Autumnal shades

Asa and I went for a quiet walk today, to take in the Autumnal shift in colour.  It was a reminder that I do not have long left in Japan and the chill in the air reminded me of home. 

Kokoro 2

Here is the last image in the tryptych.  This one is number two.  First, I started with a grey square double printed.

I then added a second layer, which had two colours.  A strip at the top, two blocks of grey and a bokashi-like element halfway down.

I then added a third layer, which had three colours.  Firstly, the gold kanji running down the centre. I also embossed this layer.  A blue layer which went over the grey layer, two silver squares which are also embossed and finally a gold line at the top within the blue block of colour.

All very mysterious, until it is folded into a kimono. Then the colours make sense.  This was a bit tough to work out technically, but it seems to capture the austerity I was after with this final image.  The kanji reads 'mime yori kokoro', or in English, the spirit [or heart] is more important than appearance.

Sunset

I have recently been taking pictures of the sunsets here in the mountains for documentary purposes as living in London doesn't provide anywhere near this kind of colour array. The sun is at its most spectacular at 4.30pm, when it starts to sink down over the horizon.  The days here pass so quickly that it is important for me to not only notice my progress in printmaking, but also the surrounding environs.  Winter has arrived, the nights are drawing in and over on the far mountain a shower of red is emerging as the maple trees start their descent into sleep. Over the last three days I have taken 150 pictures of the sunset.  Here are a few of these beautiful, temporal moments that I hope will stay with me for a long time. These are all taken from my view out of the studio window.

Nagasawa festival and Awaji puppet theatre company

Today was the Nagasawa Festival.  The artists took part in running a workshop organised by Masahiro-san and Keiko san for the children of the local school.  We collected leaves from the local temple..

And then had two large scrolls of paper on which the artists drew trees with animals in..

The children then glued the leaves onto the trees.  There was a wonderful sense of community about the day which I really enjoyed.  I tend to work 12 or so hours a day and the weeks blend into the weekends, so it was nice to do something totally different.  It was nice to feel part of the bigger picture of Nagasawa.

Here are the finished images.  I like the way that the images were framed against the backdrop of the mountains.

Awaji puppet theatre then came to give some performances and talks for us.  The puppet theatre's ethos is very closely linked to that of Noh and Kabuki [traditional Japanese theatre].  During the performances, the puppeteers wear black masks, so the focus is on the puppets.  I liked the eeriness of this effect.  Like all traditional Japanese arts, it takes years to master, as each body movement can suggest a mood or atmosphere. I am very drawn to the aesthetics and philosophy of Noh, so enjoyed the puppet show tremendously.  Like Noh, the puppet performances are seen as a prayer in front of the gods, so at the beginning, wooden sticks are clapped together to attract the attention of the deities. 

Here a character is being brought to life.

At the side of the show, sat an orator and an instrumentalist.  They both explained their parts in creating the show.  The orator demonstrated different voices that he uses to convey different parts that are played.  Even though the entire afternoon was in Japanese, I understood quite a bit of what was being said.  I seem to be understanding how Japanese sounds and it is not that difficult to ascertain meaning.  

The orator reads from a book, which is shown here, alongside the drum.

The puppeteers then showed us their role in the performances, including how the puppets are animated.  It takes three people to animate each puppet. The two pictures below show the different states of one mask.  He pulled a lever and the face changed completely.

These shoes are used by the actors to elevate themselves if the character needs to be raised into the air, for example if it is walking [as a human], or flying [as an element or spirit].

Here, the performers are demonstrating how the puppet works, showing us different expressions.

We were then very honoured to be invited to experience trying to work one of the puppets.

The puppeteers then put on a short performance for us, to finish the day.

Kokoro 3

Here is the next image from the kokoro tryptych. This is going to be number 3.  The background was printed with antique green going into antique black.  The same pallette as before has been used - the Iridori Holbein colours. On this and the subsequent block, no nori has been used. This is to texturise the image.

Then a blue layer.

Then a gold and yellow layer.

Then a brown layer.

Then a purple layer to bring out detail on the hat.

Finally a grey/black layer, which provides the shadow on the hat and the outline of the face and the front line of the kimono.  There is also a small amount of magenta on the lips.

This image is based on a traditional Japanese dance to celebrate the end of Autumn.  So far the two images have been the head and the feet.  Now to complete the tryptych one final image is required, that of the heart.  

First image of tryptych..

This is the first is a series of three images called 'kokoro' or in kanji, 心. I am using Holbein 'Iridori' pigment for this image. Iridori is a type of Japanese painting and all the colours are sampled from the pallet used for this type of work. This is the first layer, which is yellow followed by gold.

Then the second layer which is light blue followed by dark blue whilst it was still wet. This starts to give the appearance of material. There are bokashi [gradient] layers on both the blue and yellow, to suggest a slightly ethereal mood.

I then put a bokashi with no nori on the bottom of the image. I used a Sumi baren [a baren for detailed lines; there is another baren called a be-ta, which is for more solid areas] with a horizontal movement instead of the usual circular motion, which gives a flat colour, to create the texture. On this layer in particular the grooves of the bamboo skin covering the baren can be seen. I deliberately rotated the skin so it would create this effect. This block also had the shadows cut on, to begin to give the hakama folds some depth.

Then, another bokashi on a seperate layer to build up the background. Again, two passes, one with light brown and then one with gold.

I then printed a solid colour onto the background to make the entire image pop forward. I then overprinted a white band to illuminate the image. I then printed the shadows underneath the feet on a separate layer, first with silver and then grey. I didn't like the way the background looked like an abstract shape, so the image was then cropped down to create the impression of space either side. This also focuses in on the hakama patterning and the movement of the feet, instead of the positioning on a stage.