Aguri Uchida

I've just been sorting through one of my notebooks, it's mostly full of lists of things to do and doodles and budgets that I never manage to stick too:)

There are a few quotes from artists though, some poems that I've jotted down because I like them, and a couple of Buddhist prayers/meditations. I'm going to throw the notebook away because I'll be leaving Japan soon (woe is me) and I can't carry everything home:(

Anyway, I thought I'd put some of the quotes on here, sharing's good.

I'll add some images too from Uchida Aguri, a Japanese painter of the Nihonga style. Last year (before I started my blog) I saw an exhibition called 'The witches one times one' in Tokyo which included some of her work and I was blown away, the textures, the colour and composition, fabulous! The Nihonga style of painting is usually used to depict much more traditional imagery so it's interesting to see it used in a more abstract way.

Uchida was encouraged to "investigate the expressiveness of the internal states of human beings" by being advised to think about "the shadow of the spirits " on human skin.

Buddhist Prayer

May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind

be freed from their illnesses.

May those frightened cease to be afraid, and may those bound be free.

May the powerless find power, and may people think of befriending each other.

xxx