Should I Continue to Blog or Not?

I've been wondering if I should keep this blog up.  Now with all these other social media platforms, it feels a little redundant.  But, I also like it as a slice of my brain from time to time.  So here's at least one more entry.

The election.  I don't really want to talk about it, but to say that it has given me a renewed energy that is surprising.  An energy to create and express and share.  An energy to not procrastinate but to move and activate, engage with others and put my own doubts and despair aside.  I wonder how long this will last...

Here are a few photos of things I have been working on.   As usual, there are cards being made.

In September, I participated again in the Luna Park Chalk Festival.  This year's theme was inspired by our residency at Lotus Preschool.  I loved working with those kids, ages 3-5.  They are so open and lovely.  And funny!

I painted this the day after the election.  "Peace and Love Fish."  Swimming upstream together, against the tide.  I wanted to wash away the connotations of blue and red.  I love blue and red.

And the painting urge continued to make this Taiko Garden.  The night after the election, I had to go to the studio to play taiko.  I imagined how the founders of San Jose Taiko felt when they started the group, to do something.  To make something beautiful to express all these feelings.

We have to get to know each other better in order for things to happen, but you can't get to know me if I stay quiet.

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.

  

Effort and Effortlessness

Again!  The months are getting away from me.  This post was due back in January when I finished working on a commission for Yuki Sushi restaurant.  

The owner and I had met a few times over the course of a year and half to discuss our ideas and concepts for this mural.  The story was about her mother coming from Yokohama to California.  After mulling it over for several weeks, I got the idea of fish traveling across the ocean hauling items with them from Japan.  

First step was to figure out my style and the fish characters.  

I like fish with big googly eyes.  

I devoted my taiko break to working on it, learning as I went.  I have used acrylic paints before but I would not consider myself a painter.  There is so much to know.  But I learn best by doing, and immersing myself in the experience.  Painting by yourself for multiple days is such a different experience to working in a taiko group!  

I'm happiest using my hands though - this is similar.  And getting to know the materials and how they feel and respond.  And observing how I respond to the colours and shapes that emerge.  Sometimes with glee, sometimes frustration...  I spent many days working on it.  

I admire artists' work that seem effortless.  I'm not there yet, but hopefully with time.  

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? 

Giving it time

I did these paintings year ago. I didn't like them at the time, they went up on the shelf where I hardly ever look.

But I looked at them today and feel totally differently about them. What's changed? My instinct is to say, "I painted these? I was a different person then. So interesting...

Artichokes on 7th St.

Where I come from, crazy giant plants do not grow on the street. I used to walk neighborhoods a lot though, back home, in Japan, in Oz. Looking looking looking. I started to walk again, around Japantown and found it is an amazing neighborhood. Everyday I see something *special* - one day it was a tiny elderly lady staring up into a tree, another day it was a possum waddling through rose bushes.

My favourite find were these artichoke plants, growing wild on the side of the road. They just grow here! I find that wacky. I'm from Toronto, a bustling city with a short growing season. Sure, it's green but trees and nice gardens kind of green. Tulips, sure. Artichoke plants - no way!

Somehow they speak to me...




I also found some giant globe artichokes on the way to Reno. Yumi was my model to show how big they were.


Yes, I do love to eat them too!

"Artichokes on 7th Street" 2008