Shirahama's Goonies Rocks

Sunset for Lindsay Hadley
acrylic on wood disc

Pyar and I have an amazing view from our apartment's balcony. Since we first arrived we often watch the sun change along this portion of the sky. The rocks across the bay are at Shirahama. We think they look like the "Goonies" rocks from Astoria, Oregon.

Mouse for Eri

Eri's Mouse
pencil on paper

I drew this mouse for Eri's birthday. Her Chinese Zodiac is the nezumi. This is my fourth drawing of the mouse for friend's birthdays. I also know many tigers whose birthdays are coming up shortly. The collection has evolved from my original idea of making stamps for each animal, that will be the next step.

Conor's Birthday English Counting Book

The "I Can See" Counting Book
This is a KOLO photo album that I used to make a counting book for Conor.

Inside cover of book, I used store bought number stamps for this page and the cover. The rest of the numbers in the book have number stamps that I carved. The number stamps are rather small, and thus a real challenge to carve.

Maeby is Conor's dog friend
This stamp is actually my dog friend named Ellie who has posed for many cameos.
Since Ellie has iconic dogness, she posed for Maeby's portrait.

Conor's Birthday English Counting Book

Conor's Birthday English Counting Book

the English counting story

I can see one dog named Maeby and two bicycles
and three monkeys and four elephants
and five rabbits with six pandas and
seven balls of yarn and an octopus with eight legs
and nine pencils with ten piglets
having a tea party in Savannah.

Rogue River Gorge

Rogue River Cliff with Trees study
pen and ink

We visited the Rogue River on Monday of our wonderful vacation in Oregon. I was standing at an overhang/outlook and spent a few minutes trying to get all of the beautiful textures on the cliff. I especially love how the trees seem to hover over the sides while growing out of the lava rocks. It was an incredible view and a wonderful day.

Chipmunk
pen

This guy was at my feet while I was drawing the cliff study featured above. It moved quickly, this was literally a ten second gesture. I think I captured its squirrel like movements.

Kansai Airport

Kansai Airport Red Chairs in Sun
watercolor

We flew home the week before last to visit family in Oregon. This was about a twenty minute study. The light on the red was absolutely gorgeous.
I was especially drawn to the reflections on the floor.

Tanabe Landscape

Tanabe River for Steve
acrylic on wood disc

This is my third painting on the wood discs. This is the river from a bridge just beside the overpass before you get to Konan. I take this route to go to two of my schools. This is where I usually see many koi and turtles swimming.

In honor of my friend Steve, a great mentor and teacher.

New Stamps on Wood Discs Series

Sokrates' Friend, the Pig for Sokrates the Pig

This stamp was inspired by Maren's pig on the alm. She has two of them. I have not seen the second one, and I am not sure the other one's name, so I made this stamp of him.

Pencil and Paper for Marjorie Hendrix

New Stamps on Postcards

Black Dog Talking with Brown Dog and Ellie

Ellie Thinking about Brown Dog Talking

Crow Talking with Five Monkeys

Crow Thinking About Pig, Brown Dog and Black Dog Friends

Panda Thinking About Panda Friends

New Stamps on Wood Discs Series

Many Friends I

Green Ball of Yarn

Brown Dog Red Collar

Densha (Black Dog)

Frog Crow Rabbit Octopus

Animal Drawings

Maren's Sweet Friend
With love for Maren
pencil on strathmore
9 1/2" x 10"

One of the most amazing people I know is Maren Krings. She is working on the alm this summer in Austria. Her facebook profile picture is of her beautiful face smiling and holding this sweet pig who is also grinning. I knew I had to try and capture the pig's sweet spirit. It just happens that the pig is also befitting since it is part of the Chinese zodiac and thus part of that series of drawings as well.

Oxen for Zach
pencil on strathmore
6" x 5"

Zach is one of the kindest persons I know. His genuine good spirit resonates. This drawing is for his birthday. It is a contemplative sign of the Chinese zodiac, thus the gaze.

Sunflower Study for Yuki

Sunflower Study
colored pencil on colored paper
8 1/4" x 5 1/4"

I drew this while taking a break from studying. The other morning, my friend, Yuki gave me a sunflower at work. This is my attempt to replicate the golden glow of the petals.

Tanabe Landscapes

Tanabe Landscape I
acrylic on wood
2" x 2" x 1/4"(approximate)

This one was originally in watercolor. It is along the same river as Tanabe Landscape II. Maryji Mom mentioned liking it and it is posted on the blog. So thinking I would mail it to her, I sealed it with an acrylic medium. Unfortunately, this was not appropriate since it was watercolor. So, I tried to replicate the landscape in acrylic. It has a different mood but similar colors.

Tanabe Landscape II
acrylic on wood
2" x 2" x 1/4"(approximate)

This study is done on the same wood discs as the stamped animals in previous posts. I have made several studies in pencil and watercolors of the river by the Shimin Sogo Center. I often ride my bike along the dike road to get to several of my schools. Many koi, turtles, heron, crows and kormorans call it home.

Baby Rhino for Pyarji

Baby Rhino
pencil on strathmore

This running friend has the most incredible gesture of glee. I draw studies of the baby animals prior to making the stamps. Usually, a study will have to be altered to create the contrast conducive for making a stamp. This is the first step. Baby rhino stamp is coming soon.

Opal

Study of Opal
In honor of the Turkeys on Timberlake Drive
watercolor on paper

Opal is a beautiful white turkey with very intelligent eyes. I have tried my best to capture her spirit. I have to browse the internet for some of my images. Needless to say, I usually dread searching for source photos for my baby animal series. This time, I lucked upon a blog by Tracy H. . Her blog is http://diggingthroughthedirt.blogspot.com/ the photographs and stories of animals are amazing and real. And though the reality makes me cringe each time I try an image search for an animal reference, this Reality is that for a brief moment - I get to see, read, learn and enjoy live animal stories that are incredibly heartwarming and moving. Opal is one of those stories - Thank you Tracy H.

Study Break

Study of Palms While Taking a Study Break
pencil in Genki textbook

This study was done while studying in a classroom at Akizugawa Elementary School on a rainy afternoon. My teachers were in a meeting in the staff room and thus I found a quiet spot to study. Needless to say, I had a pencil and a book,
so certainly I wanted to draw more than study.

New Works

The Yarn Knows
inked stamps on postcard

I really like images of mice.
The yarn is in honor of Danielle and everything she does with fabric.

Crow Knows How
inked stamps on postcard

Camera How To
inked stamps on postcard

This is of Pyar's Canon G7, though it may be a little generic in style. I have many friends and family who are amazing photographers that inspired this stamp - including: Anne White, Lewis Anderson, Tim Lisko, Lindsay Hadley, Ann Curry, Jewel Anderson and my Pyar.

Many Friends Postcard

Clever Karasu
inked stamps on postcard

Crow finds herself in all kinds of situations.

Many Friends on Fude (brush)
inked stamps on postcard

The fude stamp was inspired by friend Michiyo san. She is an amazing artist and uses a variety of brushes for her sumi ink works.

Nezumi Collaboration

Nezumi
pencil on postcard

Pyar and I collaborated on this drawing for our friend Fumiyo san. I am working on a series of drawings and stamps of all the animals in the Chinese Zodiac.