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I don't know what it is about Japan that inspires such deep longing, even when I'm there. Maybe it's because it's a culture that allows space for longing. Japanese artists are the masters of negative space. That which whirls around forcing your eye to focus in on an object. When a design is well done its object will spur your eye back into negative space.
Is longing like negative space? Courting the object of its desire, each never able to be the other but making the other whole?
Thank you for traveling with me, and if you can, do come for tea.
Wagashi is the confection that is served during a tea ceremony. Its shape and flavor change according to the season being honored. This is a persimmon in honor of fall. In British tea, snacks and tea are consumed at the same time. In Japanese tea, the confection is eaten first, allowing you to fully experience the sweetness that will soon fade into the taste of tea.
Mikan is a type of tangerine. When it first comes out in the fall it's pale orange, almost yellowish with a touch of green. Mikan gets sweeter and turns a deeper orange as the season gets colder. It's common to hear "The mikan are getting sweeter, aren't they?" throughout the season.
A kotatsu is a low table with a heater underneath, a comforter over the top, and a table surface on top of that. You sit with your legs underneath it (I seriously could not picture all of this until I saw it in Japan). In the winter everyone gathers around the kotatsu to stay warm, the cold being tempered by the sweetness of mikan.
Like I said before, it's chestnut season! While I'm making a collage I never think about the borders. I move shapes, textures, and colors around until they catch the mood of something I'm trying to express. I then move a viewfinder over the area until I feel the composition clicks and feels just right. Finally, I mark it off and cut it out with a straight edge. In the case of these postcards the viewfinder I used was a sheet of paper with a 4x6 rectangle cut out of the middle.
Buying calendars in February for 70% off is a huge boon to the ephemera collection, as are library book sales. I love to brush paint over different textures then cut those pieces up, glue them in different ways, paint them again. I think this takes the piece deeper than the usual magazine collage.
Maneki neko is found in restaurants and shops in Japan and is meant to bring good luck to its owner. Maneki neko means "Lucky cat" or "Welcome cat". His arm is raised and his hand is beckoning. In Japan, the position of the hand when gesturing "Come here" is opposite the one we use in the US. Won't you come to tea?
The fukusa is a red silk cloth used to purify each of the tea utensils before they're used. This image is an impression of the fukusa as it falls unfolding from the tea host's hand.
The entry way into a tea house is very small and you have to crawl in. Because of this you enter in a humbled posture. Its size also forces samurai to leave their swords behind because they won't fit through. In the tea house we are all equal.
There's a saying used in tea ceremony, "Icho go, ichi e", that translates to "One time, one meeting" or "This moment will never be repeated". It was especially potent for samurai who, gathering for a bowl of tea before departing for war, knew they may never see each other again. It's important for us today because it reminds us that every moment is sacred. You could gather for tea with the same people in the same place at the same time the next day but subtle changes will have occured, maybe in nature or your own perspective. This moment will never be repeated.
The background in this collage came from a booklet by Walter Foster on how to paint clouds.
In just a few hours fall break begins. I'll be spending the first part catching up on school work and the second part, well, taking a break. I'll be posting some collaged post cards for the next week. I made them two years ago to invite my friends to a fall tea ceremony.
Matcha is the type of green tea used in Japanese tea ceremony. It is bright green because it's made from the tiniest new tea leaves and is not allowed to ferment. I'll never forget when my friend Non from Japan, who in looking at the brown liquid in her cup of what we in the US call green tea, simply said "Not green".
In tea ceremony, matcha is served in a bowl not a cup. This image shows a hand holding a fresh bowl of matcha.
