My Flying Heart flew to her blog

Denise's blog

Japan trip: Tokyo

Boys Day Carp

view from Tokyo Tower

Tokyo Tower

A quick visit to Japan

I took my son for a whirlwind trip to Japan to show him where I grew up and to visit a dear friend in Osaka. We had a very busy schedule, so visiting friends was not an option, besides he'd be bored. That means little shopping too. Bummers.

From Tokyo, we took the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) to Osaka where my friend lives. The next day we went to Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, then the next day to Nara to see the big Buddha at Todaiji. A visit to Osaka Castle and then on back to Tokyo.

Shinkansen (Bullet Train)

Crowded Japan

Fields

Houses going up mountain sides

Local train: Hankyu Line in Osaka

very old cherry blossom tree

cleanse and purify before entering shrine

We tried as many vending machine drinks as possible

inner garden 

Kiyomizu temple grounds

Kiyomizu Temple

trains

guardian at temple

Todaiji Temple

Buddha at Nara

Osaka castle

food vendors

roof shingles with Peach corner shingle

Silk/clay Mask

Red Mask
hand dye painted silk on smoked clay with felted wool, leather,
metal beads. 

Tree in Winter

Sold this very tiny painting today. Thank you!

It's based on a photo I took in Japan (Harajuku) right outside the Meiji Jingu (shrine) in 1985.

Amethyst Tree oil painting

Amethyst Tree oil painting 18"x24"

Kundalini White Spirit Snake oil painting

2013 is the year of the Snake.

Japanese legend says a white spirit snake lives under every house

I suppose as a protector.

We had one come out one Summer at our house (outside, that is)

when we lived in Japan. 

Wrapped Hearts (oil paintings)

8"x8" oil on canvas

8"x8" oil on canvas

click here to purchase

Heart Paintings

I've been painting hearts. Small paintings of hearts. This one is called "Heart Pulse" and it's oil on wrapped canvas. Only 8"x8" small. Simple but gets the message across. Click here to purchase.

Ooops! It's already 2013

Wow, how did this happen? It's already February in 2013. I've been busy painting, teaching silk dye painting, working on projects with two Senior Centers, and attending workshops.

Recently I had the opportunity to attend Junko Pollack's Mandala Workshop at the SEEFA Center and twenty two of us created and stitched a Mandala of Hope for the Tsunami victims of 3/11/11 in Japan. This will become part of an exhibit by Ms. Pollack in the near future.

Here's mine, depicting the chaos after the quake/tsunami. The white frayed thread represents the Spirit of the Japanese people, although frayed it remains strong.

It's 7" x 7" with raw, torn edges.

And here's a small selection of some of the others: