Kew Gardens

Today, I visited Kew Gardens which was registered as a wold heritage in 2003. This pictured glass house is the largest in the world.
I wanted to sketch cherry blossoms but I found its season hasn't arrived yet.
All greens and flowers (especially orchid) are wonderful. But I can't help remember that they can be alive only inside of the green house.
I was very much impressed by the botanical painting's collection.



This Pagoda seems important land-mark in Kew Garden. There was a Shinto-gate of Japan close to this Pagoda. Its stone garden was beautiful as that of Kyoto.











I have seen many kind of birds in Kew Gardens: peacock, hens, geese, doves etc.


I enjoyed the lovely carpets of crocuses instead.
Minka house's bamboo garden was nice too.



I remember, my grand parent's house was decorated like this when I was a child. It was a beautiful day. I will come back to this garden about the time cherry trees are in their full bloom.

Making of Octopus

Octopus

2010
116cm x 91cm

Japanese Painting (Mineral stone, Metal leaf, gelatin, on Japanese Paper)

Step 1:

The leg of octopus should be very flesh. Choose the one with brighter color in a white meat part as well as a cortex part. The patience in observation is essential while sketching.
Key Tool at This Stage: Patience

Step 2:

Enlarged the octopus sketch by photo copy machine and transferred important lines onto paper.
The Key Tool at This Stage: Photocopy machine




The materials being used at this stage:
Japanese paper, pencil, metallic leaves, gelatin and the ink for calligraphy.

Step 3:
With using a painting knife scratched the surface while the metallic leaves are still wet with. Some parts were broken by fingers to add fragile impression.

The Key Tool at This Stage: A painting knife





Step 4:
Split the image into 4 pieces and mounted them on panels.



Step 5:
Oxidized metallic leaves by pressing the sulfured paper with an iron.

Note:
Measuring the time and temperature are very important when using an iron.



Step 6:
Add some lines to enhance the tablets. Vertically stretched figures need to be emphasized to give the look competitive enough to the physically divided lines.

The materials being used at this stage:
Wooden panels, mineral stones (pigments)

Making of Cicada

Cicada
2009
116cm x 91cm




I found a cicada specimen at The National History Museum.
I thought the branch-like shapes in the wings look interesting.

I was wondering if I can make abstract trial with extracting the cicada’s characteristic features such as transparent wings and skeletons. I sprinkled some solution of alum imaging some part of cicada first. Then dye paper with gold ink.

The materials being used at this stage: Japanese paper, diluted alum, gold ink cake



I liked the freedom looking of dye work. I cut the paper into 4 and mount on the board after changed their order. Added some colors and tried to observe the fractals. I realized that the color works started this way are very difficult for me if I still want to stay with original motif, cicada. Though I enjoyed colors, I decide to withhold this painting because abstraction with colors seemed large issue to be studied independently from my current project.



Split the image into 4 pieces and oxidized metallic leaves by pressing the sulfurized paper with an iron. (The same technique is used in my octopus painting.)

Trying to enhance the painting with representing the wings…




I decided to omit the panel in the right end. I think I should dye paper first to enjoy this painting more. I wanted to avoid dull symmetry looking and that is why I added some wings in left sides but now the large blank space in the right side became boring

OPEN SEMINAR / Finlay

The Exhibition Torch:
To be scheduled either on 19th, 21st or 22nd. of April




==Emoticon ==

I sent an e-mail to suggest a title for a show (see above):
It's my emoticon (=emotion + icon).
Its left part is a face. It's a scene a lady found something beautiful
beyond the torch light and she smiled.

I sometime use these emoticon in e-mails when I felt something
but don't know how to say it ('v') even in Japanese.

I need to contribute more to the class in English.
Definitely need to study hard!!
φ(.. )

==To Do List as of 5th March ==

Several students who attended Finlay's seminars have decided to meet again on 7th April at 10:00, provably in the print seminar room (we will see later).

In the meantime, we are communicating through e-mails to decide what we will do at the future "torch show" in the basement.

To decide the show title to be printed on the poster, we are going to have a quick ballot at 10.00 on either Wednesday 17 or Wednesday 24.

The Exhibition Torch: To be scheduled either on 19th, 21st or 22nd. of April.
Size: from A4 to A1.

One of us, Fianne, created a time table (possible to do list) in i-numbers on format on a mac though I haven't see the contents yet since no time to print it out at the library today (my PC is Windows).

Cherry Blossoms

From the research essay, I found strong resonance to the concept of Carl Andre’s bricks, even though I don’t have any brick in my background. His tendency toward unitary form, repetition, and specific site, seems similar to my strong interest in cherry blossoms. I believe cherry blossoms are one of the most popular modules in Japan in which a whole made with small identical flowers. They bloom just two weeks in spring, and Japanese people get together and enjoy watching them every year. Under the full bloom of cherry blossom trees –at that very specific time and space, I feel like I’m allowed to refresh my body and spirit.

Walter Benjamin used to say;

In even the most perfect reproduction, one thing is lacking: the here and now of the work of art—its unique existence in a particular place. It is this unique existence—and nothing else—that bears the mark of the history to which the mark has been subject. (Benjamin, W. 2008, p. 21)

Benjamin’s words sound reasonable for me; however, when I see lives –any kind of lives whatever they are human beings or cherry blossom flowers— I just remember all lives are essentially reproduction of forerunners, slightly imperfect reproduction of someone else. I may be accused of stretching the Benjamin’s point beyond, since his words are for “the work of art in the age of its technological reproducibility” (Benjamin, W. 2008). But, I think reproduction have been the basic method to carried on lives in this world and I’m wondering how much we can be different or how much our arts can be unique in view of ourselves are reproduced lives. –May be I’m either suffering from the age of mechanical reproduction or just a successor of a traditional ontological sense of Japanese Buddhism (Miyazawa, K. 1922).

On the other hand, for the sake of live my life positive, I also can’t help seeking the meaning of beautiful individuals which is just hard to believe if they are merely created for another reproduction. I remember Andre’s words; ‘We live in a world of replicas, and I try desperately to produce things that are not replicas.’ (Cunnings, P. 1979, p187), Carl Andre might found such answer in a piece of brick. The secret of individual’s beauty seems exist in its detail – if we take a look at it closely, we may be able to find another universe in there.