Newspapers

I got some good news from the newspapers about the Nakanosawa Museum show.

Live painting at the Nakanosawa Museum

Last week I was in Gunma, at the Nakanosawa Museum for a talk about my exhibition and a live painting demonstration.  Some old friends and some new.  It was fun to dip the brooms and the brushes into the ink and try a live painting.  It is always a question as to what I should paint and a problem of how long to talk.  People come, some come a long way.  I want to try and share something.  But I don't want to run on so long as to make people bored.  I hoped to speak and paint for 15 or 20 minutes, but it seems I rambled on for 45.  These things happen.  I hope it was OK.  it is a little hard to know from the inside.  But nobody punched me and no one fell asleep, so OK. 

 

I will do one more live painting at the Museum on the last day, a much smaller painting.  It will be in connection with a closing day concert at the museum, Sunday June 30th.

 

 

I painted on 2 sheets of fine cotton cloth, using good sumi ink, a fine Japanese brush from Kumano, Hiroshima, and a small broom from the 100 yen store.

 

Nakanosawa Museum slideshow

  My sister taught me how to put up a slideshow to share photos of my dragon paintings -

http://www.slideshare.net/jimhathaway/nakanosawa-museum

Nakanosawa Museum, Gunma, Japan

I was setting up my exhibition last weekend in Gunma.  It was a contrast to my Japanese nagaya studio.

To supplement the Yamanote paintings I have been working on some larger dragon paintings, but my studio is a Japanese rokujo - 6 mat room.  And the longest I could stretch out my work for paintings was about 2 meters. 



But the longer dragons were 11 meters x 2.2 meters, so it was quite a struggle to keep them in proportion, and I was not able to see the full paintings until they were on the wall in the museum.  I had measured the museum by walking, 26 steps, and measured the height by my own 182 cm. standing by the wall.  I was in a bit of a panic when the dragons went on the wall, wondering if they would fit.

 

There were some tense moments. But in the end they fit.

 

I got to do some ladder work too, setting up a Gunma andon.

Yanaka group show

A Yanaka art group I admire has invited me to join thier group exhibition this year.  It is in a Yanaka tradition I think.  People form an art group not because of similar art but from geographic location.  "All neighbors in Yanaka, so lets show."

At Kingyo Gallery, Sendagi, Tokyo

April 2-7
http://www.gallerykingyo.com/

A request, as it is the 10th anniversary, every artist should bring 2 stones this show.  In addition I have painted a new Yanaka Mandala.

Dragons and Japanese TV

 

My last dragons for the Gunma museum are colored. 
My daughter complained -  "No more Dragons Poppy! People were looking over the fence from the community center!!!"

It is the Japanese in her, wanting to hide.

I was on TV here Tuesday, but they cut out my best words. They asked me what I liked about Yanaka. I said, "Yanaka is full of spies and liars."

 

I meant it in the best possible way.

The same as Oneonta, my hometown, , my grandfather used to say, "Nobody buys the paper to get the news. Everybody knows the news, they buy the paper to see who got caught."

Tokyo winds

Nice cold day in Tokyo today.

I was working on one of the dragons outside and the wind kicked up.  I may have a chance to exhibit this guy at Koya-san holy mountain before it goes to the museum in Gunma.

It will be a busy dragon this spring, if it ever gets done.