Colour in Your Head

My sketchbook finally got digitized.  I think it's in Austin, TX right now and will travel with thousands of others as part of the Sketchbook Project to Atlanta, Toronto, Chicago, Portland, SF and LA before becoming part of a permanent library in Brooklyn, NY.

Here's a sampling:

  
I ran out of time for adding colour.  You must imagine it for yourself.

i would use a lot of yellow
maybe purple here

me
brother
sister




















insides ache from dark guilt for taking happiness for myself.













You can see the rest here.

Poems

I Play Drums for a Living

"When a corporation prizes those who are heroically overworked in stress-filled jobs, a siren song whispers to everyone else in the organization:  Make your job difficult.  Stretch yourself thin.  Stress yourself out.  And eventually you, too may be honored with executive approval." (Orbiting the Giant Hairball, Gordon MacKenzie)

More Sketchbook Project

Inner Life / Bottle

Eggs / No I Don't Want To Go Back to Age 30

No I don't want to go back to age 30
Don't want to go back to age 22
Don't want to go back to age 19
Don't want to go back to age 16
Would love to go back to 4

Sketchbook Project 2012

I sent in my second sketchbook a couple of weeks ago, for Art House Coop.  And haven't done any art since then.  February always seems to sap me of energy.

It is the "Encyclopedia of Whimsy."

I was born in Japan, but grew up in Toronto, Canada. 
I love to send mail (in envelopes). 
I wish I had a bunny.  I am a feminist.
Have lived through many bouts of depression.  Love quirky foreign films.
Love noodles.  And ginger.  Can't eat dairy.
Live for backscratches.  Lived in Melbourne.
Am in love.


More pages to come...

Wednesday Night Doodle

Encyclopedia of Inner Life

I'm slowly filling the pages of my sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project.  This is the second time I've done this project.  The first time I found myself rushing at the very last minute to put stuff down and not think about whether it was "good" or "bad."  This time I'm thinking about it a little differently, as a place where I can turn off my brain and let the materials go to work.   And find out what I think is "good." 

I just finished page 4.  I have 26 pages to go...

I'm addicted to Work of Art, season 2 (a reality art show).  The artist Sucklord just said this, which I think I can relate to:

"I spent my whole life developing myself to being who I am, and now at this stage of the game to push myself into directions that I wouldn't otherwise go into was interesting, but at the end of the day confirm for me that the voice that I have is the voice that I should continue with."

I don't know if I can say the same for myself and taiko, but that's what makes taiko special for me - in a different way from art.

Sketchbook Project 2012: Encyclopedia of Bachi (Drumsticks)

BACHI is the name for the straight wooden sticks used to play taiko drums and also the plectum for stringed instruments like shamisen and biwa.  "Bachi" is also loosely defined as "What goes around, comes around."  Drumsticks made their first notable appearance in Asia in the 7th Century.  Drumstick is the leg of a bird.  Andrew gave me the word drumstick.  He is a thoughtful and talented taiko player.

Also, a doodle that came out as I was watching the the tv medical drama, House.

Art Exchange 2

 I got a package in the mail yesterday.  It was from Megan - our art exchange!  She sent back my original doodle and scraps of paper.  (I added the stripe before remember to take a photo.)

Going to send this back.  So I just finished step 3 (Yurika - Megan - Yurika).

In other news, I just received my sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project 2012!  I have until January to fill it up and send it back where it will become part of a traveling exhibit of hundreds of other such sketchbooks.  Better get to work.

Warming Up

It always take time for me to get warmed up, whether it's when I'm playing taiko or creating art.


I finally finished my Sketchbook today! I'm so happy. But looking through it, I can see that I started to like the drawings about halfway into it when they started to draw themselves. I admit, I did have help for those ones - Adam provided some doodles and lines as my "launchpad."


It always takes time to get used to the feel of the pens and pencils because they respond to each type of paper differently. It also takes time to let go and just draw and not think about what other people will "see" in the end. This is what the sketchbook is for! It is for failure. And getting warmed up.

"Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett

Failure isn't necessarily a bad thing. Fear of failure is worse.

Sick

And have really nothing to say. My body and brain are tired with just enough energy for doodling with pens.






Halfway through the sketchbook with less than 2 weeks to go. What should I draw next?

Chance as a Working Process

I've been reading about "Chance as a working process." Try this sometime... Draw a picture of yourself or someone else, but don't look at your picture as you are drawing it. You might want to put another piece of paper on top of your drawing hand. Concentrate on the major lines of the face and really look at the features - the eyes, nose, lips, ears.

Ok, I didn't do this drawing entirely like this, but once I got the Chance Outline down, I filled in with what I know, which is shading and defining the texture and lines.

Try this with taiko too... Have someone give you your first 8 counts of your solo and then let go... After you have that "launch pad," fill in the rest with what your body does with that.

I'm still working on the Sketchbook Project. Only one month left!

Sun Motifs

Doodles in my sketchbook...

The 10,000 Project

This is where i sit every day to drink coffee read pull pencil lines across paper make grocery shopping lists mend holes in tshirts write birthday messages look at the curtain while peeling a pink grapefruit and think about how much i really like you.



www.arthousecoop.com/users/yuchiba

"Go deep into something..."

"Go deep into something." is what Shoji Kameda of On Ensemble said at Stanford last year. (Do you remember this, Shoji?) It was a forum on composition at the Collegiate Taiko Invitational with Roy Hirabayashi, Kenny Endo and Shoji. I was taking scratchy notes on the back of a handout. I keep this nearby so I can look at it from time to time - I love it.

These were Shoji's Guidelines for Composing:

1. Start with where you are, and with what you have. ("You may have great music in you, but it's underneath a bunch of crud.")

2. Be a sponge.

3. Never stop improving.

4. Don't get precious about your work or art form.

5. Find your voice. Be inspired by, not a derivative of. ("Is this musical idea really working, or is it just me showing off?")



I think all these things apply to creating art too.

I opened up my sketchbook this afternoon, stared at the blank pages wondering about the theme I'm supposed to follow... This is what came out. I'm not being precious. And I am trying to get at what's under all the crud.





My Canvas Project submission is now showing at the Atlanta Airport. It's the green one in the right frame - top row, second from the right. It's so small, but it's me showing. I don't do that, ever. Amongst cool art from all over the world. So different and interesting.