Sketchbook Project Tour 2015

In San Francisco, with Seattle, Chicago, Oakville and Toronto to go!

The Sketchbook Project is touring the U.S. and Canada now ~ and they say it's the final tour. So sad! After this, all the sketchbooks will stay permanently in the Brooklyn Art Library apart from a few small excursions in the local Brooklyn neighborhood.

This past weekend, the mobile library came to the Bay Area, so I dashed up to The Yard at Mission Rock to reunite one more time with my 2014 book, 23 Haiku, and to check out some new books too. I decided to send 23 Haiku on tour again, in honor of my dad. We are coming up on the second anniversary of his passing, so revisiting our artistic 'collaboration' left me thoughtful but happy.

I really like the sketchbooks that have art on the covers. About half of the ones I received were elaborately designed and the other half just had blank cardboard covers. I was surprised! I think the cover tells a lot about what might be awaiting in the interior pages and pulls the reader in, making them want to open the book.

This one by Anita Stewart was interesting because she also attached a fine net onto the cover and then (probably) applied modpodge or other glue so that it became firmly a part of the cardboard and art.

Another cool cover on a sketchbook titled Astronaut. This one is by Jeannine Ortiz, who digitized her book so you can see the entire sketchbook here. The story inside was very much like the cover, with ink, Sharpie, bold lines and fluorescent colors.

Inside cover was nice, too!

Loved this book by Marta Selusi, Winter Dreams, about two friends who live in different dimensions who can only meet briefly each winter. The stitching of felt and paper on the cover added a softness and texture to the book, and the story inside was beautifully done.

I don't think she digitized her book, so I really want to share some of her interior illustrations.

Some elements of the story reminded me of my first sketchbook, Lights in the Distance, but Marta's drawings and the flow of her book are more sophisticated than mine. Still, the story of another world, friends crossing and connecting between them, a little animal companion... there were some similarities.

Another book with a comic strip theme was this one by Danny Ryba. The Penguin Bros. was funny and cute, but I had camera issues ~ mainly fighting the strong breeze that began to blow all the pages ~ and I didn't get a clear shot of his artwork. He does have some other sketchbooks digitized, however, such as this one here.  I liked his explanation of the origins of the Penguin Brothers.

Susan da Sie is an artist from Montreal and she made some beautiful pencil drawings. See her full book here.

And finally, we looked at this book, which I enjoyed for its spicy peanut sauce recipe and the stream-of-consciousness musings about the environment.

Only problem is that I could not find the artist's name in my notes, which is very disappointing. If anyone recognizes this book, please let me know ~ thank you! That will conclude our tour today...

Sketchbook Project 2014

Just in time, I completed my book for the Sketchbook Project 2014 and mailed it off. Alas, in my rush  to the post office to make the deadline there was no time to scan all my pages properly. I had to make do with some quick iPhone shots and I've finally posted them on flickr. 

This year I chose the theme, "This is not about me." On one of the first pages, I wrote this little explanation of the book's contents:

This is not about me.
This book is in remembrance of my father, A.W.S., who passed away in the last days of summer, 2013. We were lucky to enjoy one very intense, stressful, hopeful and sad year together ~ my dad, my sister and me united in the fight to extend his time with us. We all became closer than ever before, and one surprise he revealed shortly before he left was that he wrote haiku poetry. To me, they reflect his childhood in the Midwest and his time as a young man in Japan. I decided to preserve them here.

I selected 23 of his poems and arranged them by type: winter, life & love, summer and autumn. I'm very happy that some of my father's poems will be shared and preserved this way. We never collaborated on anything artistic while he was alive, but I think he would be happy with this little book with my drawings and his poems living together.

My book will be going on the California tour. I look forward to seeing it again this summer!

hello again

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

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

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

Valeria Poropat, Tatjana Odovic, Jules Young, Anika Starmer

Lisa Grabenstetter, Jessica Gowling, Jeannine Saylor, Kimi Kobashi

I'm sending the book on to the poetic Thuraya Lynn in Kuwait, who I imagine will add some mysterious black-and-white drawings of sly characters making mischief in their own worlds... we shall see if my guess is close or not!

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

xo kimi

book sculptures

I've always loved books, but now I'm falling in love with altering books, folding books, transforming books... All I've done so far is fold them into new shapes and photograph them ~ I haven't even added any color to them yet or experimented with scissors, embellishments or inks ~ but I'm in love with the process and the resulting shapes, texture, and transformation into a new geometry.

It was a little hard to transform my first book, as I've always respected books and tried to keep them from not getting bent and torn. So far, I'm only using old, rescued books that were destined for the rubbish bin. They're actually good books (I'm reading them before I fold them) which somehow makes me more appreciative of their new shapes. 

I'd been admiring Bronia Sawyer's book sculptures for the past couple years and was delighted when she wrote to me about my painted autumn leaves. She's always impressing me with the beautiful and imaginative things she does with books. Some of my favorite works of hers were recently featured on Discover Paper with an insightful interview. As we were talking together, the idea emerged to combine the two ~ books and leaves ~ and share our creations with each other. We wanted to put something together fairly quickly, so the time limit pushed me to get started right away.

With my first attempt, I've come up with a book sculpture still life. I liked the idea that the books are natural objects found in a surreal landscape. I would like to keep pursuing this combination of topics since this is just my first try and I've only barely scratched the surface of the leaf/book connection. Trees/words, leaves/books, paper/bark, poetry/flowers, seeds/ideas... it's quite intriguing!

The folded books have an organic, moody sort of feeling, as though they are cousins to the natural world (and I suppose they are, having their origins in wood, ink and ideas). Perhaps because of the stories they contain, they seem to have a rich inner life and a personal history.

After I folded my first book, I felt such an affinity for it. I carried it back and forth to work with me each day so I could have it near me and think it over. Then I folded another, trying something slightly different, and then another that failed (the book was too old and the pages too brittle). Finally, I folded one more in a taller shape and photographed them all together.

Bountiful Harvest

This book landscape reminds me of a harvest, which I didn't plan in advance but which hit me after I put the books and leaves in front of the big sky. (The background is a photo from our road trip last year, passing through Nevada on our way to Park City, Utah).

I love how dramatic these book shapes are, all on their own. It's fun to give them new settings and meaning. I'm looking forward to seeing Bronia's books-and-leaves combo and will share my next steps into the book sculpture world as I make further explorations!

spring art show ~ {yukie's studio}

Yukie's dish at the Spring Garden Art Show

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

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

Della's ceramic display

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

Yuuco's watercolor with Yukie's ceramics.

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

Yukie's pottery with Ikecoo's drawings.

Shingo's artwork with Yukie's ceramic creations.

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

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

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

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

a visit with anna

Last autumn I started a traveling sketchbook on the theme of self-portraits and home landscapes called portrait:landscape. Seventeen female artists that I met via twitter joined in and although the book's first stop was just a few cities away from mine, it soon traveled to the Pacific Northwest, the Rocky Mountains, the South and the East Coast before sailing across the Atlantic to the U.K.

Anna Jane Searle was the first artist outside the U.S. to receive the book and she has made a clever, personal and beautiful contribution! I wanted to post these on the proper portrait:landscape page, but have run into a boring technical difficulty that is really cramping my style. But! I did not want to let a silly glitch delay enjoyment of Anna's clean and elegant illustrations and besides ~ I figure that the first works from across the pond deserve their own post. Enjoy!



Anna's portrait page features herself as a bear in her trademark glasses and cute illustrations of her favorite things. Her blog, Annarack, is always fun to read and full of actual objects of a similar nature to these drawings, plus her ace artwork ~ amazing dioramas and three-dimensional papercrafts, very detailed and incredibly textured embroidery, fashion, handmade buttons, book arts and much more. Do follow her if you don't already have the pleasure!


I really love her landscape pages. She turned a local landmark into a piece of the British flag, effectively combining her region and country in one eloquent drawing of her location. She also drew Hadrian's wall, which somehow really makes me want to go there and walk along it on a sunny day.

She has already sent the sketchbook on to Valeria Poropat in bellissima Roma, Italia! I am sooo looking forward to seeing the Eternal City through her eyes. Valeria paints and draws at her blog Valeria Draws and her style is quite distinctive. From looking at her many female portraits, each a bit magical and a bit mysterious, I am coming up with a guess in my mind of how her she may go about her own self-portrait. Very curious to see if she keeps her signature painting style or heads in a totally different direction.

After Valeria, the book will travel to nine more artists before arriving back to me. At that point... we shall see ~ the book is becoming so tremendously precious as its pages are so beautifully filled that I feel I should think of something really marvelous to do with it. Thank you, my artistic friends, for your heartfelt drawings and paintings in our round-the-world collaboration! You are inspiring me with every page!

opening night!

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!