Lily. I want to be you.
Tag Archives: artist at work
In praise of Her Highness – Spider Lily Red update.
How do you gather your red, while waiting for the autumn in the lightless soil?
When the three a.m. air tells me the summer is near, I think of your bulbs, eavesdropping on the night.
Project Name: Spider Lily Red
Current Status: On
References: Progress of this project / Previous dyed items
Wing Dress in the Making
ALERT:
This video contains flickering / flashy lights and could-be dizzying movements.
(Strong sunlight reflections at the shore, and may be felt as disorientating camera work.)
In summer 2009 I started recording the creative process on videos – mainly of me working on my dyed pieces,
as a vlog version of my then blog “art is a process” (2007-2012) which documented the making of two Wing Dresses.
Above is titled “Wing Dress in the Making, October 22, 2011”, my most favorite, also one of the last videos of my finishing up the second Wing Dress “Velocity”, synched with a fantastic music I discovered through blogging.
The “synching” thing was what I somehow naturally arrived at. I had a lot of fun experimenting stuff that way.
Special Thanks to Ms. Betsy Grant for her piano piece – the short piece feels to me has the kind of preciseness I always adored,
to the point, on what it takes to become ready for love.
Last Edited: November 18, 2019.
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At Work, Autumn 2005.
Photo#1: Self Portrait – 31Oct05. A selfie before there was “selfie”, was meant as a snapshot taken for myself, as a record of things going well on the test version of “Dragon Series”, the fragmented / deconstructed dragon, a blueprint roughly drawn with fabric marker, creating “flow” good enough that made me smile.
Originally posted on my website which used to have different URL, sometime in 2006, then on Flickr in 2014. With those uploads I photoshopped/trimmed out the clutter – it was shortly before moving out, but this time you get the full picture – nearly untouched / minimum edits, messy as a part of the story.
Photo#2: Wall Decor – Oct05. Also a snap of my apartment wall.
The drawing is one of the ‘study’ sketches of the dragon below, the print from Redon exhibit I traveled to see in Gifu, and a few impressive leaves I collected, all somehow translated into the piece above.
Honorable mention: I have a special fondness for wire hungers and clothespins. The one on far right facing the pic is from Italy, and so far the most durable. The top three on wire are classic Japanese bamboo pins, they are also very sturdy but I haven’t seen them in stores for some time.
Photo#3: Dragon Carving – photographed circa 1998 at a shrine down the street, where I used to swing by in the morning and practice drawing the dragons even just for 5 minutes, before heading out to catch a commuter train packed like sardines in a glass jar, carrying a purse heavy with books (mostly materials to aid unblocking my creativity), a journal, a sketch book, pens, pencils, a sharpner, swim gear, lunch, a mini disc player…
Now that I am on the subject please allow me to elaborate…..
In 2002-2003 I painted the first dragon dress using the acid dye, spent about a year painting it and messed up over-applying the dye. Couldn’t wash off excess dye. The “failed” piece became the threat, a potential source of air bound dye particles. Had to throw that one out. So disappointed I nearly threw the whole thing out.
(Special shout-out to Mr.S from the dye material store in Tokyo for going out of his way to give me his constructive criticism to the 2003 me nearly in despair, along with all the encouraging know-hows since around 1998.)
What you see in Pic#1 is me working on the second try – the semi-abstraction on the test piece I worn is “flowing”, but when I painted with dye it looked like was drawn with a felt marker, which was not what I was after.
In 2006 finally “got” it the 3rd time (if included the first dress painted with pigment marker on rayon/poly, this would be the 4th try) – the year I worked on 3 pieces – Aqua Dragon Dress 1, Aqua Dragon Dress 2 and Indigo Dragon Top.
Why am I telling you all this – mostly as an encouragement in case it’s needed.
I am getting good at what I do, in other words I like where I am at but it wasn’t done overnight. I had to practice, make lots of mistakes, and while at it hold the vision and believe in it all by myself, simply because no one else could see it, it was my vision.
Believe in what I alone can see and keeping at it thru thick/ thin/ fine/ foul, when what is happening in the current is anywhere near where I wanted to get to. That probably was the hardest part of the whole process. Made me stronger though. And proud, in a way nothing can take that away from me.
Additional Note on March 23, 2022:
“Is your dad Poseidon and is that a pyramid?”
Me: no and no.
Since early on, I sensed what was there but not visible, a form of floating vibe / energy / emotions.
I was an empath before there was ‘empath’.
What I try to depict is what’s sensed combined with what’s seen. Bring the “hidden” to surface.
…And be hated – worry not tho, I am being funny mostly.
The triangle, bottom-left of me facing the pic, is a calendar falling off – as mentioned above, I was packing to move. Calendar had pictures of wild horses, their mane was what I used to draw dragon’s flowing, um, hair..?
Poseidon’s daughter Lamia, in Greek mythology, was a half-lady, half-snake creature with a sorrowful history. I didn’t know anything about her until someone pointed out to me.
In contrast, I am a common human female down the street. doing her clumsy best in this strange world of ours.
History:
Written / compiled 19~21Feb22, published on 21Feb22.
March 23, 2022 – Additional Note added.
October 22, 2023 – Post date changed from October 31, 2005 at 18:38 (the top photo taken) to November 28, 2007 at 0:16 (when the version of the top photo was created for my website’s about page – the time stamp embed I dug up from the depth of digital files today)).
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Art is a Process, Revisited.
i would like it some day, somehow i become a master like this artist
flow in the jizou moment and leave behind me
a little something someone can sit by
and know that everything’s cool, if only for a little while.
– “it must be (love).” October 10, 2011, written about these masterpiece jizous.
All photos from a blog “art is a process” (on blogger/blogspot, 2007-2012).
How time flies.
I published the first post on May 10, 2007. It was titled “in the beginning there are scribbles.” It was about a new project “Wing Dress”, the idea conceived while on the train, April 27, 2007, according to the post.
This was, apart from a few posts I shared on Myspace earlier in the decade, my very first blogging experiment. Started out writing about anything that caught my attention along with how the Wing Dress project was growing in detail, a bit like a kid reporting to mom about her exciting new discoveries.
Excerpt is from one of my later posts, my personal favorite I wrote about the neighborhood Jizous that are carved so simply yet masterfully, the carver/artist “must have been in his Jizou moment when he did it”.
(Simple is hard. Nowhere to hide. What’s in you spills out whether you like it or not.)
I learned with each post, to write with audience in mind, share candidly but also selectively, as in, tap into what wants to be spoken and flow with it (i.e. in “Jizou moment”), knowing I will never know what exactly I did, if I got it right.
It is from me but not about me, which is a practice easier said but I aspire, to this day, every step of the way.
Published first on March 24, 2022 at 03:07.
Revised, with long text on June 13, 2023 at 00:44.
