Tag Archives: spider lily

Every petal’s a masterpiece.

For last two weeks, my priority #1 has been to spend as much time with spider lilies, bloom for a short while each autumn.
This year they are back earlier, and seemingly more in numbers.

The blossom has been my muse for sometime now, and here’s why, shown in pictures.

A flower petal close up.
Flower painting on silk.
Flower painting on silk.
A flower petal close up.

The above two drawings are both dye sample swatches, from top the completed #2 and in-progress #3. On different fabrics – both silk, with slight difference in dye absorption, lines bolder on the #3 just because. This style of drawing is a new trick I am trying out since the above #2 but has been on my mind for much longer.

As for the petals, I couldn’t find a thing to add. Examining them closely somehow grew me muted.

Red spider lilies close up.

I’ve decided to call this project “Spider Lily Red”, the newest addition to my dyed threads series.

最後の屋外プールが閉まった日、彼岸花が咲き始めたのに気がついた。二年前の秋、突然のようにあの赤い色を見ると胸の奥で何かが着火するようになった。なにがどう変化したのか、本当に突然だったのか。わからない、でもきらいな感覚では全然ない。

写真の絵2枚は染め見本、素材は両方ともシルクだがテクスチャーは少し違う、よって染料の染み込み具合の感触も違う。そうすると意識しないでいても描き方も自然と違ってくる。なんでかはわからない、わかろうとする気もあんまりない。

そもそも何故彼岸花がそんなに好きになったかだって不明。でも、わからん、といってそのままにしておけるのが何故かとても嬉しくて、くるくるにまるまった花びらを指に絡めてみたりするのだ。

進行中の彼岸花シリーズ『Spider Lily Red』は当方の染色系統の次作(今までの作品はこちら)。

Red spider lilies in a ray of light.
2020.10.13 – True North

Lily Overload (and a few images from random Autumn scenes).

Just wanted to see how a longish title would look.

As a research for my upcoming dye piece, I’ve been taking way too many photos of spider lily blossoms. Through this practice ideas seem to emerge. Well, they better.
Here I picked the best of, all taken just recently.

Silver grasses by the sea.
A Jizou rock statue.
A grasshopper on spider lily buds.
Red spider lily blossoms.
A flowering spider lily bud.
Sun-lit silver grasses.

つい先日一般道で新潟まで出かける機会があった。太平洋側はそこらじゅうで満開だった彼岸花だが、那須高原を越え新潟までの道程ではほとんど見かけなかったのが不思議といえば不思議。育たないのか、育てたくないのか。
それにしても南会津の星空は迫力があった。ここの住人にはこれがあたりまえなのか。地球みたいな星がこのなかにどれだけあるのか、自分みたいな奴がたったいまどこかで同じような事を考えているのか。
こんなに疑問ばかり並べていないで早く寝た方がいいのではないか。

最後の一つだけ答えがわかりました。

追記 on 2020年11月29日:
彼岸花は真冬にすらりと洗練された深緑の葉っぱを生やして日光を独り占めするのです。だから雪の積もるエリアではあかんのでしょう。
ああもうなんてかっこいいんだろう、完全脱帽状態です、惚れ直しました。

Last Edited: November 29, 2020.

Red Lilies Returned

Yesterday I heard the last cicadas sing.
And look who arrived on the scene just about the same time.

A red spider lily blossom.

Studying the shapes of the subject is not the most exciting phase of the dye project. Sluggishness sets in more often than I wish to admit. The insect scene outside shifting from my beloved cicadas to crickets doesn’t help neither.

A colored flower drawing.

But before I had a chance to zombify myself, spider lilies turned up, slightly earlier this year, in much like a bull fight fashion.
(Red works for me too!)

Resuscitated, now I’m back on a river-side path where I fell in love with those lilies a year ago. A lady with a dog greeted me back (“I was wondering whether you’d show up this year”). Nice to be remembered as a lily-fanatic with a camera.

Red spider lily blossoms.
Red spider lily blossoms.

Spider Lily Red

Red spider lilies in Japanese farm.
Sun lit clouds.
A red spider lily blossom.

Spider Lily is the kind of flower that makes me feel like I am looking at something I should not.

Flower pencil sketches.
A red spider lily blossoms.

All, except for the drawing, the first study of the blossom, were photographed back in Autumn 2012.

abstract artwork with a lily and a shell.
2021.09.28 – Stir.

Spider Lily Red – a very short story.

Red spider lilies in Japanese farm.

“…She’s photographing us…”
their whispers echo, the riverside murmur
Red Spider Lilies.

Autumn in rural Japan, colors are subdued
except for patches of bright blood red,
Spider Lily Red.

Got me an ancient silk in the Spider Lily Red
once worn upon the skin, an innermost thread.
Flashing red under a coat of subtlety
with dye that bleeds just like the blood.

Red spider lilies in rural field.

Originally posted on Cowbird.com on October 2, 2012. Photos are from Autumn 2013.

Red spider lilies in a ray of light.
2020.10.13 – True North