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Showing posts from May, 2009

Blood Types and the Year of the Dragon

I get a kick out of checking my horoscope in the newspaper when I am in the States. The astrological signs are not as popular in Japan as blood types. Most here will ask, "What's your blood type?" Your blood type hints at your character and how you may behave in the future. Do you know your blood type? I am not really sure of mine. Type A Best traits Earnest, creative, sensible Worst traits Fastidious, overearnest Type B Best traits Wild, active, doer Worst traits Selfish, irresponsible Type AB Best traits Cool, controlled, rational Worst traits Critical, indecisive Type O Best traits Agreeable, sociable, optimistic Worst traits Vain, rude (chart is thanks to Wikipedia) My shadow shots last Sunday were about my visit to a local shrine. Today's photo is from that same visit. My Chinese Zodiac is the Dragon. Evidently, I prefer to live by my own rules ! The shrine had a small statue for each sign and I got my shadow on the Dragon. To tour th

Mounting Rice Paper paintings

Sign up for my monthly Newsletter for special promotions and other interesting slices of an artist's life at GalleryJuana.com . Part I Types of Rice Paper Recently I got a question about balls of paper forming when mounting a rice paper painting. "I find that while applying the paste to the back of the painting, little balls of paper can form sometimes. I find this very disturbing. Have you had this happen? Under what circumstances, and how did you correct it?" I have had that happen, sometimes it has been the paper. So let's first take a look at types of Rice Paper. Even though the paper used for painting Sumi Ink Paintings is not made out of rice, Rice Paper is a popular name for this Asian paper in the West. Other common names are Washi and Xuan or Hanji, depending on the country of origin (respectively, Japan, China, Korea). Rice paper can be machine-made, hand-made, raw or sized. Each variance gives the paper a different texture and absorben

Painting on Rice Paper YouTube Video by Gallery Juana

Today I spent the afternoon making my first videos of my art. Uploading them to Youtube was pretty straightforward. I used my Canon G9 digital camera to do the videotaping. My memory card limits the video to under one minute! And this camera saves the file in avi, so I hope it is viewable to everyone. Every month I publish a newsletter with special promotions and other interesting slices of an artist's life on my GalleryJuana.com site. This month I included the two short videos that I completed today. Here is the latter stage of my sumi line drawing- painting on washi. So Tuesday Temptations is about my June Newsletter. If you have any questions, just convo me on Etsy at GalleryJuana.etsy.com .

No Smoking, flowers and Atago Shrine

Last Tuesday, I took an early, morning walk to Atago shrine. I hadn't been there in a while and being out at 6 a.m. was wonderful. The air was crisp and the streets were quiet. At the foot of the stairs, I saw this beautiful flowering tree overhanging from the house above. You can see a few subtle shadows here. According to my husband, those flowers smell wonderful. He had walked to the same shrine later. My allergies were really bad so I couldn't smell them ... pout! Once I climbed all the stairs leading to the top, I came to the main shrine at the front of the property. The shrine is surrounded by all sorts of trees. The birds were singing too! Here are some shadows from the trees on the shrine. At this hour in the morning, nobody was around except for the gardener who was using one of those gas-powered blowers. He was clearing the dirt and stairs of fallen leaves. Thankfully, he stayed at the front and I couldn't hear him while I was at the back of

Female Nude Sumi Ink Painting

Nude Figure Sumi Ink Painting . This original, nude, female in ink is painted on Shikishi. Shikishi is stiff and thick, plain white Japanese paper, speckled with metallic flecks. This is thick enough to be propped unframed on a shelf. If you have any questions, please feel free to convo me via GalleryJuana.Etsy.

TaiYaki: a waffle sandwich dessert in Japan

Tai means sea bream and Yaki means baked or grilled in English. This Japanese dessert is shaped like a fish and baked to perfect crispness on the outside. The inside is steaming hot and sweet. Taiyaki have been around since the early 1900's. Traditionally, they are filled with a sweet red azuki bean paste, but varied fillings are available. I prefer the custard filling. You can smell the freshly baked dessert a block away. One of my student's asked me which part I eat first: the head or the tail. What an interesting question! I realised I always eat the head first because I want both the custard and the waffle. The tail part has more waffle than filling. What would your choice be for a filling: azuki red bean paste or custard? And which side would you eat first? Subtle shadows on bolts of the taiyaki equipment, inside the taiyaki molds and under the cook's hand. Visit Hey Harriet's blog to see more shadow shots all over the world!

Honest Scrap

I am sending a big Thank you to Zendotstudio for nominating me for the Honest Scrap award. Her blog is inspiring to read and always gives me a new perspective to consider. Now it's my turn to nominate 7 blogs and explain why I like them, then confess 10 honest things about myself. If you would like to join, just do the same on your blog: name 7 blogs you find brilliant and tell 10 honest things about yourself. Six Blogs What's It All About : Her stories are always thought-provoking and she always features great music videos. The Poetic Artist : I am inspired by the stories she shares and by her art. Marlene's Musings : I enjoy reading her "Old Masters" posts. I feel as though I have spent an afternoon at the museum. ArtPlus : Her Iris Folded cards are amazing! RhubarbWhine : I discovered her blog through last Monday's haiku festival. I have enjoyed reading her stories and musings on life. Sandra Evertson : Her blog is always a f

Nude Female Figure Painting on paper and wood

  Nude Female Figure Painting on paper and wood . 22.8 cm length x 18.8 cm width x 2cm thick 9 inches x 6 inches x .7 I really love painting the nude figure. This watercolor painting was done on washi (Japanese paper) and then glued to gessoed wood. I painted around the figure with Acrylic for the background. It is painted on the sides, so it is ready to hang. To view more of my art for purchase, please visit me via GalleryJuana.Etsy.com

Identity and Change

Recently Dr. Maria Siemionow and her team of doctors performed a full face transplant on Connie Culp. Connie Culp's story challenges my whole idea of identity. Where do I, as an individual, place my value? I feel I am due for a change. Don't know exactly what, just that something is brewing inside of me. Change A single drop of water Falling steadily upon a rock. PinkPurl is hosting a Haiku blog festival. I wrote the above haiku in January 2004. Hop over to her blog to view more haiku by participants.

Love and Roses

"I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity. " Eleanor Roosevelt Tomorrow is Mother's day in Japan and the U.S. Happy Mother's day to everyone! More roses for Shadow Shot Sunday. This is the second photo of the roses my husband got me for Valentine's day. The first photo is straight out of the camera with only sharpening adjustments. I used a movie flyer as the placemat. Next is the same photo but edited into sepia. Wishing everyone a wonderful Sunday! To view more shadow shots or to learn how to join, visit Hey Harriet's blog .

Terrarium and Sendai Night View

This week's Thursday tweet is about making your own terrarium . I have no high shelf to put house plants, and my cat won't leave them alone otherwise, so I thought I could have a little green in my studio this way. I learned how to build a terrarium at e-how . The photo below is my second attempt at using the camera on manual and was edited with IrfanView. Of course, I have forgotten what aperture and speed I used! I have had my Canon G9 digital camera for just over a year. And just this week, I started using the manual settings on it. I have my husband to credit for my sudden urge to finally start exploring the manual settings . On our long walk last Tuesday, he suggested taking a night photo of the traffic. He gave me a general idea of what I needed to do and I was hooked. Wow, the possibilities! So the photo below is my first attempt at using the camera on manual and was edited with IrfanView. The T.V. tower in the background changes color based on tomorrow

Rainbow Cat ACEO

  Rainbow Cat I, aceo, small Painting . To view more cat paintings and aceos, please visit me at   http://GalleryJuana.etsy.com

SH and Eleanor Roosevelt

I just enjoyed several hours on youtube! I wanted to find some background information on the letters "s" and "h." Googling "sh" brought up Shallow Hal on youtube. After watching that movie I continued to surf the wonderland of youtube: first stop was Tony Robbins , then to Nelson Mandela , and onto Martin Luther King Jr. Somewhere along the way, I ran across an eerie but cool poetry video of Edna St. Vincent Millay . Wow, what an inspiring tour! I then remembered my Hero, Eleanor Roosevelt, and found her December 9, 1948 United Nations Address on the Adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Paris, France. Oh yes... my "sh" photo is a cropped version of the letters from "sky shuttle." Those words were below the metallic cones in my previous photo. For more shadow shots, please visit Hey Harriet's blog . Have a great Sunday!