a postcard from their town/area/country with a little note about themselves or their artwork. Since we have participants from many different places in the world, it will be fun to see their drawings as well as a postcard of their hometown.

3. Artists, please send me a message via twitter, email or this blog when the book arrives to you and again when you mail it off to the next artist. A list of the artists in sequence will be in the back pocket so it will be easy to tell where it goes next.

4. Please post pictures and information on your blog or twitter so that all the other participants can follow along and see the book's gradual development! We'll all be looking forward to seeing each person's contribution and the book's progress.

5. Have fun!

That's about it. If I've left out any information or you have any questions, just ask. I want to give a big Thank You to all my dear friends that are participating! You guys make me very happy. ^_^

mix tape artists' cards

2011-09-03T10:09:00.000-07:00

The Mix Tape Project is now winging its way to Maryland. It will still visit Canada, Japan and Kuwait before going back to Brown Paper Bunny's Jessica Mack in Australia. The last things I can share with you from the project are the illustrated cards from each artist, tucked in the book's back pocket. Enjoy!

Kimi

Good bye, Mix Tape!

thank you juriko!

2011-09-02T20:29:00.001-07:00

A little update to the story of my personal desk illustration from Juriko ~ I'll share with you the photo I ended up sending to her. I had to take one at night because of all the reflections on the desk from the sunlight coming in the windows.

She took the time to turn it into one of her beautiful drawings, making it light and bright and adding little touches of color here and there, softly showing just a few select reflections in the glass. I admire her work so much.

Please go see my desk as interpreted by Juriko on her blog here!

Some of Juriko's other paintings and works are in her online gallery here.

And... if you missed it before, you might also like the collection of her work I posted earlier this year. I always find there's something honest about her work that resonates with me.

I'm very excited because she gave me permission to print off her drawing so I can frame it to hang near the window. Thank you, Juri!

mix tape traveling journal

2011-08-29T23:25:00.000-07:00

Some months ago Jessica Mack (aka @brownpaperbunny) of Canberra, Australia asked if anyone wanted to join in on a traveling journal. I signed up, waited patiently, and one day in August the book arrived to me. Now I can share the story of my turn...

Each artist gets to fill out two double-page spreads with simple rules: at least one line must be carried over from the previous page into the new one and the theme is: blue.

Jessica's beginning.

I'd seen Jessica's initial drawings on her blog when she gave the book its start and the artwork was even more charming in person. Since that time, three more artists had drawn in the book, making eight images total to fold out on the accordion pages.

Helen's pages

Helen had sent me the book from Thorndale, Pennsylvania and her pages seemed to echo Jessica's initial art. Both had a city view followed by a countryside scene and were done mostly with ink and colored pens. Two other artists' works sat between them. (I'm showing you a bit of the pages they connect to in the photos as I think it's interesting to see the lines and shapes the artists chose to continue on to their page).

Sara's dark blue

Sara Carns of Phoenix, Arizona had very intriguing pages with layers of pattern, design, gesso, paint, ink, stamps and embellishments. Her first page accented twitter (where the project originated) and the second page addressed the "mix tape" theme of music ~ hence the lyrics from Dark Blue by Jack's Mannequin ~ which is a pretty excellent band to choose, not just for the blue-themed song but also because The Mixed Tape is another song on the Everything in Transit album. This mix tape book is definitely in transit, so that was simply brilliant on her part!

Liz's pages are so pretty and bright. You can tell she designs greeting cards!

Sara's work connected to the perfect penmanship and dainty decorations of Elizabeth Caldwell. I'd seen many of her designs that she shared on twitter or her blog, so it was a little thrill to see her familiar style there on the page. She carried a bit of the tweeting theme along, too, tying it to a cute children's song that I knew because I once taught it to a group of five-year olds for a spring choir performance. It brought me right back to theie little voices warbling as they shook their clappers in time and two girls clanged tiny cymbals as accent notes. Kids are so sweet. One of her little birds is even wearing over-sized heels, like when you're little and you try on your mom's shoes. That's incredibly cute in my book.

So, I oooh'ed and aaah'ed over all the completed pages, and then it was my turn. I had some ideas but didn't know immediately how to begin. I scribbled on a notepad:

having the blues

singing the blues

blue suede shoes

blue monday

blue skies

blue is the sky when I'm without you

ocean blue 

blue whale

blue agave

bluefin tuna

A picture began forming in my mind of friends at sea, in a boat at night, playing music. A little sweet, a little familiar, with a bit of that magical storybook feeling. {I hoped, anyway, that it would turn out like that.} When I studied the lines that Helen had left for me to connect to, I was very pleased that she'd been so generous as to give me the lines of two leaves in addition to the basic horizon. Looking at how they would continue out, it was almost immediately clear that on my side of the page the leaves could only transform into a flying gull. And so it came to be.

The night sky demanded a full moon and as I started drawing the mast of the boat I recalled that the Italian word for mast is albero which also means tree. Soon, branches were growing and the sail became a living one with leaves.

My blue vision.

Since the next spread was also mine, I liked the idea of having a less marked delineation and just sort of 'spilling' onto the next scene ~ totally appropriate since it was almost all water and I wanted to move on to a water creature I'm quite fond of, the blue whale. I have a soft spot for whales and the blue whale in particular. They're magnificent and swim most of the world's oceans but can be found along the California coast quite often. They're the biggest animals in the world and the loudest. They can hear for 1,000 miles and their newborns weigh 3 tons! They live 80 - 100 years unless attacked by sharks or injured by large ships. Unfortunately, they're also endangered. I used pencil and watercolor to express my admiration for these beautiful krill-eaters.

Now I'm working on my artist card to add to the mix's back pocket and then I'll send it off. I'm sorry to see it go as I've gotten rather attached to it! But it will be fun to see what the next artists come up with.

By September 1st, I'll send the book off to Sue in Maryland, after which it will pass along to three dear friends of mine ~ Jessica Gowling in Canada, Thuraya Lynn in Kuwait and Juri Kosaka in Tokyo. Another stop in Australia to comic artist Lisa McDonald and then it'll be back to Jessica once more. Can't wait to see the songs and blues they add to its pages and read the continuing adventures of the traveling mix tape!

art afternoon

2011-08-29T00:59:00.000-07:00

My friend Chiori and I met with our boys at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University this afternoon for the last day of the Art of the Book in California show. We ended up going through most of the wings, so got to see unique books, antique books, African art, contemporary Bay Area artists and of course, the famous collection of Rodin sculptures.

Here are some of the beautiful books:

Some of the Rodin collection:

A few of the modern pieces:

And a huge sculpture of metal that one could enter inside and see ever-changing curves of metal, light and shadow:

Iced coffee in the cafe', a walk around the Stanford campus (boys shooting ahead on scooters), a pause in the shade for sketching and admiring the architecture, and soon the sun was setting. A perfect afternoon, I'd say!

Quick sketch that I'll send to Chiori for happy memories.

my desk

2011-08-24T13:55:00.000-07:00

I'm very happy with my new desk!

You might recall back in the spring when I was searching for the perfect desk for my own little art corner. I received encouragement and advice from many twitter folk that helped me ultimately decide on a glass-topped number from CB2. I think it was rainbow maker Anika Starmer (of @aisforanika) who mentioned that a glass top was useful for doubling as a light table. Since my corner is small, I also figured the glass would help the room to stay a bit more airy and not weighed down with heavy furniture.

It's working out very well and I've been getting lots done there! It has a keyboard tray but since I have a laptop I use the tray to keep mail art and pretty things from artist friends around the world.

At the upper left you can see a beautiful "K" topiary drawing from Toni Rica (the fox-painted CD is from her, too). There's an etched butterfly from Jeannine Saylor next to the "K" and a cute print from Gizem Vural to the right of that. Gizem (@ponchikk) also made the girl bookmark in the lower right. Smack in the middle is the envelope of mail art I just received from Jessica Gowling. It is chock full of bison and buffalo! I'll be sharing that with you soon. @jessicagowling also made me the collage with KIMI on it to the left of her package. I like keeping the work of artistic friends close by ~ nice to have something tangible while we're chatting at distance through our respective screens.

Recently, @Juriko in Japan posted a drawing of her husband's desk and offered to draw others' desks as well. I had also really liked the drawing she did of her own workplace too.

I realize that with all the reflection of the shoji screens in the glass, my desk may be a little difficult to sketch.

I think this is the angle she normally illustrates from...

Perhaps I'll take another shot this evening when the light is different, and maybe add my Macbook there to make it easier for her (and more consistent with the drawings she's done already).

So fun to collaborate with other artists around the world. Let's keep creating, everyone! Now that I've got my desk, I'm ready!

a new favorite ~ {american buffalo}

2011-08-21T14:03:00.001-07:00

I've been painting and drawing bison lately.

Our road trip this summer took us to the Grand Tetons in Wyoming where we saw our first group of bison, or American Buffalo. Such a thrill to see them grazing on the high plains, almost as big as our car, so top-heavy with their hunky shoulders over tiny legs.

Slightly north, in Yellowstone National Park, we came upon this one grazing next to a mini-van.

And he answered the question for us, "Why did the buffalo cross the road?"

Think you know the answer?

A: To poop on the other side.

Is that inappropriate? Sorry, I thought it was cute the way he went all knock-kneed to do it. :)

The Yellowstone Hotel gift shop was selling buffalo-poop Christmas ornaments. Imagine, I could have collected this and made some of my own! A missed opportunity, to be sure...

Look how cute they are when they rest in a field. Reminded me of my bunny relaxing on the lawn at home. (And just to be clear, bunnies remain my #1 favorite. I can't be disloyal to my bunny.)

Hard to imagine them ramming and goring anyone with their horns when they look so tranquil, but the park brochures warn that it does occur. Yikes.

When we got to South Dakota, a young bison led us to our hotel in Custer State Park. A very charming escort.

We felt really welcomed.

Incidentally, they have a buffalo drive every fall in the Black Hills and park rangers on horseback do a big cowboy-style round-up of all the buffalo in the park. They count them, check their health and monitor the population. It's a big event that draws a lot of visitors.

Whoops, this darling creature is not a bison.

But he's so cute! We met him just outside Mt. Rushmore, drinking water off the rocks. These goats are another new favorite of mine because their mouths turn up in little smiles. They're just so sweet. But back to this post's main feature...

The funny thing about buffalo is that they have "extra" fur over their backs that are kind of like blankets. Some are really ragged looking (more like the buffalo that crossed the road's irregular look). But some, like this young fellow, are very smooth and pretty. I wonder if it has to do with age?

Well, I thank you for bearing with my bison adoration post. I leave you with a last look at a group of friends grazing in the Black Hills and another silly joke.

Q: What did the father buffalo say to his son when it was time for him to leave home?

A: Bison

inspiration ~ {champagne grapes}

2011-08-18T22:04:00.000-07:00

About three years ago I planted two grape vines in my backyard. Each year they've produced more grapes and this year we have the most bunches yet. They are sweet (slightly tart if you pick them early) and so delicious!

More ripening soon!

I decided to paint them to record some of my summer bounty, and that's what started it all.

Watercolor on a greeting card.

As I'd just sent off mail art packages to Toni Rica, Jeannine Saylor and Jessica Gowling, I decided to make a package for someone that was completely not expecting it ~ my sweet mother-in-law. She lives far across the ocean in Italy and I think she has been feeling a little lonely as of late. Once the card was ready, I gathered a number of other surprises to brighten her day.

I hoped to help her feel closer to us by sharing some of the things around us right now. My bunny was hopping about in the back yard, a joyful little creature, so I carved the flat end of a wine cork into a bunny shape and stamped it on a tiny card to fit inside a tiny handmade envelope along with...

... yes, that's a bit of bunny's fur. (She's shedding a lot in the summer time!)


The back of the card says 'bunny' in Italian.

I am pretty happy with how the bunny stamp came out. You might remember my first cork stamp that I sent to Jessica Gowling long ago ~ a 'Secret Agent Man'. Jeannine Saylor has also been making sets of cork stamps. They are fun to make and fairly easy as long as you keep your fingers shy of the blade!

Anyhoo... a few more things jumped in the envelope to Italia: a literary bison (to remember our recent road trip), some colorful printed and letter pressed items, a nice long letter in the best Italian I could muster, and some photos of the fam are now on their way across the Atlantic.

Hope they make their journey intact and give her a pleasant surprise one day soon.

dappled light

2011-08-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

I spent the morning in the back garden with a fairly large canvas and my paints, thoroughly enjoying myself. I thought to share some progress shots, but as I was under a tree the photos have dappled light coming through from above. I kind of liked it and almost wished I could add them on to the painting.

This is for a friend who commissioned it saying, "Just go out and create whatever comes to you! Sky's the limit! No rules. But blue did look good in my living room." :) I liked her direction ~ freeing but with one guiding suggestion.

The canvas was too big for me to get the whole thing in one photo. When it's fully finished, I'll try again and share the whole image with you (perhaps without the dappled light next time).

mailbox roundup

2011-07-27T22:45:00.000-07:00

I've been the delighted recipient of three mail-art surprises lately, from Jeannine Saylor, Toni Rica and Jessica Gowling. I really want to thank all three of them for the happiness their mail creations brought to my mailbox!

The most recent envelope was from Jeannine @saylor_made ~ a delectable envelope of tentacles and deep sea circular suction cups, undulant negative shapes, which she also blogged about here.

Inside were some of the most thoughtful items! Thinking of my recent road trip, she sent me a U.S. postcard that she made from her globe and one of her gorgeous watercolor silhouettes ~ this one of a camera which is perfect as I was almost never without my camera on the road. I'm planning to put them in my road trip scrapbook where they'll also remind me of the company my twitter friends kept me on the road.

She also sent me a little watercolor of a school of fish (since I work at a school) that I've photographed here with a little sketch of the view outside my window. Somehow, they seemed compatible to me.

We were also both on the theme of butterflies ~ 'tis the season ~ in my California fields and gardens I've seen many flitting past. Jeannine had an old Polaroid that she etched and painted into this natural phenomenon:

and she also sent some cut-outs:

Some of the other interesting items were stickers and magazine cut-outs. On her blog, Jeannine shared the clipping of a girl with a sewing machine, so I thought that here it would be fun to show the other side of the same page with its rugged-faced piano player. I could also definitely appreciate her mom-ism "blarg" illo. I've got some of those replacement-swears myself that will be fun to pass back to her!

And, a blue mushroom!

Now you'll know that I'm quite belated in posting this, because Jessica Gowling's envelope had a royal theme, appropriately timed with the royal wedding. I've no idea how she came to have this image of a very young Prince Charles but I'm so glad she sent it to me as she's got a brilliant sense of humor. Its hilarious caption had me laughing as soon as I read it. The washi scissors tape and the stamps were also a nice touch, I thought.

If you read her post about it you'll also get to see another royal envelope and a herd of other mail art exchanges. I met Jessica via Twitter and she started me on the game of mail exchange. Besides running her Etsy shop and creating nonstop, she is kind of Mail Art Royalty herself. I don't know how many artists she exchanges with, but I think she mentioned that she now receives something just about every day. That's a lot of correspondence!

This is what she sent to me ~ patterned origami paper, a note on a neon bird print (gorgeous!), cool stickers, cute foxes, a homemade "to do" list, vintage advertisements, a clipping of hunters and a bird bookmark passed on from Twitter friend, bird-rescuer and print artist Ashley @GaiaPrints.

I felt so lucky to get all this treasure!

Both Jessica and Jeannine are from Canada, but living very close to me here in the Bay Area is Toni Rica, who sent me such an exquisite set of delights. The envelope already told me I was in for a treat.

Cupcake, tea and my name card on a cute table! ^_^

Through our tweets and conversations, I learned that Toni is not only an artist but also a musician. The sea monster on her envelope is a singer, too. ~ la la la ...

When Toni blogged about our "great mail art exchange", she created an entire flickr set in which she staged the things I sent her around her house and selected close-ups of certain pieces to showcase just part of them. I loved that she couldn't resist drawing on the notebook I stitched for her with washi paper, rice paper and metallic paper.

Her presentation was so unique and charming, just like the contents of the envelope she sent me! Take a look and revel in the cuteness and allure of her drawings.

I was completely floored by the detail in the topiary "K" and fell in love with the cardboard painted cut-outs ~ the yellow flower bug and the spoon-and-jam tied with raffia! Some recycled cardboard with a little face for me to draw on, botanical book pages, a pretty paisley card on amazingly soft paper and ... a CD of one of her favorite bands with a painted fox! Adorable!

The music was so good I listened to it in the car all the way up to San Francisco to see the Sketchbook Project. I'm so impressed by my very first exchange with her. She mentioned that the drawings she made were inspiring her to create her own line of cards. I definitely think she should!

Truly, all three packages were glorious. I collected a number of things along my road trip to send back to these talented and lovely ladies, but am also making some new things to personalize each one. There's as much fun in giving as receiving with mail art. ^_^

clay play

2011-07-19T15:44:00.000-07:00

My little one came ricocheting up the aisle of the art store with a colorful box tucked under his arm and one of those smiles that lets me know I'm probably about to buy something. The box turned out to be a set of Sculpey polymer clay and his smile was right ~ we bought it and brought it home to play.

He made these little finger friendlies and I made some flowers and random shapes and attached magnets to them. (I won't share them yet as I plan to send some in mail art packages to friends.)

It's always fun spending creative time with kids as they let their imaginations go and don't hold back. His unchecked enthusiasm encouraged me to do the same!

in the forest

2011-07-15T16:54:00.000-07:00

I made some drawings during our road trip (since painting in the car was logistically impractical). Going through rural areas, spotting wildlife and hiking in the forests with my kids must have got me thinking how brave one has to be to go through the dark woods alone.

Later, we drove past a handmade sign someone had posted on a fence in the-middle-of-nowhere New Mexico that said, "KEEP YOUR PETS AND CHILDREN CLOSE! RECENT WOLF ATTACKS." Yeeps! Too scary for me.

sculpture ~ {south dakota}

2011-07-13T17:37:00.000-07:00

South Dakota was one of my many favorite places on our recent road trip. The land was beautiful, wildlife was everywhere and the art was enormous! The sculpture everyone hears about in South Dakota is of course, Mt. Rushmore. There are paths throughout the park to view the presidents from just about every lower angle, with the result that we have dozens and dozens of photos of these guys from every vantage point. It would have been neat to be able to climb up higher and see them even closer, but then we'd just have way too many pictures! ;)

One of the places you can visit is the sculptor's studio. A ranger gave a talk about the history of the monument and the tools the sculptor and his team used on the mountain.

One of the many scale models (used for reference) was on display. I was interested to see how much of the presidents' torsos were originally intended to be part of the sculpture. Also, I thought the models' expressions were much more animated and sly than the very austere final results on Mt. Rushmore.

In the model they look like they might be sharing secrets.

The sculptor's son sculpted the sculptor.

There's also a park ranger whose job is to stand in the old sculpting area and sculpt for visitors all day long. What a great job!

After touring Mt. Rushmore, we drove to the mountain sculpture that's still in progress, the Crazy Horse Memorial. This mountain is even bigger than Mt. Rushmore and is funded by private donations and visits to the museum. It's a project begun in 1948 by the Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear and the original sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski (whose children now continue to carve the mountain).

Ziolkowski's model statue shows how the mountain will eventually look.
Its current progress is in the background.

The face alone is nine stories high! It's the world's largest mountain carving. Another statue showing how it will eventually stand ~ there's a lot of earth to move still.

Its story is quite inspirational as it serves a larger purpose of educating and helping the community.

Also inspirational were nature's carvings in the Black Hills. We took a scenic drive through these rock formations on the Needles Highway and saw deer, bison and a mountain goat along the way.

There were cute sculptures, too. The little town of Custer was decorated at each intersection with bison. Each one was painted differently.

And there was a giant prairie dog on the highway!

Then, we got to the Badlands. Wow. It looked like meteors fell into soggy earth or a giant was squishing his toes in clay ... and it went on for miles! (or kilometers, if you prefer)...

Some of the areas were "softer".

I could see the dinosaurs roaming here. :)

Apparently all of these formations were sculpted by wind and water erosion. It was almost hard not to believe that more fantastic forces were not at work, but in this photo I can see how water could have carved the deep rivulets.

I was very impressed with South Dakota's natural and manmade carvings. Almost looks like a painted backdrop behind me, doesn't it? :)

home again

2011-07-10T23:40:00.001-07:00

Two weeks and 5597 miles later we are back in the Bay Area! We saw so much in such a short time that it feels like we were away much longer. Our eyes were tricked by the desert mirages in the Great Salt Desert; we rode the alpine slides and roller coaster in Park City, Utah; swam in String Lake in Grand Teton; had a summer snowball fight and watched Old Faithful blow in Yellowstone; crossed the Bighorn Mountains and got a speeding ticket on the high plains of Wyoming; were escorted by an American buffalo to our hotel (the State Game Lodge) in the gorgeous Black Hills of South Dakota; toured the Badlands and celebrated my aunt and uncle's anniversary with family in Illinois.

On the way back, we traveled the pioneer trail through Nebraska, did a quick drive-through tour of Colorado, then relaxed in a beautiful historic resort in Santa Fe. Staying at the Mirage in crowded Las Vegas was a huge contrast to the rest of our trip, but the room had just been tastefully renovated and the huge saltwater pool offered a respite from the desert heat. We wound down for a day in central California at a family house there. Our grand idea of riding ATVs on Oceano Beach got postponed to a later date when we got to the beach and realized we were just too tuckered out to race around the sand for two hours. Traveling up the coast, the landscape became more and more familiar until we arrived home to our bunny who gave us a happy welcome.

As you can see on the map, only twice did we have to repeat sections of road ~ one tiny stretch of the 80 going to the Mississippi River had to be passed again on our way out, and a southern detour in New Mexico lost us at least 5 hours total when we realized that the less-traveled road was seriously remote and we'd better turn back and stick to the freeway. (We'd traveled a lot of road but this area was different ~ someone had posted quite graphic signs warning of wolf attacks, there were high-alert fire risk notices prohibiting entrance to the forests and the towns that we thought were on the map were nearly abandoned/shut down.) If traveling east-west in the southwest, I definitely recommend sticking to the 40 or old Route 66!

We made an effort to stay in nice hotels (historic when possible) and to eat well since we were always sightseeing or traveling. We enjoyed good food just about everywhere we went, but found that coffee is better closer to the west coast. After an excellent cup of coffee in Park City we didn't have another really good cup until Santa Fe!

I took a lot of pictures and got so much inspiration from the land and wildlife. The sculpted rocks in South Dakota were very impressive. Santa Fe was an especially artistic and creative place with shops full of folk art and imagination. I'll share some of our discoveries and favorite places in upcoming posts. Thanks to everyone that kept in touch with me via twitter during our journey. It was a great trip that will also give me lots to work with for my Sketchbook Project ~ the theme Uncharted Waters should work out perfectly!

65

2011-07-05T07:40:00.000-07:00

Our road trip has been so exciting as we traveled the northern route across the United States through the desert, the Rockies and the Bighorn mountains, the high plains, the Black Hills, the Badlands and cultivated farmland. At last we reached the Mississippi River and there on the other side we found my aunts and uncle, cousins and all kinds of cousins several times removed, second cousins and other relatives. We'd all gotten together for my aunt and uncle's 65th wedding anniversary. Pretty amazing!

Couldn't find a 65th Anniversary card, so I made this one.
No scanner on the road, though... it actually isn't so antiqued.

My uncle joked that they never had a fight - when she would lay into him after he did something wrong he would say, "Yup! You're right. I did it!" and that would be that. They worked long hours together side by side for many years farming the land and milking cows every day at 4 a.m. and 4 p.m. They had five children and now so many grandchildren and great-grandchildren that I've lost count.

It seems to have been a good recipe for a long marriage. They were still looking very happy together after all these years. Now we're driving west again, taking a more southern route back to California. We're in Nebraska now, a long day's drive away from all my relatives and there's a sadness hanging around me. I'm really sorry to leave them all behind so soon and as some of my aunts and uncles are now in their late 80's I worry a little that I might not see them again.

We brought them a bottle of wine from the Custer State Park that had a picture of the State Game Lodge on it, which is where we stayed in the Black Hills of South Dakota and I put the "card" in a leather frame. Wishing a very Happy 65th Anniversary to my Uncle Marvin and Aunt Anita!

on the road ~ {nevada}

2011-06-25T23:25:00.000-07:00

Our road trip has begun! We drove 8 hours today, leaving behind California's golden hills and green forests and making our way well into Nevada. I was familiar with the California portion of our trip, but from Nevada on almost all of our trip will be new to me, so I'm really excited to see the landscape and its shapes, colors and changes as we go.

The desert's pale sands and red rocks made some very picturesque views. A small river ran nearby the road at times, providing a little greenery. The landscape changed from desert to chaparral and back. The sky was huge.

Sometimes the sand hills looked like they'd been shaped by a child's hands in a sandbox. Other times the wind had eroded the sand away revealing craggy, striated rocks.

I haven't taken photos in black and white in a long time and the last time I did, I developed them in a darkroom. It's quite different to take them digitally and I feel I have a lot to learn, but felt like these three photos communicated a little of what I saw today on the road. It was a good first day of travel.

Tomorrow, onward to Utah!

summer heat

2011-06-22T20:46:00.000-07:00

Did everyone have a happy summer solstice? We welcomed the first day of summer with quite a heat wave. In the evening we watched Act I of a 1962 classic ~ Lawrence of Arabia. Those poor guys running around the dry and unforgiving desert, fighting each other, getting sucked up by quicksand and dessicated by the sand ... it made our summer's day look positively mild.

Anyway, I thought it might be a good time to share my boy on camel with you. It's not a very recent pastel of mine, but I'm still fond of it.

let's go see the sketchbook project

2011-06-19T23:02:00.000-07:00

The entrance to Madrone Studios.

Inside: a white space and sculpted man.

First, you need a library card.
This lady ahead of me in the hat was a contributing artist.


Guests in line to check out books ~ before it got super busy. We just beat the crowd.

It was quite exciting to get our first books. My son wanted to check out my book first. So sweet ~ he's one of my biggest fans. :)

He turned right away to his favorite page.

I decided to start with books from my twitter friends Jeannine @Saylor_made and @Juriko. You can see Jeannine Saylor's book here.

My first checkout: Jeannine's and Juriko's books.

The first part of Jeannine's book followed a theme of "It Must Be...".
She used a really nice combination of collage and watercolor in this set.

In the rest of the book, she illustrated friends' Facebook posts.
This one made me laugh.

I love the pull-out card with the rainbow dress that she tucked in the back.
It went so well with the last pages.

Enjoying.

Juriko's book had her classic sketches of people, as I expected.
But I was also surprised by this cut-out window.

I liked the way the flowers came through to the next page's scene.

We were all sharing books. My husband read Juri's book next.

There was one page of my book that didn't get digitized.
It was good to see that it was actually still in the book.

Before we left for the show, we browsed the Arthouse site to find artists' books that we might like to see. One of them we checked out was a gal who lives in northern Italy (near to where we lived for four years) ~ Rossana Bossu'. I really loved her book!


Cover

This one especially reminded me of the cobblestones I used to walk over in the city.

One of the artists my son picked out was Pop-i-cok. He liked the cute graphics in her book. The whole thing was printed out with the pages glued in, making the book extra fat.

Her book also had a lot of stitching to add layers and texture.

I could relate to this page. I had a similar midway marker
in my book to encourage myself along.

Then it was time for Thuraya Lynn! Her Arthouse page doesn't have her book digitized (yet), but you can see some new works on her blog.

Cool cover.

I took snapshots of some of the pages that had interesting clear attachments.

I don't know how she adhered the plastic wrap, but it was very well secured
and gave a great effect.

This might have been my favorite illustration in her book.
(My answer to the question is: Yes!)

Back to the checkout line for some more great books to admire.

Left to right: Anika Starmer, Dosanko Debbie, Wendy Gault, Christina Norberg

My favorite page in Anika's book.
Her book turned out to be my son's favorite.

Spiderweb cover is perfect for the Lines and Grids theme.
(Sorry the photo is blurry.)

Debbie should print her book and sell it as a Japanese lesson book!
I wanted to take it home to study it and learn everything.

Wendy's prints = amazing.

I also liked the way she did her cover with the ribbon.

Christina makes organic drawings with pretty texture and movement.

Another brilliant Christina Norberg spread.

Only two more books to go.... are you still with me?

This post must be my longest ever! *whew!*

We looked at Alessandra Placucci's book: In Flight. It was one that my son picked out when we were looking at the artists online.

The cover was so elegantly bound.


Her book had all kinds of attachments to open and discover new things inside.

She also had many fold-out pages that don't translate
on the digital version at Arthouse, so we took pics.

I was impressed at Alessandra's complex and detailed style
that she maintained throughout. Fun to discover her work.

The last book we looked at was one that had been featured on the Arthouse twitter feed at some point. Here's Stine Kaasa.

And the growing crowd.

I think a lot of artists were there with their friends. As I went through my books I could hear conversations around me:

"Oh, you're really good."

"I actually did the rest of the book in two weeks."

"That page was challenging!"

etc.

We would have liked to read even more books but so many people were coming in we thought it best to grab some lunch at The Crepe House and let some others have our seats.

I'm glad to be participating again for 2012. One day it would be nice to go to Brooklyn and spend an afternoon in the sketchbook library to see all the great books I missed this time, like: Rhya, Toni Rica, Dochan Essence, Brown Paper Bunny and the fur-covered book by Jessica Gowling that got lost in the mail (but which might show up by the time I make it to Brooklyn).

If there are other books I should try to check out next time, do let me know!

wedding {handmade details}

2011-06-18T08:25:00.001-07:00

My sister's wedding was a small and sweet affair in the garden with many people contributing their talents to make it personal, pretty and (in some cases) delicious!

Our friend Cooper took the photos and another friend made the bouquets...

My mum made the vases and several family members and friends helped arrange and hang decorative bouquets ~ these flowers came from another friend's garden...


(The wine cork is the pull handle to open the gate.)

My mum also made 100 cups for guests to drink from and take home as favors. The "P & T heart" stamp was carved by my step-dad.

The sketch I made when they got engaged marked the entrance so guests would know they arrived at the right place. We also put a fancier version in a large photo frame with plenty of mat surrounding where they could sign in ~like a guest book~ with a special message to the couple.

I folded many origami cranes to decorate the tables and pamphlet-stitched the wedding program that I designed for the happy couple. I printed it on a beautiful, slightly metallic paper that doesn't quite show in the photo.

Our friend Terry not only cooked almost all the amazing food, but she also made the cake bites. These are the bride & groom bites that graced the top of the tower.

I don't have any pictures of the handmade washi paper pennants I made that hung about to lend a festive air. But there this shot of some of the photos that we hung about showing the couple in their younger years. These were a nice way to share some history and also sparked some fun conversations.

It was a beautiful and very happy wedding day! It was heartwarming to see all the people that cared so much and gave so much of their time and handmade contributions to make it perfect.

hello robot

2011-06-15T00:43:00.000-07:00

Last year I bought the materials to carve a stamp. A few months ago I sketched some drawings of things I'd like to carve. Now I've finally sat down and given it a try. So far, it seems like I might have done a good job, but the real test will be to ink it up and see if it actually works.

So stay tuned! I've got two more of these rubber plates to carve and a linoleum block as well. I made the robot with the idea to make mail art stationery. For the others, I would like to make some stamps to use on my Sketchbook Project.

And speaking of the Sketchbook Project, my book for 2011 has been digitized! I think the digital format is pretty nice and I'm glad I paid to digitize my 2012 book, too. It's pretty exciting getting to see the books by other artists up close this way. I feel inspired to work on the next book!

sketchbook project 2012

2011-06-14T00:41:00.000-07:00

I received my new sketchbook for the Arthouse Sketchbook Project 2012 the other day. Since then, I must confess that it has sat languishing and untouched as I spent all my free time on my sister's beautiful wedding. However, now that most of my duties for her are done, I will soon turn my attention to the blank pages that await me.

The topic I picked is Uncharted Waters and I'd like to use more collage, watercolor and (hopefully hand-carved) stamps this time, not just colored pencil and ink. Last year I was always worried about the thin pages and it affected my book. But look carefully and you'll see that this year's sketchbook is just staple-bound:

After hand-stitching 50 wedding programs (and even attaching beads!) I feel pretty confident that I could take this one apart and stitch it back together with thread/floss and thicker paper. The paper of this book is probably already slightly thicker than last year's, but I feel like I'll be freer if I dismantle the book and put it back together. Either that, or it's just in my nature to always try to make things more difficult... ha, that's probably it. :)

I played with one idea for the book on my latest mail art envelopes to @saylor_made and @tonirica, cutting out some ships from maps and letting my mind wander to imagine that which hasn't yet been explored ~ dreams? the deepest ocean? outer space?

I'm looking forward to starting the new sketchbook ~ I don't have an overall plan for it so progressing through and completing the project will be an adventure!

The Sketchbook Project 2011 comes to San Francisco later this week! Can't wait to browse some of the sketchbooks I've admired online. Let me know if you want me to check yours out.

thank you

2011-06-13T23:05:00.000-07:00

Thank you, dear readers, for your patience with me while I disappeared into the land of wedding projects. Thank you also for the many good wishes received for my sister's recent marriage! The ceremony and setting were perfect, the weather beautiful (after 3 cm of rain the day before!) and the bride and groom were very, very happy ~ as you can see here!

I took this photo of them and we chose it to be their wedding thank you card. Such a happy couple! ^_^

if: asleep

2011-05-31T12:59:00.000-07:00

Even though this sketch was done with student pastels that didn't blend properly, I still liked the idea of wondering about the two figures: who was the dreamer and who was the dream?

Usually a dream with a kiss is a good dream, I think...

mail art for jessica

2011-05-27T22:50:00.000-07:00

Today I heard that my mail package arrived to Jessica Gowling's mailbox, so now I can share with you what it contained. Because I had such little free time, I wasn't able to sit down and put together an envelope of mail art for her in one go. Rather, I got the envelope and kept it nearby for weeks and weeks, tucking things into it as they came along.

The envelope traveled back and forth with me from home to work to home again. I doodled on it whenever I had some spare moments ~ waiting in the car, waiting for the computer to respond, relaxing before bed. Gradually, the doodle grew into a scene of a world I'd like to visit.

At the same time, the envelope also grew fatter. This vegetable print card from the Earth Day celebration at San Francisco Center for the Book was one of the first things to find its way inside.

Potato fish and onions

Other items that jumped in were: letterpress prints from Earth Day, origami paper, a folded crane, a cheerful postcard picked up in a local cafe, and a sheet of paper that I made from the garden grass after I cut it one afternoon.

The final item was an experiment I was doing with Japanese paper strings. There are all kinds of different decorative knots one can learn. I wasn't too skilled, though. It took forever to get this slightly lopsided result!

This was my second mail art package to Jessica G. I was glad to hear she enjoyed receiving it and now I'm looking forward to getting one of her awesome zines. Meanwhile, we're approaching the end of the school year and I hope to have some free time in the summer so I can start to exchange art with more talented friends. Who wants to trade with me? :)

inspiration: maker faire

2011-05-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

I attended the Bay Area Maker Faire last weekend and saw many impressive creations. Some of the more spectacular or intricate photos I shared via twitpic. But one creation that caught my heart was extremely simple ~ an igloo home of milk cartons:

I know it doesn't look like much, but the view from inside was very pretty and there was a surprising amount of room. It brought me straight back to my childhood when my sister and I built clubhouses out of fruit crates and wire twist ties. This one is held together with hot glue.

Bits of sky peek through. Inside it was cozy but roomy.

It took almost 500 milk cartons, I think they said... we'll have to drink a lot and save our cartons for quite a while to make one.

Another friendly landscape, this one of light, air and cloth:

We walked through it, sinking our hands into the chubby trunks. Then we hopped about on colored squares that changed colors with our steps.

The fair covered many types of creativity ~ a truck to climb on with rooms built of piano innards to strum, giant moving fire-breathing sculptures, robots, crafts, solar powered and pedal powered rides, fighting machines and every kind of DIY imaginable. This was our second time attending and we found a few favorites that we remembered from before. My kids and I like building and shooting off rockets and trying to ride bikes that have been taken apart and pieced back together with whimsical (off center) wheels, shopping cart parts, skateboards and scooters.

I would have liked to sit down and learn knitting or felting, but since I brought three boys with me they weren't too interested in such things. If you have the opportunity to attend a Maker Faire, I do recommend it!

santa cruz ~ gray to blue

2011-05-21T23:11:00.000-07:00

ready to send

2011-05-15T17:23:00.000-07:00

At last! An afternoon to wrap up the mail art that I've owed for such a long time to Jessica Gowling, who is the Queen of Mail Art (and even has her own faux postbox in her studio). Here I'm sharing with you some little views of the envelope before I put the address on. Tomorrow I'll pop it in the mailbox and send it north to Canada.

No photos of the contents yet, though ~ I want it to be a surprise when she receives it! :)

mother's day

2011-05-09T21:33:00.001-07:00

Visited my mom on Mother's Day and brought her a big hydrangea for her garden. I gave her one last year and it has totally thrived for her, whereas the one in my yard is barely hanging on. There are still things I can learn from her. ^_^

Her garden is getting all dressed up for my sister's wedding, so we all showed up with ideas for the decorations and tried out tablecloths, runners, flower arrangements, etc.

My mom has made a number of little basket vases so we cut some roses from the yard and trimmed some greenery from another bush to give ourselves an idea of how the table bouquets could look. My sister was happy.

As you can see, there are also some origami cranes in the arrangement. They are symbols of good fortune so many Japanese American weddings feature cranes in the decor. I've been folding so many for Japan Relief (Intuit is now paying $1 each to Japan's recovery through the month of May!) and now I'm also trying to fold 1,000 cranes for the wedding. Soon my right thumbnail may have a little indention from scoring the paper folds ~ I hope not!

The wedding is a relatively cozy affair but there's still so much to do! I've laid out a basic design for the wedding program, which will probably be a simply bound little booklet with a washi paper cover and some embossed flowers inside. I don't know how to letterpress yet, so this will have to be printed on the regular ole printer ~ too bad ~ but it can still be cute.

I'm also responsible for the guest sign-in frame or book. The couple liked the quick sketch I made of them when they announced their engagement, so it may feature a more polished and colorful version. It's a little casual in look, but since it's a garden wedding it seems OK...

My mother has been really amazing ~ she made all the basket vases plus 100 clay wine cups for the guests to use and take home as favors. They're all glazed in white and have a little stamp on them that she carved to look like a heart, but if you look closely you see it is also a P and T for the couple's initials. Very sweet! My mom is awesome.

♥✿❀♡

As a mother myself, I received a beautiful orchid, a T-shirt with Naruto and Sasuke characters hand-drawn on the sleeve, two little clay bunnies with a clay bush for them to hop around, a rainbow colored ribbon and a song played on the guitar for me that was invented on the spot and had lines like, "Mom! Is the best in the whole wide world!!" and wasn't too hard to listen to. :)

❀♡♥✿❀♡♥✿

clay bunnies

2011-04-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

Mama Bunny

Yesterday we had lunch and a nice family afternoon at my mom's house. The last time we visited she was working in her pottery studio and helped my son and I make clay bunnies for our garden. Today we saw that they had gone through their first firing and are turning out to be pretty cute!

After the first firing, we have the choice of using acrylic paint on them (like I did with this chicken) or glazing them and putting them through a second firing in the kiln. Since the bunnies were originally my son's idea I let him decide and he picked glaze. So we're going to glaze them white, which means we have to wait a little bit longer to take them home ~ probably in a couple of weeks.

There are three bunnies and the mama is hollow so the babies can hide under her like this.

I think they'll be very charming when they're fully finished. Don't you?

Update: We visited my mum today and picked up the clay bunnies. Here's how they turned out!

earth day prints

2011-04-23T23:04:00.000-07:00

Today I volunteered at the San Francisco Center for the Book's Earth Day celebration. It was a cozy, low-key event with lots of free activities to introduce people to printing, book-binding, collage, etc. I thought the fair was going to be outside, like Roadworks, so I panicked a little when I got there and didn't see the street closed off. But when I got to the front of the building, a sign reassured me I was there on the right day: Free Squid Printing on Saturday!

Some cute letter pressed bookmarks were made for Earth Day and free to attendees.

Inside, I checked out the other booths before starting to work at mine (veggie printing). I went to see the main attraction first and found two large squid sitting quietly on the tables. One looked at me with a reproachful eye and seemed as though it might be alive ~ although at the same time it appeared too eerily calm for that to be true.

A volunteer was rolling ink all over the other squid. I felt a bit sorry to see them like that, but someone explained that the squid are donated to an educational science group by fishermen who accidentally catch them in their nets. The squid are frozen and then donated to schools for educational purposes or community groups like SFCB for making prints. I felt slightly better knowing that they hadn't been killed just for us. Now they would transcend death to become works of art... still, it was hard to escape their mournful eyes. I've printed with tiny squid before and didn't feel too bad or squeamish, but these large ones seemed to have a lot of personality. They did make grand prints, though:

Immortalized in ink.

Next I visited a postcard station where I ran a letterpress fish print, then drew on it some more and added collage to make a fine little card for Senator Feinstein to thank her for her earth-friendly actions and votes. Hope she likes it.

SFCB provided the stamp, address and everything ~ thanks!

Then it was time to report to my veggie-print-a-greeting-card station. It was pretty busy the whole day. We had potatoes, yams, carrots and onions for printing and used Speedball washable ink. Here's one made with potatoes and onions:

The dolphin shape is achieved by using a cookie cutter to cut the potato.

My favorite vegetable for printing turned out to be the onion because of its versatility and delicate effect. The concentric circles can be taken apart or stamped together and the texture of each ring can show through if the ink is not applied too thickly.

I had a great time at my booth and met lots of creative people.

At the end of the day I managed to bind a mini-booklet at another booth and had a brief opportunity to admire the items for sale by Maiden Hand and Gold Rush Press. I've come home with lots of printed goodies that I'm planning to start including in some of my mail art packages so I can share the bounty!

art for japan

2011-04-21T00:13:00.000-07:00

Everywhere I turn there are people doing something to help the people of Japan and it's very uplifting.

Here in the Bay Area, artists are donating their work to Bay Area Artists for Japan and there will be an art show with 100% of proceeds going to Red Cross Japan! This is possible in part because Mina Dresden has donated gallery space for the event at the Dresden Gallery.

I may have responded too late to be able to donate a piece of artwork, but I've sent them an email and hopefully I can contribute something to help the effort. Crossing my fingers...

I would love to attend this event and support Japan through the arts. If you're in San Francisco, try to make it!

Taking Flight

2011-04-15T16:36:00.000-07:00

1,000 cranes flew in to the school garden this morning! Now they have taken flight (via the US Post Office) to Students Rebuild where they'll become part of a huge art installation with 300,000 other cranes from around the world. The art will also magically turn into $200,000 for Architecture for Humanity to rebuild Japan, thanks to the Bezos Family Foundation!

Due to the outpouring of support, more than 1,000 cranes were delivered to my desk and I expect more will arrive on Monday. All of the "extra" cranes will be taken to Osh Kosh B'Gosh where each one will become an article of children's clothing sent to Japan.

A big thank you to all the children that helped surpass our goal of 1,000 cranes! We hope that our wish will come true for Japan to heal quickly with lots of help from people all over the world.

1000 Birds

2011-04-07T16:12:00.000-07:00

We have over 300 cranes folded so far. About 700 to go!

I taught the students to make origami cranes yesterday and they have been folding away with such sweet dedication. A little girl about 11 years old came to get a bunch of origami paper from me since she is leaving on a short vacation and wants to fold while she's away. Another little boy who is only 6 shows up morning and afternoon to drop off a few more rough little cranes he's designed from scratch paper in his classroom. There is a steady stream every lunch and break time of colorful cranes landing on my desk.

We are trying to fold 1,000 paper cranes to send to Students Rebuild because each crane received will result in $2.00 donated to Japan rebuilding. The most exciting part is that they have just announced a deadline, so we are going to be racing to fold 1,000! The kids are very cute, excitedly spreading the word to each other and making plans on how we're going to make the goal. We have to complete 1,000 sooner than we thought!

* ** *** ** *

I have recently been following a generous and talented ceramicist on twitter, Makiko Hastings, who is making 1,000 birds for Japan. These ceramic birds she is selling are so cute and can be used as chopstick rests, too!

Japan had another 7.4 earthquake today and there is another tsunami warning.

Every little bird helps! Please help Japan.

colors of spring

2011-04-03T12:26:00.000-07:00

Outside my window everything is growing. Grape vines are climbing, wisteria are blooming, trees are sprouting tiny bright-green leaves and of course, there are weeds poking up that have to be plucked. Color is popping up everywhere and I long for a vacation week to sit around painting and making art from all this inspiration.

This past week was a bit rough with lots of work and overtime and deadlines. Not that it wasn't fun ~ it culminated in a very charming day of art and culture at the school where I work ~ but my own creative energy was a bit drained by the time I got home. I just wanted to go to bed!

As a result, I don't have anything new to share with you this weekend. *sigh* But I found these watercolor flowers from the archives that I thought to share with you. They reflect the colors of spring that I'm starting to see around me.

Hope you're enjoying a good weekend and that the new week brings more time for art and dreaming.

Oh ~ one more thing! A twitter friend @jojoebi in Japan is holding a bracelet/necklace raffle on her blog that is open to anyone that donates to Japan Relief. The raffle ends tomorrow, so please visit her site and enter today!

Happy Weekend!

for writing home ♡

2011-03-24T00:02:00.000-07:00

Tried my hand at making fill-in-the-blank note cards today. I was a bit rushed on this project, but they were well received and seem like they'll be useful, so I'm pretty pleased. ^_^

My colleague's 19 year-old daughter is leaving home tomorrow to begin her independent life in a new city where she'll study music, dance and theater. Her mother was proud but a little distraught that her "baby" was leaving the nest. She held an impromptu going-away party this evening, so I quickly made this card set for a gift.

Naturally they'll call, email, text and communicate with all the modern methods we have today. But the note cards will be a personal item in her own handwriting that I hope will bring happiness to her family's mailbox. (I deliberately neglected to put any space for writing bad news or disappointment on the card. They're *just* for sending good news and cheer!)

The daughter is a very cheerful, bubbly and outgoing girl, so I wrote the prompts on the cards to reflect that. I was also thinking about what her mom might want to know: who her friends are, how she's spending her time, how things are going ... even what she's eating! I added some music and art prompts on the card too, since these subjects are such a big part of her personality.

I gave them to her with a tiny bouquet of colorful paper flowers. Each card fits perfectly in a pretty little envelope upon which I placed a Forever stamp (since I hear rates are rising in April).

My idea is that it will be easy to jot a few updating tidbits on a card, seal it up and send to whomever she wishes. Although they started out as postcards, I'm glad I decided to give them envelopes ~ if she gets inspired to write more, it will be easy to mail everything together.

I wish her good luck in her new adventure!

what he did

2011-03-22T23:53:00.000-07:00

inspiration ~ {jerrod maruyama}

2011-03-20T12:15:00.000-07:00

In my opinion, this is one of the cutest and most inspiring "Help Japan" posters around. Jerrod Maruyama is the artist and he has generously made this image available for download on his Flickr page so that we can all spread the word. I think the juxtaposition of the sad sun and the happy red cross, both とってもかわいい (very cute!) communicate perfectly the important change that a donation can make. Everyone's help, no matter how small, can make a difference!

Jerrod does all kinds of kawaii art, but one of my favorites is this one of Astro Boy. I think he should submit it to Illustration Rally for the Ganbare Nippon project. It's so uplifting!

Take a browse through Jerrod's work and decide for yourself what characters you like best. He has everyone from Dwight (of The Office) to Toy Story, from Speed Racer to Ernie & Bert, plus a lot of super-kawaii inventions of jellyfish, nighttime magic (one of my favorites), hot dogs and more.

If you ever need to smile, just look at his art for a little bit ~ that's a link to his portfolio. ^_^ He also has his work for sale on T-shirts, cards and such at his shop, aptly called Casa Kawaii.

gathering

2011-03-17T21:33:00.000-07:00

I attended the vigil for Japan in San Jose's Japantown, where the Japanese Community Congress raised $30,000 for the Japanese Red Cross Society during the short event! San Jose Taiko played a quiet and peaceful drum-and-flute song to open the ceremony. The leaders of numerous churches spoke to express their support and fund raising efforts amongst their own congregations. Next week there will be a funeral service for all who lost their lives in the earthquake and tsunami.

his silent action

2011-03-15T12:42:00.000-07:00

This story touched my heart, too. Thank you @s_hayatsuki for sharing it and thank you Aya Watanabe @vida_es_bella for the translation.

a little boy was standing in line

2011-03-15T01:50:00.000-07:00

I'm really touched by the generosity and altruism characteristic of so many of the stories I read coming from Japanese twitter posts. In the face of horrendous crisis, individuals (even children) are not just thinking of their own well-being. I keep reading story after story of strangers helping each other and people staying calm even when stretched to the limit.

This tweet (above) from @makiwi was the first one that I decided to illustrate. There are so many beautiful sentiments being expressed on twitter alone that I will have a lot of drawings to do if I want to acknowledge each one that moves me. But I will do my best.

Thank you, Japan, for showing us how to be civil and noble under pressure.

thinking of japan

2011-03-12T15:18:00.000-08:00


An acrylic color palette experiment. I was thinking of the Miyajima torii and the Shinto ideas of respect for each other, all life, our ancestors, and natural forces.

On Thursday night, I intended to do some painting after getting home from judo practice. I needed to work out some ideas for a large painting that a friend requested, and I wanted to start making smaller paintings with different ideas to see what she liked most. But my plans were interrupted by news of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Once I heard the news, I did not feel like painting anymore. I sat glued to the television and twitter to learn what areas were affected and to check on friends. I suppose I am lucky that everyone I know is safe. Some have been inconvenienced, but they are alive and well. Many live far enough south as to not be physically affected.

I grew up in California, so I am used to earthquakes. The biggest ones I have been in were strong enough to collapse buildings, overpasses and pieces of bridge. The shaking was severe in each one but I was never personally in any real danger. Some lives were lost, but the most I lost was electricity. In the Bay Area, I helped answer emergency phones at a radio station and prayed for people trapped in a collapsed freeway structure. In L.A., I helped return books to library shelves that all fell to the floor. There, I was shocked to drive by a three-story building that lost one wall. We could look straight in to all the homes as though it were a dollhouse.

I saw a video someone took from inside the Sendai airport, looking out of huge windows to the parking lot outside. People are gathered at three different story levels, watching the waves come rolling in. The waters pick up cars and shove them all along, floating past the windows. If I had been watching without sound, I might have remained more composed, but I heard the people shouting a familiar expression, "A-ra-ra-ra-ra!" ~ the same exclamation I heard as a kid for much lesser dangers, such as a flower pot getting knocked over or a nezumi hanabi (whirling sparkler) getting lit and chasing our feet. Hearing the expression again, for such a terrible calamity, nearly broke my heart.

The Japan earthquake is on a whole different level than anything I've experienced. The tsunami floods washing everything away make a double disaster. I am also truly hoping that the Fukushima power plants do not leak or cause further harm to a population already reeling from quake, flood and fires.

Both my home and workplace are pretty much right on top of several fault lines and there's a nuclear lab over the hill in Livermore. Perhaps it's because I know that this could just as easily have occurred here that I feel so gripped by this event. We try to be prepared, but Mother Nature is very powerful. In such a case, I hope we would have the resilience and strength the Japanese people have already shown.

I feel powerless to help in any substantial way from across the ocean. About all I can do is donate to the Red Cross and offer my encouragement to the survivors and deepest sympathy to those who were lost in this natural disaster.　がんばってください。

xo

Update: Providing some links for donations to Japan relief...

Red Cross
Salvation Army
Give2Asia ~ Artists Help Japan
Doctors Without Borders
Oxfam
Care

say it like this

2011-03-09T15:55:00.000-08:00

We've all been so very busy at the school where I work, so I took a moment to write my colleague a fancy note instead of the usual scrawl on a post-it or a bland e-mail.

When I found a similar response in my basket, it was such a day-brightener! Really, this made me inordinately happy:

I think we've got a new, preferred way of intra-office communication now. :)