Over golden week i did a live painting. At that time someone asked why I kept painting things in gourds.
The first time I saw a Japanese painting with a gourd in it was Josetsu's famous paintings of a man trying to catch a catfish in a gourd. He was a zen monk working in Kyoto. It was a koan, a zen puzzle, "How do you catch a catfish with a gourd?"
I caught Tokyo sky tree and painted it in a gourd. caught Tokyo Tower in a gourd, the bridges over the Sumida River. for this exhibition i caught the rice fields of ShiSui.
This live painting was a bit of a puzzle, what should I attempt to catch with my giant gourd? it was quite a responibility, after all the gourd was to be fifteen feet high.
As I often do when I am puzzled, I started looking through old sketchbooks, lots of different images, then found a drawing done secretly by my daughter over twenty years ago. She would do that - when no one was looking scratch a drawing into my sketchbooks. It is a problem with children. They don't necessarily do it to shame you, but none the less when I come upon their drawings it a shock because they are always better than my own.
I decided to get my revenge by stealing their drawing and catching it inside my gourd big.