TaikoCat has 9 Lives

A couple of months ago, I was driving down Taylor Street and saw TaikoCat (that I painted in 2012) on a truck.  It turns out that a car was t-boned and it came up onto the curb, knocking the box over!  Luckily the people were ok, but the box didn't make it.  

At first I felt really sad, but I said good-bye and went on my way.  People suggested that I go down to the city offices and demand to get TaikoCat so I could keep her.  I didn't do this.  I knew that the artwork on these boxes were impermanent - they were subject to the elements, taggers and I guess cars.  

I was grateful that she stayed up on that corner for 4 years, welcoming people to Japantown.  And that people all over have asked for TaikoCat t-shirts, spreading her happiness.  It's been an amazing few years.

The Japantown Business Association and Artbox Project SJ moved quickly, however, and asked me to bring TaikoCat back!  TaikoCat has 9 lives!

TaikoCat has some new friends now.  TaikoBunny and TaikoPuppy.  (Or TaikoDog? The name hasn't stuck yet.)  And her surroundings have changed quite a bit from when she was standing outside an open lot.

All day long when my assistant Syl and I were painting, people would stop and say "Thank you for beautifying our neighborhood!"  Or, "So cute!"  I am so happy that it makes people smile.

This one makes me giggle: TaikoBunny wearing a TaikoCat t-shirt.  She's a baby so not quite big enough to hold bachi.

If you want to keep reading, here's a little bit more.  TaikoCat was inspired by "maneki neko" which means "beckoning cat."  It has an upright paw which looks like it's waving, but in Japanese culture this is the gesture used to say "come here" (they don't use the index finger like we do here).  So maneki neko brings good luck to its owner.  TaikoCat belongs to the community, so hopefully she brings good luck to everyone.

  

Late Bloomers

I went to go and see the artichokes on 7th Street today.  If you don't know, I'm kind of obsessed with them.  (Previous blogposts here.)

I was surprised to find some blooms amongst dried up flowers on one of the plants, because I think they normally bloom in the summer.  Hello late bloomers!

I very much relate to late bloomers.

Wikipedia says, A late bloomer is a person whose talents or capabilities are not visible to others until later than usual.

And may I add, not just to others, but to the self?

I remember learning in my art class that the painter Henri Rousseau was a late bloomer - he didn't start painting until he was in his 40s.  Interesting that I held onto that tidbit of info...  Looking him up now, I found this painting of a bunny!  Rousseau claimed he had "no teacher other than nature."

Here is the classic, "The Dream."  I wonder if he liked artichokes...

TaikoCat

Remember this?

I had no idea that it would cause such a commotion.  People like cats!  People like taiko!  And apparently people love cats playing taiko!  I never intended this to happen, but I've opened an online t-shirt store selling TaikoCat t-shirts.  TaikoCat has her own identity now.

I love how excited people get when they wear their t-shirts.  TaikoCat bringing happiness across the land!  I'm very pleased.

Luna Park Chalk Art Festival

I've been wanting to participate in the Luna Park Chalk Art Festival for years, but somehow my taiko schedule never seemed to line up with it.  It did this year, hooray!

Years ago I used to help artist friends with their ginormous squares at the San Rafael Streetpainting Festival.  I learned a lot about working with chalk, while an audience watches you and the sun beating down on your back.  This was my first solo square.  I had always just been an assistant before.

I love that the festival promotes artistic diversity - professional artists and kids working side by side.  You can chat with the artists while they work and chalk swapping is highly encouraged.  I traded my dark blues for greens with the young girl drawing a TARDIS beside me.

After the festival, nature takes its course and the art fades away or is washed away by the rain. The impermanence of the art makes it even more special.

Thank you to the festival organizers for a wonderful event. 

Tottoro playing taiko initial sketches.

First step - put something down for people to look at.

I had some helpers who filled out the sky and grass.

The hira daiko trampoline idea came from someone who commented on my sketches on Facebook.

"Um, what happened...?"

"Um, how do we....?"

Why I haven't posted in 3 months...

Unpainted utility box at the corner of 7th and Taylor Streets in San Jose.  Soon to become part of the SJ Art Box Project.

Maneki Neko, Taiko style.

After the first day of painting.

Koi fish.

Well, this is part of the reason.  Also, I've been madly making cards!

Since I last blogged, I've made 612 cards.  Do I tire of it?  I still can't wait to get back to my desk to get back to cutting and pasting and rummaging through papers and fabrics.

Something I wrote down a few months ago:

"What do you do when you have a piece of material that you think is ugly?  What do you do with a piece of paper that has scribbles or rips on it?  What do you do with something that is cheap or old?"

This is the game I play with myself when making cards - how do I make these things part of the composition?  And manipulate my eyes to make something I want to throw away, into part of something I want to share? 

Japantown Mural Project

Tamiko Rast of Rasteroids Design asked me if I would like to submit a piece for the Japantown Mural Project.  How exciting to be one of 50 artists who would have their work blown up and displayed right in Jtown!  The idea for this work had been percolating in my mind for a while now, maybe several months, maybe a couple of years so I was happy to be able to put my hands and paper to work. (Tamiko designed the blue background.)

It's entitled Family Portraits ~

Chance and fun are two major elements of this work. Found objects comprise the materials, whether they be scraps of rescued paper, fabrics, or leaves found on walks in the neighborhood. Life is given to small things in this way that are usually overlooked. Putting these together into patterns of repetition and variation is like both creating and solving puzzles; trying to find a balance in the arrangements of pieces.

The circles are like people, in that they are comprised of layers. They are arranged in groupings or stand alone, but all have their place - much like in a community.

If you look carefully there are 2 taiko "clues" in there...

I think my favourite is the first big one on the top left.  Amidst the fun and busy, I think I'm still drawn to those that stand alone.

I Like Dots

Adam calls me the "dot girl." I like dots and circles.

They're everywhere! I went to visit the artichokes yesterday and realized that I've been through at least a whole cycle of their lives now - growth, blooming and dying. I started to look around for other things to look at (I know that sounds strange).






Dots!

Out of curiosity, I found this Doodle Decoder which ways:

FLOWERS & CURVES

Peace, love and understanding are part of flower power, right? Friendly, sociable people often draw these things. Koren also notes that they're "motifs used extensively by social workers." Ever thought about being a counselor?

Interesting...


"You and Me" (circa 2002)
Oil, 30"x36"

A Good Day

I've been drawing lots of sun motifs lately. I need sunshine. Where I grew up, you can go weeks and weeks in grey blah-ness. I have SAD, I don't like grey. One day soon, I'll talk more about this.



Today was a good day. It was sunny and warm. Walking home from work I saw this scene. I don't know why, but I was captivated by the man fixing the Buddhist Church parking lot sign. It reminded me of my trip to Boracay, in the Philippines when I visited an artist's studio there ten years ago. It was basically a shack, without even 4 walls. But every morning the artist was out sweeping the yard out in front, and his works laid out carefully for passers by to see.


Adam and I were talking about memory last night - what things we remember, and what things we don't. I remember scenes that made me change who I am, decide things, come to realizations. (I'm terrible at remembering movies or tv shows, although that means I can watch the same ones over and over again!)

I remember thinking that I really admired how much care he took of his space, no matter how bare and simple.


This is my space. Quite simple too... Full of lots of little bits, mostly paper. I'm trying to appreciate where I live, even if the sun doesn't always get in.

Home

Home is on my mind a lot lately.

Like, where is my home? I haven't lived in Toronto since 1995. I haven't lived in any one place for more than 3 years at a time, really.



When I lived in Japan, I thought it was so weird that people put so much into their cars - decorations, slipper trays, fancy cup holders. But then I realized that it was because in most households in Japan, there is no privacy. People make their cars their "home."

I think I do that with my art space...

Although there's been times when that home was a sarong, some pencil crayons and glue.

1. My first place in Toronto, when I was a U of T student.
2. Suisan Fisheries School, Tokushima, Japan
3. Tokushimakita High School, Tokushima, Japan (Look for the stuffed moose and beaver.)
4. Housesitting, Melbourne, Australia (Oh, Canadian flag here too!)
5. Campground, Darwin, Australia
6. Takoma Park, Maryland
7. Cabin in the mountains, Guerneville, California
8. Sebastopol, California (I shared this space with a writer. It was across the street from the cemetary.)



















I like that my current home has sunshine and taiko. I might stay here awhile.