linger

I've been invited to take part in a fantastic group exhibition at the 14th Moon Gallery in Osaka, Japan, called 「手から手へ」"from Hand to Hand". It will be on from Monday 17th June - Tuesday 25th June (closed on Sunday). 

Following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, a group of Japanese illustrators decided to organise this exhibition, asking the question: "What will our future be after the tsunami catastrophe and nuclear disaster?". Numerous galleries across Europe and Japan have been taking part, each gallery with its own theme. 

Our theme is "Standing", and here is my piece for it, titled "Linger".

Below is the postcard for the 14th Moon Gallery.

You can find more information about the whole exhibition here.

postcards for sale!

I've just listed 2 sets of 4 postcards for sale in my Etsy shop! You can find them here and here.

exhibition ends...

So my exhibition at the 14th moon Galerie Centennial finally ended a couple of days ago.

My huge thanks to friends and family who sent me emails and photos from their visit! So nice to see the exhibition through different eyes, and to hear their thoughts. A special thank you to Masae-chan and Deko-san, whose pictures I have posted here on my blog :)

Ooh, looks busy!

My postcards sold out!

Oh look, there's my comments book!! I am most looking forward to getting this back, to hear the thoughts of everyone who visited the show.

Ibe-san from the gallery has also told me I've sold a painting (hooray! I wonder where it's new home will be?), and there is some possible exciting news, but I don't want to say anything until I know for sure...

the exhibition!!

Here are some photos of the exhibition space, kindly taken and sent to me by Mr Ibe of the 14th Moon Gallery. It's so strange and exciting to see all the work now in place, hanging in the space that I could only imagine from my messy little studio in London.

I hope people will pop in to have a look!!

The gallery website has added a couple more pictures to my post. You can see them here.

14th Moon part 3

These pieces were also difficult to translate, so I didn't for most of them...

The title of my exhibition is "おはなしの森" (Ohanashi no mori), which roughly means "The forest of stories".

"銀河鉄道" (Gingatetsudou)

"わたり鳥" (Wataridori)

"ぞうの丘" (Elephant hill)

"カシオペア" (Cassiopeia)

"やどりぎのまり" (Yadorigi no mari)

14th Moon part 2

I didn't do so well with translating these titles - it's tricky as different languages can completely change the feeling of a word.

"あやとり" (Ayatori)

"コン" (Kon)

"コンのしっぽはせかいいち" (The best in all the world)

"しっぽ" (Tails)

"すかんぼ" (Sukanbo)

"電柱" (Denchuu)

"輪まわし" (Wamawashi)

"椿" (Tsubaki)

14th Moon part 1

For those who won't be able to make it to the 14th Moon gallery in Osaka, Japan (including myself...sniff...), here are the pieces one by one, with the titles in Japanese, loosely translated into English - the English titles are a bit weird!

"雨のすきま"　(The gap in the rain)

"雲ひつじ" (Sheep cloud)

"シャボン玉の森" (The forest of bubbles)

"シャボン玉" (Bubbles)

"まよなかのお客さん" (The midnight party)

"まよなかのバス" (Midnight bus)

"まよなかのタクシー" (Midnight taxi)

The three walls

Here are my pieces grouped together for the exhibition.

This is wall one, consisting of pictures inspired by the stories of Miyazawa Kenji. These canvases are roughly 40cmx50cm.

This is wall two. Canvases are 25cmx30cm. Inspired by the words of Aman Kimiko and Niimi Nankichi.

This is the third wall, inspired by the stories of Aman Kimiko.

20 pieces finished in 1 month...I don't know how I did it but I did! I'm enjoying a bit of time off these days yey :D

The pieces have reached the gallery safely (phew!), and the exhibition opens on Monday!!

metamorphosis!

Because of my indecisive nature, most of my paintings go through a LOT of changes, and sometimes turn into something completely different. I turn them on the side, upside down, trying to work out what they want to be.

This one here....

...ended up as this:

And the one on the right ended up as...

this!

postcards

Here are the postcards I ordered through moo.com. My photos are bad, but the prints came out pretty good, so I am pleased :) I've ordered some more, with 3 additional paintings - I'm not sure whether these will arrive in time to send to the exhibition...cutting it fine, as per usual!

I might add these postcards on my etsy shop soon. I've still got my Christmas cards on there...oh dear, I need to update!

nearly there...

These two canvases are what I have left to finish. In the last 3 weeks or so of solid hermit-ing and painting all day and night, I'm almost there!!! Hopefully, I will have 10 small canvases and 10 large ones for the exhibition. I don't think I've ever worked so hard in all my life! I've gone a bit weird spending so much time on my own in my little studio without much contact with the outside world...it's really not healthy!

Here's some other bits and bobs I've prepared for the exhibition: I got some business cards made by the brilliant moo.com. (I've smudged my details here in the photo). I've also made some postcards with them, and I'm really pleased with how they've come out. I'll post pics soon...

I've made a little comments book to have at the exhibition:

My name stamped on stickers:

My super messy desk!