My Recent Kintsugi Work

Happy 2020 to everyone from Japan! We are in our New Year’s holidays now.  I came back to update my blog constantly again!

Today I want to show you my recent kintsugi work.

This photo is from the bottom of a hand-painted piece that my Dresden teacher, Alfredo’s made  which was broken by the earthquake in 2018.

 

 

I bought these pieces at Gojyozaka porcelain festival last summer to fix them. When I bought them, they were broken pieces, and I got them very cheap.

The porcelain is called Kiyomizuyaki in Japanese, and the perfect ones are expensive.

 

 

 

 

The last one is an antique. I got this at an antique shop in Kyoto.

 

I think I am lucky to live close to Kyoto because the city is a porcelain city, and I can get lots of broken pieces for my kintsugi work.

 

A couple of weeks ago, I finished my first gintsugi work. Gintsugi is similar to kintsugi, but gintsugi is repaired  with silver instead of gold . You will see it soon!

If you don’t know about kintsugi, check out my previous blog entry.  You can learn about it more. https://sommerstein0411.wordpress.com/2019/08/14/kintsugi/ Thank you!

More information about kintsugi : https://mymodernmet.com/kintsugi-kintsukuroi/

See you around soon!

-Yumi

 

 

I Went Antiquing with My Friend in Kyoto

Hello there! How have you been so far?

I am excited that I finally can update my blog again, lol. Today I want to show some photos of Japanese porcelain shops. A friend of mine and I went antiquing in Kyoto and I took some photos there.

First, we stopped by an antique shop. Here you can see a bunch of Antique porcelain.

 

The shop owner was very nice and when I asked her to take some photos of the inside, she let me take some photos. So, I can show you them.

 

 

The shop owner explained to us that she has owned this shop for over thirty years. Most of the china here were made in the Edo period. It means they are 500 to 600 years old! Wow!!!

 

 

 

 

I bought some antique porcelain to practice Kintsugi techniques. Kintsugi is a part of our traditional techniques to fix broken porcelain. I started learning how to fix porcelain after the earthquake in Osaka.

Here you can learn about Kintsugi more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintsugi

After looking around the shop, we walked and found another nice shop.

This shop is not an antique shop.  I explained to a worker at the shop  that I was looking for some practice pieces for my Kintsugi techniques, and she told me that when I come back to the shop at the porcelain festival in summer, she can sell broken pieces for very cheap. Then, to contact me she wrote down my address and phone number on a piece of paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This corner is Kintsugi. I didn’t know that we can sell fixed pieces with the Kintsugi techniques. They were broken once and fixed with the Kintsugi techniques. So, we can use them again.

We ate Japanese noodle called Udon with some chicken tempura.

Since we were very close to Yasaka temple, I asked my friend to go there. That’s because I wanted to see and take some photos of cherry blossoms there.

 

 

Although the weather in Kyoto on the day was still cold, luckily we could see some cherry blossoms blooming.

 

We walked to the Teramachi street to see another antique shop. I didn’t take the shop photos, but I found beautiful cherry blossoms there and saw a maiko.

This shop is so-called Ochaya where Maiko and Geiko ( also called Geisya) are working. So, if we are lucky, we sometimes can see Maiko or Geiko.

 

 

Aren’t they pretty? I really love cherry blossoms with a river. The scene is the best!!

All the sudden, my friend and I saw a maiko. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maiko

Nowadays, when you walk around in Kyoto, you can see fake Maiko or Geiko everywhere. They are tourists who are wearing a maiko costume or geiko costume. When you want to see a real one, you should come to the streets which have Ocyayas where they work for.　https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ochaya

The Maiko was a real one because she was walking alone with a plastic bag. We thought she had some errand to buy something. We chased her, lol to take some photos.

 

 

She was too fast for us to follow even though she was wearing a kimono and we couldn’t see her face. This also made us think she was a professional one.  Usually people can’t walk fast when they wear a kimono.

I had a great time with my friend in Kyoto. She and I will go some antique shows and I will introduce them on my blog soon.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog!

This year I want to focus on creating my own style of art and probably it’s hard for me to show my pieces. Even so, I will try to show my practice pieces on my blog!

-Yumi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two Sets of Imari Plates with Vegetable Patterns

Hi, friends!

It’s getting colder here where I live in Japan, and how’s your place?  I love Japanese Autumn and I’m planning on writing about it on my another blog! If you don’t know about my another one, please check it out!

Today I want to show my last piece of “Go for Gold!”. My last one is a Imari plate.

My Imari Plate for Go for Gold

I painted  various veggies and tried to create Olympic games for veggies. I hope when you look at the plates, if they seemed to be playing against each other, I would be very happy.

My Imari Plate for Go for Gold, Imary Style, Japanese Style

My Imari Plate for Go for Gold

My Imari Plate for Go for Gold

My Imari Plate for Go for Gold

I would like to say,  “Participating in the contests is wonderful. I participated in the Facebook contest and it’s my first time to attend the contest in porcelain in my entire life. I didn’t win, and I wasn’t chosen for the best 6 winners either, but I felt happy feelings a lot form the competition. That’s because I learned a lot through painting following the theme. It’s a really great opportunity for me to improve my creativity and painting skills at the same time. I know painting for the competition is very hard, but we can get something wonderful from the competition! Getting award isn’t the only purpose for the convention. We can improve ourselves as well as a better human. I’d love to attend a lot of competitions from now on as many as I can to improve my painting skills and creativity. I know some day I can become a better painter whom I really would love to become! Attending competition will help me a lot! I hope many people join your competition!”

Thank you so much for taking a look at my competition pieces and thank you so much for leaving a lot of warm comments, my friends! Thanks to you, I’ve been encouraged and can keep my motivation for creating new work.

I learned a lot of things through this Facebook competition, and I really would love to participate in a lot of contests as many as I can from now on to improve my painting skills. My next competition is Thai convention and it’s two weeks from now. I will report about the convention later!

A Nabeshima Plate for Spring!

Hi, there! How are you doing today? I’m really excited because I will study abroad in America again to take a painting class at the Michigan school.

Tomorrow I will leave Japan and enroll in my dear American friend, Gay’s school. So, this entry is the last entry before I go to America.

I probably won’t be able to update my blog entries for a month.

Today’s entry is a Nabeshima again!

 

Front View of A Nabeshima Plate for Spring

 

Front View of A Nabeshima Plate for Spring

 

 

Rear View of a Nabeshima Plate for Spring

 

Rear View of a Nabeshima Plate for Spring

 

I will bring this plate to the international Canadian porcelain show. You can see this in my booth! I’m thinking if someone want this, I’d love to sell it.

I will sell some my hand-painted miniatures as well.  I also have two presentations there. I’m not good at speaking in English in public, and it makes me very nervous. However, I really hope I can meet many people there. If you see me, please speak to me!

A Nabeshima Plate For Matt

Hi, there! A bit long time no see!! How have you been? I started to prepare to study abroad in America again! A month from now I will enroll in my dear America friend, Gay’s painting school, the Michigan school! After school, Gay, my other dear friend, Emili and I will go to Canada to join the international porcelain painting show in Canada. I’m so excited! I can meet some my Canadian friends, Gloria, Sol, Pad and so on!!! I also can meet Akiko and Kay again at the Michigan school!!!

Today, I’d love  to show my newest work! It’s a Nabeshima plate. I painted it for my Texan friend. Let me introduce about him. He is one of my English teachers and my conversational partners. I have several good conversational partners and English teachers.  I met him at a language exchange site. He has been learning Japanese. I’ve been teaching him Japanese, in turn, he has been teaching me English. We have been talking on Skype almost every day for two hours for three years, I guess. I’ve never met him in person, but he is one of my closest friends. Since I’ve been learning American English, talking with him is so helpful and effective for me. He is really good at listening to someone’s stories, so I’ve been improving my speaking skills a lot.

He and I can talk about everything. Thinking back on our past conversations, I’ve asked him a lot of embarasseing phrases, expressions and swear words  that relates to sexual expressions that I can’t write down here like kids ask to their parents, lol. Every time he receives some questions from me, he has told me that it’s OK. I can ask anything to him because I’ve been learning English. I have to learn everything in English. I can ask him anything. I really think that he is a really good English teacher. It’s not an important thing for teachers to teach in one way. I really think that it’s also important for teachers to listen to their students stories. He is such a kind of teacher.

Since I wanted to show my appreciate to him, I painted the plate for him. Since I’ve known he is very interested in Japanese culture, I wanted to paint a Japanese plate. I copied it from an old Nabeshima plate. I hope he likes it.

A Front Side View of my Nabeshima Plate with a Japanese Imari Style

A Back Side View of My Nabeshima Plate with a Japanese Imari Style

A Back Side View of My Nabeshima Plate with a Japanese Imari Style

A Simple Pattern is the Best

I finished firing my Imari plates a couple days ago. I’ve fired my over glazed conditioned Imari plates with 780 degree Celsius. Although I’m Japanese, and I’m used to looking around many Japanese painting, somehow to paint with a Japanese style is the most difficult for me. I guess that’s because most of Japanese styles seem to be very simple, on the other hand they need high painting techniques for painting.

My Imari plate with a Takokarakusa pattern

My Imari plate with a Takokarakusa pattern

My Imari plate with a Takokarakusa pattern

My Imari plate with a Takokarakusa pattern

I love the old Japanese pattern, called “takokarakusa” in Japanese. I think we can see the similar pattern all over the word. It is called Arabesque in some European countries and Arabic countries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabesque

Although it is very interesting,  I sometimes receive some comments, “Your penwork is beautiful!”.  I haven’t penworked. All my painting except one are with some brushes including this Japanese painting style, an American style and a European style. Since our painting style were accepted to some European countries like German, they’ve changed our style. European painters have painted with our techniques with their pens, but we haven’t. All Japanese painting are painted with some Japanese brushes.

To tell you to the truth, I painted my first Takokarakusa plate with under glaze condition. However, it was broken.

My broken Takokarakusa plate

I was upset, shocked and disappointed at it a lot at the time. It takes a long time for me to paint the blue Takokarakusa.  Since I started to paint it again, I hope I can show it as soon as possible.

A Nabeshima Plate For My American Mom

I’d like to show my Nabeshima plate today. I painted it for my American mom! Yes, actually, I have three moms in America!!! I hope she loves it.

As you know, Nabeshima is a part of Imari paint. I copied it from an old Nabeshima. The red flowers are dandelions. I don’t know why they are red.

I will send it to my American mom as one of Christmas gifts. Although I can’t spend Christmas days with her and her family, instead of me, the plate will spend the time with them. I will meet her two months from now in America again! So, I don’t miss her. We can chat on Facetime with our iPads whenever we want. I really look forward to meeting her again next year! Miss you, Gay!

Front View of a Nabeshima Plate with a Japanese Painting Style, Imari Plate

Front View of A Nabeshima Plate with a Japanese Painting Style, Imari Paint

Front View of A Nabeshima Plate with a Japanese Painting Style, Imari Paint

Rear view of Nabeshima Plate with A Japanese Painting Style, Imari Paint

Rear view of Naveshima Plate with a Japanese Painting Style, Imari Paint

Rear View of a Nabeshima Plate with A Japanese Painting Style, Imari Paint

My Kakiemon Plates

I would like to show my Kakiemon today. Kakiemon is a part of Imari painting. Actually, I painted them three years ago. I still have some more Kakiemon that I haven’t shown on my blog entry.
My French friend who paints loves the Kakiemon style. So, I really wanted to show my Kakiemon to her. Since I prefer Sometuke and Nabeshima styles more in Imari painting, I haven’t practiced this style so much. However, I’d like to improve my Kakiemon, and I’d like to give my Kakiemon to my French friend. I’m happy she loves Japanese painting style! I hope she enjoys looking at my Kakiemon!!

Deer and Japanese Maple Leaves On a Kakiemon Plate

Deer On a Kakiemon Plate

Japanese Maple Leaves On A Kakiemon Plate

This is my favorite Kakiemon! I love this bird plate. I’m thinking that I’d like to paint this quail with a different design on the other plate!

A Quail on A Kakiemon Plate

A Quail on A Kakiemon Plate

A Quail on A Kakiemon Plate

My First Imari Matching Cup and Saucer Sets

I would like to show my first matching cup and saucer sets in Imari painting. Actually, I painted the sets for my British friend and his wife. He and I have been friends over for two years. He is the only person who has been teaching me British English.

Although I have been focusing on learning American English, and I started to take some painting classes in America, I am planning to go to England to take some painting classes some day. So, I would love to be able to understand both English.

Actually my British friend helped me a lot when I started my art blog. He encouraged me a lot to start the blog. I wanted to paint something for
him to appreciate him.

Before I sent them to him, I was very scared. I couldn’t help thinking if the sets might be broken. When I brought them to the Japanese post office, the officer told me that it might be dangerous for me to send them to England. However, he received them safely. He also thought that he
was very scared before he opened my package, and he shook it to make sure if they were broken.

This fall he will come to Japan to meet me in person and stay at my house for a while. I really can’t wait to meet him!

My Fenghuang Painting

Hi, friends. How are you doing? We have been having hot days in Japan. I almost start to melt because of this hot weather!
I hope everybody is fine and enjoy the summer season.

I would like to show my fenghuang bird today. It was came from China, and it is not a real bird.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenghuang
However, Japanese artists love painting and creating the statue of the birds. You can look at the most famous statue at the top of the Kinkau temple roof in Kyoto. It is one of the most beautiful temples in Japan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinkaku-ji

I painted it with a Imari painting style. Red colors and blue colors combinations are quite common in Imari painting. I added some gold on my plate. You can look at the mark, 卍　on my plate. It is the mark as auspicious omens motif in Buddhism.