Spring Cleaning

This past weekend I spent time clearing things out.

Considering the last post and my lack of energy, I knew something had to change.

This is what came out of me today.

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...

Nameless

Well, it's done.  And what I've learned about myself is that I eventually will fall back into working with bright cartoon-y colours.  This drawing is still nameless - I look at it every day though.

I have about 3 months until I submit my sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project!

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.

Pencils Teach Patience

 

This is a drawing I've been working on for a while.  Sometimes, I need to doodle and I tend to doodle with the same motifs but this time I decided to flesh it out with graphite.  Not with pen and ink and watercolour pencils as I usually do.  This is taking much more time...

As an artist, I'm discovering that my patience is short - I like the instant gratification of completing cards.  Even though I make a lot of them, I get a boost of satisfaction after each one is finished, and that does not take as long as working on something like this. 

I'll post again when I finish...

Going way back...

I'm working on a commission right now, a graphite work.  I haven't worked with pencils in a long time, probably not since university.  I'm enjoying going back to those days though, and rediscovering what I can do with them - looking at shadows and light.  There is a simple joy in watching the forms emerge on a blank white page.  These drawings I did in high school and in university, some 15-20 years ago.

Going back, I also found something I wrote in my first year on the JET program, I think.

What Money Can Buy...


Buy a house
Buy a house for abused women
Buy a center for homeless youth
Travel
Go to grad school and then what?
Will anyone take me seriously?
Buy mom a house
Send Satoko-obachan to Rome
Send mom to Banff
Send Davy to India
You must see the rest of the world
Study music therapy
Go to Australia and hang out at the beach
Richard has a house that once was home to 10 people
Davy tries to help the crack-addicted prostitutes by sparing a precious cigarette
He thinks about them everyday
Everyday I have to fight off the food
The squeegie kids are so skinny but they don't look glamorous
I miss Neil, my friend
Buy a cafe for Alka


I did go to Australia and hang out at the beach.  Alka now has a cafe!  Wonderful!  I didn't send my auntie Satoko to Rome before she passed away. 

Past, present and future mixing.  I love that. 

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.