Tag Archives: monochrome diary

Cocoon.

She was a compact two wheel drive in the modest shade of silver.
Previous owner from western Japan left a cigarette burn on the driver’s seat.
Sales man at the lot remarked on my face, said I look rusted like the car’s old engine.
Purchase was made in autumn 2011, the year everything felt like one big defeat.

Thought nothing good would come from this, turned out couldn’t be further from the truth.
Soon there were nights parked on a sand dune, curled up to hear the endless loop of waves.
We’d ride up the hills, into the storm and rest under the trees, wrapped in their unquestionable resiliency.
Most importantly though, she was a shelter with changing sceneries, encased my shedding, the morphing, the reaching for Creativity.

My humble, sturdy sidekick fell silent in the late February 2020.
“Cocoon spat me out” I said, I felt like a cicada freshly out of his, with soft pale green wings that harden overnight.
100 months in my modest silver cocoon, had brought me to where I always dreamt I’d visit.
We took one long ride together, thousands sunsets enclosed us along the way.

A wave on a cloudy beach.
Windshield rain shadows on a journal.
Cloudy sky through a driver seat.
A tree in rain through a windshield.
An abstract drawing in afternoon light.
Night Ocean.
Gardenia blossoms obstructed by leaves.
Artworks in a studio.
A windshield pattern on rainy drive.
Swans against water ripples.
A gardenia bouquet in an artist studio.
A self portrait on a curved mirror.
Textile art work in studio.
A rear view mirror self portrait.
Works in progress in artist studio.
A car parked on a rural road at dusk.

This post is dedicated, an ode to my sidekick, we had parted our ways in early April.
Photos are mostly taken with iPhone, all edited using vsco B5 filter.
All artworks are from the series “Spider Lily Red” (2012 – ).
The second selfie: “one eye” is a happenstance, I am so very much a ‘commoner’.
The sales man did not receive my vendetta; figured him being him would be the punishment enough ;)

Creative Process, September 2018.

Art studio with spider lilies.
Spider lily blossoms in vase.

Spider lily blossoms and a drawing.
A spider lily blossoms and artwork.

Spider lily blossoms by a Jizou statue.
Swallowtail butterfly on spider lily blossoms.

The project: Spider Lily Red.
In progress is the second of the two piece series called “Flare”.
Images are from this past September, captured moments during the precious three weeks I get to spend every autumn with my favorite lilies, my muse, taking in as much, their familier red to last me for a year.
The photos are in sleepy smoky monochrome, because I am saving up the stored red so as to pour it all into the second piece I will be painting in the coming months.

Thank you for your visit, and Happy Holidays!!

Monochrome Diary, June 2018.


A leaf on sand at dawn.
Natural objects in studio.

A honeysuckle flower.
A close up of Agapanthus Lily.

A hand painted dress.
Art works in studio.

A coffee cup with found objects on waterfront.
Art studio view.

“No amount of time will erase the memory of a great dog.” – Internet Meme

Images: Late May to early June, 2018. 4th from top is of an agapanthus bud. 5 and 6 are details from Wing Dress (Velocity) and Spider Lily Red (Flare 1), respectively.

Monochrome Diary, June 2016

Everything’s got a little black within it.

Flowers and a sketch book.

A discovery on Swallows: a compact aerodynamic frame was accompanied by the expression of an eagle.

Swallows on phone line.

Crazy, sexy, cool. Naming just a few, start from top: Oxalis (Imo Katabami), Spiderwort (Murasaki Tsuyukusa), Meadow Sage / Salvia Guaranitica

Oxalis flower detail.
Spiderwort flower detail.
Salvia Guaranitica flower detail.

Cast of characters, clockwise from top left: Yarrow, Cherry Sage, Can’t Recall, Salvia Guaranitica (flower only), a cuppa java, my best friend Sofi asleep in the phone, Pentax WG3 in micro-macro mode.

Flowers, a coffee cup and cameras.

Thank you, to the month of June, for all the scents, shades and shapes,
and Thank you! for your visit.

Grain Haiku

Ocean with Clouds.
Fishing cormorants.
A yacht at a port.
A gardenia blossom.
Foggy sunset with crows.

All images were photographed with iPhone 4s during the hottest days of summer 2015 at sundown. Grainy textures came, mostly from the lack of light, and a slight bit from editing with vscocam.