Last Weekend's Workshop in Rozome

We had a wonderful master silk artist Kiranada Benjamin come to Atlanta for a 3 day workshop on Rozome, Japanese wax resist. Although she was able to only show us a few techniques in that short time, her 40 plus years of experience impressed us. Her work is gorgeous Kiranada Benjamin's Website and how she quickly did a bokashi (blending) demo was like magic. Especially after each of us tried it on our own. This is going to take a lot of practice... and very special handmade Japanese brushes.

My favorite brush is this one. It's tanuki hair (don't know if American raccoons have the same type of "hair") and is stiff, dense, and I get much control with this. Worth every penny! Yes, it's super expensive.

Here are some of my practice samples of bokashi:

This is going to take years of practice. Notice I couldn't even make a perfect circle.

We also crackled the wax resist and also etched on the thick wax. Here are some more samples:

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.