PanPastel with rice paper and felt pad

PanPastels laid out around the drawing that I am working on. Felt pads are great when drawing on rice paper with sumi ink.  The paper is so thin and the ink bleeds through it easily. The felt pad also gives some cushion to the movement of your brush.

Here is another simple work.

Painting is the magic riddle of mortality. It is the longing for the eternal, the happiness of the transient, the enigma of creation, the home of the heart, the fountain where loss is soothed. It is the eternal future, for painting is never in the past tense, only in the ever flowing present tense, an eternal now, a never-ending summer, a life always living, a moment never ceasing.

from One Intuition before Dreaming Ben Orki: In Arcadia

thanks Sophie Munns for sharing this writing recently, I really like it

fall

Fall is just starting with a mix of cool days mixed with late summer heat, school starts back after Labor Day and it feels like it's time to start jumping into projects. I am loving the iPad and its immediacy and have done a lot of these drawings in the last couple weeks.

gorse fairy with PanPastels

I am working in several different directions right now. One of them is a series of  these PanPastel colored fairies. They started out as trolls with the Up North and Scandinavian influences. This Gorse Fairy is cheery  and as her definition states averts despair and shows light.

Love the PanPastels and they work beautifully on rice paper. There is enough tooth on the paper and the bright colors grab easily.

portrait study with green nose

acrylic paint on canvas board, painted last month 

PanPastels

I received an amazing gift in the mail the other day!! Recently I found out in a funny round about way that a friend from college was the creator of an art material that I was currently using. After emailing and stating "I'll send you a few samples" sheesh I was gifted the entire set! Soo happy!! Thanks Ladd and Bernie at     Colorfin.com        

PanPastels  rich colored pastels and  Sofft their accompanying sponge tools

I love these! Really, I had been using them in the illustrations for a book that will have about 80 ink and pastel paintings (that is still top secret) haha and had carefully chosen about 6 of the pastels. Well now it's all over and the next body of work will have myriad color choices.

Spring days

A couple cards that were sent off today. I have been enjoying the beautiful spring flower etegami's in other places of the world but we are only starting to get some flowering here. I will have to paint some magnolias and scilla in the next couple days. We are having an unusually early spring. 

March 11

Regret of the catfish. Thank you for not moving again.

There is a Japanese story of the catfish that moves and causes the waters to tumult. This painting is in response to last year ago today. There is still much unrest in Japan as the government continues its debate of Fukushima. May there be rest soon for this damaged country.

Here is my first book!!

Here is my new book!! I am so excited to have it in this square format. Cathy Zielske did the typesetting in inDesign and did the typography and it looks Beautiful!! Previously I had created and printed the first two printings on my computer and had a letterpress cover made at Rex Mills. I highly recommend  Rex Mills Printing by the way. Roger Pulvers has given the ok to publish his translation as a 'real book'.
Please check it out and buy it of course if you like it ; )  It can be ordered on Blurb.com Just click here to see a preview.

Linoleum!

Some new work carving linoleum. Words with image are still new for me. Here is a quote from Jimi Hendrix. I carved several of these old instruments for my cousins birthday. It has been one of those recurring themes to make instrument art. I think there will be more as my husband has been cutting out some bodies for new guitars.

kitty joy

Passing forward more information on Etegami

I have found more information that explains etegami. Here on The Char Makes is a great explanation of this thoughtful and fresh and personal art. My husband and I were discussing etegami and how important it is to learn something from another culture and to pass on this information in its true form. The link onto Char's site will lead you through a simple lesson on how it is created and the simple form and use.

It reminds me mostly of cards that my kids have made for me or their friends, from the heart. Really we are so separated from a direct link to this type of art or really correspondence. We rarely send snail mail and sending a text or email is usually much less poetic. For certain there are cultural nuances that are easily missed or misunderstood. So as I pass this wonderful art form onto any friends I hope to preserve the integrity of etegami.

Here is my latest attempt...

Dreaming of Stamp Travel Etegami

Smile Etegami & DIY

It says "if you smile at someone they might smile back"
Still painting etegami's... and starting to send them out amongst some other etegamist's or etegamista's! I bet there will be some beauties to post soon.

DIY etemami

Here is an easy way that I have found to make these small postcard etegami's. I am sure you can use just heavy paper or water color alone but I like the way rice paper bleeds.

Cut a sheet of 4.5" x 6" rice or sumi paper  and paint and draw your design.

When it is dry lay on top of heavy watercolor or un corrugated cardboard and trace and cut.

Glue them together with a glue stick.

Pretty simple directions but I have found that it is easier to get the right painting first before you start attaching the backing or all the extra work is wasted.

In Japan etegami's are meant to send to someone and it is customary to have one returned or just send because you are thinking of someone.

Stamps from other places are always fun to get also!

Animal Etegami

I am really having fun with these etegami.  They are fast and I am able to paint a little even at the end of a workday which is always relaxing. Here is an explanation of what etegami means. Here is the link.

I believe there is special postcard paper but have been making cards by first painting onto rice or sumi paper and glueing that to watercolor heavier paper. I think it is fairly open ended and there is also another beautiful form of cutting paper.

Etegami literally means “picture letter”.  It is a picture and a message.  There are really no rigid rules on how to draw etegami. Everything is freestyle.  Just draw and write what you feel.  No practice drawings, no rough drafts...lest you lose that moment of inspiration.  The typical etegami usually consists of a drawing of something mundane, trivial...something you see in everyday life but normally take for granted.  Take a closer look at the things you touch or see everyday.  Find that most beautiful angle and draw it!  The accompanying message is also up to you.  It could be a proverb, an original poem, a straight sentence, or a wisecrack.  Say whatever it is that is bursting out of you.  Etegami is normally done on postcards.  And, they are meant to be posted...the whole idea is you are sending a message straight from the heart.  

Whale Etegami

Winter Dreams Etegami

Here is a little seed dreaming away toward spring and becoming a flower. It has been fun to paint these little etegami's or Japanese postcards with image and words that tell a little story. 

Winter Dreams Etegami

Here is a little seed dreaming away toward spring and becoming a flower. It has been fun to paint these little etegami's or Japanese postcards with image and words that tell a little story. 

a new painting