.....and whiter.......

went down to the beach
green-out underwater
and
totally whitened-out abovewater

had a fun, mystical swim


all these wandering about will
one day feed my artsy bug

greener, blue-er, watery-er.......

things are getting greener here



very alive
like
"we'regonnatakeoveryourbloodylittletown" alive




been swimming in ocean for few days
could be a scary experience for someone with imagination
active and vivid (and a bit morbid)
like myself because


....it's dark in there.....

.....there's something in there i swear.......


....anything...can.......happen.......





trick is
not to panic

panic can grow in a matter of seconds in water
detecting it before its conception
is the key



but there's always a nice option of
outdoor swimming pool

they were doing their excellent job
polishing up "my" pool----



one of the photo i took in the pool back in 2000
this is, underwater

water so clear and so still
picture me holding my breath
(and a disposable camera)
making no ripple

(more pics of this series on

this page



honestly, i fear if me or my future works could
ever surpass these pics
(now that's honest!)

but i must keep on



can you tell i have a bit of hard time working on stuff
during summer?

season's greetings: the summer solstice

dropping by
to
say hello

i am (supposedly)
writing few articles for a paper
dead line,
the day before yesterday


happy
summer's day
its coming
right....
about.....
now...



zzzzzzz................

mamacita from northpole

firstly:
i blogged on
sado island

i visited there few yrs back
and had some unforgettable few days
i hope i did succeed in capturing the
"unforgattable-ness" in my pics

(elusive concept, tends to be)

click here
to jump there




mama bear done!!

crayon/ pastel/ colored pencil on
reverse side of used recycled paper

(sounds eco like hell)


i think i succeeded at zen and art of
non-perfectionist-ism

repeated my kind of prayer which goes:

let that be easy
let that be eeeasy


doesn't she look like
she's writing us spoiled japanese
what's happening in her domain?


hasta
manana


art process

polar bear cell division

a quick greetings from
webmaster pomo



and the bear update


practicepracticepractice...

polar mama bear
in a cell division process



bear photo: norbert rosing
national geographic dec.'00

be back soon with more progress...
mucho gracious



additional note on jan.2010:
the above bear drawings, originally for a japanese blog, which was to be a part of paper issued locally, and was to depict the spoiled "poster child" polar bear mama and even more spoiled kids of hers, has been terminated, due to reasons blog author won't even begin to bother to explain, and you most likely care not that much to know. thank u for those of you who came by.

tonight's the night......

so tonight....





i am gonna

knock down the polar bear (project)

at least i will tackle with it
with its completion in mind


let's see, if this helps

the power of peer-pressure,
virtual kind



additional note on jan.2010:
the above-mentioned "polar mama bear project", which was for a japanese blog, which was to be a part of paper issued locally, and was to depict the spoiled "poster child" polar bear mama and even more spoiled kids of hers, has been terminated, due to reasons blog author won't even begin to bother to explain, and you most likely care not that much to know. thank u for those of you who came by.

could that be....brian?

i updated my website
with some new pics on wearable art page



i keep losing pics from my previous post
"making of brian jones tee"

thought it was me at first
but..................


could that be.... brian??


below,
few pics from mid 80's when i lived
pretending i was in london, u.k.
1966

let me dream if i want to


red kitchenette



one room apartment with
every element from the decade thrown in



amount of light usually required
(no ecological cause in mind)



gotta
get
to
wok

inspiration source: a dead bird

it is around the time i tack a
sheet of paper on a wall

that i begin to live
with a wing in my head
24-7


you can no longer get the
whole thing of me to respond

i'm gone
halfway or further


below:
still in a stage of wireframe drawing
(analog kind)

here, i am
just trying to capture some general movement
eventually, if i'm lucky,
i will begin to see the shapes and lines on paper
for me to trace and claim as my masterpiece



on-going, in parallel

practice drawing
to get the feel of how wings look

i pick the ones appeal to me on a "wow" level
and later, will try to exaggerate the "wow" elements

(photo: kea shot by Annie Griffiths Belt, national geographic, dec.'00)



probably the origin of inspiration
kitaibaragi, '99



and the first practice on the wing thing (incomplete)
back then i had no plan of making a dress out of this
haven't even started to mess with fabric dye



same bird, the same day

she was there for many winter months
(so was i)
lay there in dry, cold air



my father was slowly departing then
many afternoons i sat by her and
aligned myself to the calm






art process

projects growing almost by themselves

i realized this afternoon that
i accidentally removed pics from my previous post late last night
i almost missed my job interview today as
i had to fix it right away

obsessive
compulsive
perfectionism
(why would i wanna label myself)


now that i must work on bear character
i became eager to do the wing dress
that means
if i have a deadline (as i do) for
the project bear
command me to work on
the dress project


whatever the theory

here's what i have in my
cerebral image storage
(in 'pending' file)
of the wing dress to be

i draw this kind of stuff to
1. solidify what is forming in my head
2. encourage me to get into a looooong process ahead

think i achieved the above objectives
but i totally lack objectivity now on
whether you can "see" the image through this drawing



dye color would be
"blue black"
(with burgundy-ish trim around neck)

dress design would be
very simple

while deciding on the shape
i looked through ebay
(under "knit dress")

that way, i get to view through
many different dresses
not just what they wanna sell this season

and get my idea button activated
(not to duplicate, mind you)

(artist's pride speaking)
(hey don't label me)


upclose



often
the first plan would end up
becoming a finished piece that looks
nothing like what you planned first

let's see what's gonna happen
along the way


now
bear time

(previously posted: "charactor development")

i did some rough sketches
just to make me feel better

and actually started to like this
very simplified form

except that
these don't look like polar bear



except for this one



think i am getting 'dry eye'
probably due to compulsive blogging

(am i labeling me again)


thankyu and good night



art process

oh, it was "e" not "o" (pattern-making continued)

i've always thought that the word "character" comes with "o"
between t and r

(misspelled the title of the previous post)

it's fascinating to know i could be 'wrong' all this time


for a longest time i
felt compelled to be 'presentable'-fearing for the sake of survival
yet simultaneously, unsuppressable pressure not to care tugged at me from within

do you know what happens when you stand in the middle
while pulling yourself in 2 opposing directions?


finally
the latter beating the former
and i can see the happilly-ever-after's
on horizon
with me being blissfully
untamed and out of whack
..........

i realized just now
i am too tired to get into this (line of subject)
i got into this out of
exhaustion bravado





that wasn't what i was gonna talk about!!!

okay,
i wanted to brag on the progress i made
on
pattern making for the wing dress
(see my previous post for the previous episode)

i left off at the basic patterns completion

now,
what i did first today was
to trace the "front" (chest) side to
brand new paper



cut it out
cut open the horizontal line
then
fold the triangle
(origami, anyone?)



afternoon sun giving a ruler
a drop shadow
small thing like this can
drive me towards the nutty-dom



then trace the folded one to a
clean paper

see
the triangle ("dart") moved to the side



since i am using my momma's method from
early 70's
(with almost exactly the same measurement)

these 2 should match
(cardboard one was done by momma)

i decided to go oh-well



armhole, front and back

see the line is curving smooth and easy

that's some good job
ahem



neckline wasn't meeting my standard
(ahem, again)

first, roughly drawing
more natural-looking line



then draw it clean using curved ruler

(i know you donwanna hear triple-ahems)



good enough,
peripheral's moving now
time to retreat from blogosphere
thankyu for your visit!

charactor development

as a preparation for a series on "warming trend"
for a japanese paper that
i will be writing for

i started working on developing a polar bear charactor today


first, sketching polar bears
(for the first time in my life)

(not by using a live model)

realizing
how small the head
how long the neck
how giganic the paw

not your ordinary teddy bear


magazine on top: japanese mag "sinra" 1994, photo all by michio hoshino
the one below: animal encyclopedia from asahi newspaper, 1970's
the one at bottom/ bit showing on left: national geographic ad



some of my favorite ones

those are from actual, mostly nature photos
they are not acting cute for japanese people



now, getting warmed up enough
started to draw something on my own

at this point, i am thinking of the article to be
something like a letter from polar mom bear
her reporting us what is going on in northpole and beyond

something that is not preachy, punishing nor blaming

although we may need these things
i know what a turn-off that could be


i wanted a charactor that would appear on every issue

(we like that in japan)


probably right next to the title
that reader can grow fond of

if i do well, that is
(now i'm getting scared)



anywhere near completion
but i really like her pinky





additional note on jan.2010:
the above-mentioned project, which was for a japanese blog, which was to be a part of paper issued locally, and was to depict the spoiled "poster child" polar bear mama and even more spoiled kids of hers, has been terminated, due to reasons blog author won't even begin to bother to explain, and you most likely care not that much to know. thank u for those of you who came by.

the making of brian jones tee

these tees are from around 2001-2002
never shown before until i posted on my website
bad art keeper
tend towards hoarding


dyed with japanese indigo called "ai"
using traditionally carved stencil



below: sea-anemone tee
photo taken at a vacant lot
(one of many around where i live)

right over the lot
the ocean



the next: brian jones tee
inspiration came from a line i read somewhere
that said,

(brian jones') hair looked like a fan
at the bottom of the pool

(for those who haven't given much thought on bj:
he was drowned in '69
death surrounded by mystery and
abundance of conspiracy theories)



now

i first saw brian jones' picture in 1976
captured bloated and lifeless in 1968
but grabbed hold of me nevertheless

...and i felt at home



back to the craft....

a stencil for brian's hair tee



and a pencil drawing for that



below:
an unfinished stencil
let's call it a
fan hair tee sten

and of course, my toe
and my green gumby pants

summer is near



and a drawing



a drawing for
the first stencil(s) i've ever made
(for the sea-anemone tee)



and the stencil(s)

i had to make a pair
don't ask why
probably suffered from
a disease called beginner's tweak



close up: the right side

religiously following the traditional method
screen is mounted on the right side
using black tar-like medium

stinky procedure
(this is where persimmon high turns into a bad trip)
(will mention about the high in a minute)



and the reverse side



stencil paper is treated with
persimmon tannin
uniquely aromatic

(i can sniff it all day
and get mighty high)


and a screen
and a cutter
and cutter blades with different angle
and
paperweights!!!!

how can i not mention about my paperweights



below:
cicada in acrylic resin
first try, messy result
i don't think i can be a
wizard of resin

(besides,
resin high was not for me)

i got some nerve to show y'all
what may be regarded as "unpresentable"

that's the point and the object of this blog
(and i hope to entertain you with it)



next photo:
my next resin piece
not getting any better

(see the underwater bubbles?)

in japan
cicadas scream through mid summer
in unison
(and there are so many of you)

the whole town would sound like a spaceship
about to take off

by the end of summer
they shed off everything they've got
and
become these dry shells

everything spent
in the end



and, last but not least
my prized possession....
a tile!!!!!!!!!

from the pool
mr. jones drowned in
all i got to do now is
learn psychometry
(and write another "conspiracy" book)



below:
one day i had a flash and
used the (brian's hair) stencil for this

sponge and fabric paint affair
fun
light
crafty

occasionally i do this type of stuff to
loosen up a bit
you can probably see
that i'd need that

close up: back of neck



and back of the jacket



i will take a pic of the
whole thing of the jacket
soon

i'm done for today
thankyu


additional note:
i posted
the ("whole thing of") jacket photos here








art process