Another exhibition done

Another exhibition in the can. This was my first in the pandemic and had a different feel. Less visitors, but the ones that came felt special. 

Sitting the exhibition this year gave me a chance to reflect. The paintings turn out to be more about the pandemic than I had recognized or intended. The oils are about places that stood against the pandemic, shops and nature. The ink paintings are about escaping the room that held me zoomed and imprisoned.

           This is one reason I don't like to talk about my paintings. I make them but don't make them consciously. I'm not a rational painter. Reasons, intentions are more complicated than I recognize. People see different things in the paintings. Oftentimes they see and know more than I.

The Exhibition Continues

The final weekend of the exhibition will begin today!

Last weekend was slow but nice. Some old friends as well as some new faces dropped by. I’m hoping this weekend will be the same.

The exhibition is mostly ink paintings, but the oils seem to be getting more attention, perhaps because I haven’t done much oil painting in the past 30 years in Japan..

Sunny Saturday

It is the finest sort of a day in Yanaka.

Sitting in my exhibition in our lingering pandemic I feel like a wallflower at a dance, wondering if anyone will approach.

Cold Friday at the exhibition

It is good to have a cold rainy Friday at the exhibition. It gave me a chance to clean around the edges and get stuff done.

I made a short video of the show.

Living in Japan, Exhibition 2021

Exhibition opens Friday

I do this ,,, every year. It is a measure. I put things on the walls to see what I have done. It gives me a chance to clean year old dust, and to live in empty rooms.

Magic happens. Magic on the wall, magic in the door. New people, people I haven't seen in a long time.

An early surprise this year is this painting. I had painted it at the beginning of summer, but it slipped off the wall. It was hidden behind a heap of papers. I had forgotten I had made it until last week when it reappeared.

This year's exhibition opens Friday. Please stop by.

DM, Direct mail, My invitation card

It takes practice to photo a painting, lighting, various adjustments. The bigger the painting the worse it is. But even a small one like the little oil I chose for my invitation card took time. Finally I got it the way I wanted and sent it to the printer, and the e-photo the printer sent back looked good. The card did not.

Every invitation card I have ever made has been wrong. People like to point this out at exhibitions, holding cards up to paintings, pointing out the differences. From painting, to photo, to print, lots of places to slip. It unavoidably goes wrong, but never so wrong as this year.