Recent Work

This will be my last post today, I must get out and do other things!! Just wanted to leave you with some recent work, all inspired by being in Japan except for the last picture which is a birthday present for my friend Dave. It's meant to express my love of music and my need for that old Pagan magic of nature and stardust. I'm hoping many of these images will one day be available in my etsy shop (unopened as yet as I'm waiting until i return to england so I can get myself properly organised!).

Love to you all xx

More beautiful kimono designs to look at

The beauty of these textiles really does make the heart beat a little faster! Enjoy xx

The art of Itchiku Kubota - Tsujigahana

The two pics of the kimono in my last post are of a certain type of textiles called Tsujigahana. This type of work flourished in medieval Japan and was revived by a master craftsman called Itchiku Kubota after the 2nd world war. Here is a quote where he speaks of how he felt when seeing a small surviving fragment of the lost art of Tsujigahana.

"My heart was beating faster; I was moved, trembling and fascinated in the face of such mastery and refinement of beauty. For over three hours I remained transfixed there in the deserted museum hall contemplating this little fragment of fabric which seemed to have been on display in the showcase for me alone.The encounter had been intense, charged with mystery. I later thought that, if such a thing as reincarnation did exist, then the creator of this Tsujigahana dye would have been me."

It's a very time-consuming and complex art involving stitching and repeated immersion in the dye baths to produce beautiful glowing colours and patterns. It can take up to one year to make one kimono by hand! There is a museum dedicated to his work near Mt. Fuji that I hope to visit whilst in japan.

Sunday in Asakusa, Tokyo

Sorry for not updating this past week, still suffering some technical difficulties!

I've worked a 6 day week this week as it was open day at my school on Saturday which means that my English lessons were observed by lots of parents!! It was good fun actually and the parents joined in some of the games!

On sunday I went to Asakusa in Tokyo. Their is a famous temple there called Senso-ji with a big red lantern at the gateway. It's a fabulous temple and I bought a fortune there, thankfully it was a good one! There is also a market on a Sunday and I was there to look for a kimono for my friend Helen. There are some close up shots above of the one I wanted but it was out of my price rance unfortunately. I didn't find a kimono for Helen so I'll have to check out some other places, it's a task I look forward to with great anticipation :)

Great music - Thomas Western and Kirk Mcelhinney

Wow, this blogging is quite addictive isn't it?! I'm definitely going out for a walk in a minute, just wanted to point out the two links i just added for the myspace pages of two friends of mine from Glossop, or thereabouts, in England. Thomas Western and Kirk Mcelhinney, they are both wondrously talented so please check them out, and I can recommend going to see them live if you get a chance!
P.s. Sorry Kirk but I fear the sketch I've done of you with your guitar doesn't quite do you justice! xx

music graphics book

Not all the pics fitted onto the last post so heres some from the music graphics book. I do apologise, by the way, for the picture quality. If I was at home in england I could scan everything in, but here in Japan I have very little equipment (and stuff in general although my book collection is growing alarmingly - how will I ever carry them all home!), so I'm using my little digital camera. Maybe when i get home I'll scan everything and repost!
Have a great day everyone xx

September in Japan

Hello everyone this weekend I survived a typhoon and an earthquake!!! ok, ok, it was only a small earthquake and the typhoon passed me by while I slept, but still!

The weather has cooled a little now and I plan to go for a walk soon, I just wanted to add some new pics first of some nice books I bought a couple of days ago in the bookshop at Yokosuka Chuo.

some more of my work

Ok, while my computer is still working I'll post some more of my work too.

The first one is partly a self-portrait, but more how i'd like to look than the reality, lol.

the 2nd one is my local beach in Kurihama, Japan. I like to go and sit and read on the beach, it's very quiet which is a rare find in japan.

The 3rd one was ispired by watching King Arthur, i used to love reading books about those times years ago when I lived in wales. My favourite book in that genre, and one of my faves anyway actually, is 'The mists of Avalon' by Marion Zimmer Bradley, it's a beautiful read and is full of that old pagan magic. I shall go add it to my books list I think.

xxx

putting a smile on my face

Argggh, it's just taken me ages to get onto my own blog!! My computer keeps crashing and now I'm a little grumpy, good job i have the wonderful Laura marling to listen to to cheer me up. My friend, Dave, posted me the cd from England and I love it! For those of you who have'nt heard her she's a fabulous singer songwriter from England. She's been nominated for the Mercury music prize, which i think happens tonight, so good luck with that Laura. You can check her out at http://www.lauramarling.com/ Did I mention that she's only 18!!!!

The other thing that's put a smile on my face today is an email from the very talented catherine Campbell at myfolklover. I have her blog listed in my inspirations list and she was kind enough to reply to a comment i made about her work.

I've put some of my fave pieces of Catherines work on now above. I know that most people will have come across her already but I make no apologies as she's great!!

xxx

Japan Sketchbook

Hello world !!!

Hello, welcome to my blog!

I am a blogging virgin so please be gentle with any comments you wish to make!

I'm from England but I'm currently living in Japan (for 10 months) teaching English at 2 elementary schools. This means i spend most of my working day singing songs to incredibly cute children.

I studied textiles at university which I absolutely loved, by the 3rd year I was dreaming textiles and design and colour!! A lack of space and equipment has meant that I haven't done any work on fabric since uni, 3 years ago, but I still draw and paint.

I think I was suffering from artists block in the year before I came to Japan, I hadn't really done much work for a while but I find myself increasing inspired to be creative again here and I can't tell you how great that feels, well, I could try, but you probably know already if you're at all creative yourself, things go in cycles.

One of the things that's inspired me the most is all the artist blogs out there which I've only just discovered, this is a whole new world for me that I had'nt realised existed until recently, so I'm very excited and I feel drawn to participate, hence this, my 1st blog!!!

I intend to share lots of work with you here and eventually get an etsy shop, another source of inspiration I've just discovered.

Anyway, enough talking for now, here's some of the work from my sketchbook in Japan.