MY WABI LIFE

18th CENTURY GERMAN ALMANAC

2011-04-11T23:40:00.000-04:00

I love old books and magazines, the look and feel of the paper, the images and recollections of a previous age. This book is a German almanac that is bound in sheep's hide. It was given to me by my father. Click on each image for a larger view.

It is filled with fashion images, hair styles, recipes, an almanac, calendar, stories, facts about the planets, and other useful information for the well-bred 18th century person.

MANIPULATING KALEIDOSCOPE IMAGES

2011-02-21T12:54:00.004-05:00

I like to take the kaleidoscope images and run them through the various PHOTOSHOP filters.

This image was manipulated in the "colored pencil" filter.

This image came from the "poster edges" filter.

This image was achieved from the "rough pastel" filter

This image came from the "water color" filter

FRACTURING THE IMAGE

2011-02-14T12:53:00.001-05:00

A camera can reveal a lot by extending my vision and fracturing the image. I have a child's kaleidoscope that I hold up to the camera lens and click away. That helps to abstract images.

FLOWERS

2011-01-12T18:29:00.001-05:00

This winter has brought flowers

Snow flowers in the trees,

and

ice flowers in the pond.

ST. MARCOS

2010-12-01T19:51:00.000-05:00

Any quilter who has visited the cathedral of St. Marcos in Venice can't help but be inspired by the tile floors. Each marble tile has a separate pattern and color. The repeated patterns are wonderful.

PARTIAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN

2010-11-17T14:50:00.001-05:00

ONE DAY THERE WAS A PARTIAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN,

THE ECLIPSE LEFT WONDERFUL SHADOWS ON THE SIDEWALK.

I AM EXCITED BY THE LAYERING OF THE SHADOWS, THE DRY LEAVES,

THE GRASS AND THE TEXTURE OF THE SIDEWALK

THE MARRIED ROCKS

2010-10-15T19:49:00.000-04:00

One day on my way to Ise we stopped to see the Married Rocks. I always loved the poetic idea of married rocks and married trees so I had to see the rocks for myself.

In Kyoto on the next flea market day, I found this picture of Japanese tourists at the married rocks. I was very happy!

MAKING REPEAT PATTERNS

2010-09-04T21:00:00.001-04:00

I enjoy repeating photographs and teaching others to make repeats.
I use Adobe Photoshop for all the repeats. Photoshop has a lot of wonderful functions and filters that can be used to significantly change an image. I look for interesting elements in an image that can create a pattern.

Lotus repeat from photograph

Accented edges

Cut out

Plastic wrap

Photograph of water hyacinth

Repeat of actual photograph

Repeat with edges

Here is a repeat using the lotus with the accented edges. The beauty of repeated patterns is the secondary and tertiary patterns that can be achieved. Then it is simple to find the primary, secondary and ground patterns.

Side to side repeat

Half drop repeat

Saturated colors

Lotus leaves

Lotus leaves repeated

MY SABI GARDEN

2010-08-25T15:54:00.000-04:00

This is my garden and pond SESERAGI. It is the end of August and my garden is starting to turn. Now it is at the moment of the achievement of perfection before September, and the beginning of decline and decay.

SAKURAN

2010-08-15T19:59:00.000-04:00

I really enjoyed this Japanese movie "Sakuran". It is a story that takes place in the Yoshiwara (geisha) district of Tokyo. It is glorious eye candy. Although the reviews in Japan were mostly negative, I loved the overall use of red, gorgeous kimono, beautiful flower arrangements, great sound track, and scene after scene that looked like Japanese prints. The original story comes from a manga (Japanese comic book). If you can find a copy with English subtitles, watch it it's worth while. Hopefully it will be on Netflix soon.

http://www.ovguide.com/movies_tv/sakuran.htm

http://www.amazon.com/Heisei-Fuzoku-Sheena-Ringo/dp/B000O76UNK/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1281916603&sr=1-2-fkmr0

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

COW DUNG

2010-08-04T22:38:00.000-04:00

In India cow dung is very important. It is used as fuel to fire pottery, for cooking and to insulate houses and when other resources are scarce. Mixed by hand with straw it is dried on walls and built into stacks. It is a renewable resource.

CHARPOY

2010-04-03T18:15:00.000-04:00

A Charpoy is a bed or cot used in India. It has a wooden frame with woven webbing for the top. Some charpoys have very decorative webbing others are quite simple.

I took these pictures when I lived in India for 9 months researching Indian textiles. The pictures were taken in Shrikalahasti, Andra Pradesh.

CHARPOY from * on Vimeo.

SACRED TREES

2010-03-01T22:37:00.000-05:00

THANGKAS OF THE WISHING TREE

Trees have natural divinity. The abode of gods and spirits, the living cosmic tree reaches into both upper and lower spheres of the ritual universe, defining their position with respect to everyday experience and serving to symbolize the path that the soul-mind-awareness must take during ritual. The sacred tree appears in many forms of religious belief, from the cross of Christianity to the central pole of the plains Indian Sundance lodge. The single cottonwood pole which stands at the heart of the Sundance Lodge represents the link between the earth and sky realms and the four winds or directions.

In Japan, trees are objects of reverence and especially so if they are of great age or size, or otherwise remarkable for their shape. Such trees are known as Shimboku, divine trees and distinguished by a hemp rope being wound around their trunk. Besides trees noted for their age, magic or stature the prestigious category of trees rated desirable by the Japanese also compromises those trees whose grain has been veined by the action of insects. These were employed in the building of temples, shrines, palaces and the houses of wealthy citizens.

As a rule the surface was left unworked and any natural irregularities were made visible. Artistic treatment of the surface was hardly ever permitted. In the scrolls and screens the pine is one of the trees most commonly depicted. It is considered the symbol of longevity constancy and self discipline. since it is able to withstand the cold and does not shed its needles. It's gnarled growth formed by wind, rain, sun and snow, was of perpetual fascination to the artists of China and Japan.

In India there are many sacred trees and spirits are thought to reside in them.

Trees from Nuapatna, Orissa, India

Tree with snake stones Nuapatna, India

Tree with offerings of necklaces and a ceramic pot for milk.

Stone carving from a temple in Bhubaneswar,

Orissa, India

Palampore images are of the Tree of Life. A palampore is a type of hand-painted and mordant-dyed bed cover that was made in India for the export market during the eighteenth century and very early nineteenth century.

Palampore patterns were usually very complex and elaborate, depicting a wide variety of plants, flowers, and animals, including peacocks, elephants, and horses. Because a palampore was hand-created, each design is unique.

Concrete tree, Puri, Orissa, India

Lattice carving, Forbidden City, Beijing, China

M. Joan Lintault Uncoiling Snakes, Hand dyed, screen painted cotton, appliqué, hand painted, quilted, sewing machine lace, beads. 81.5 x 81.5 in, 207 x 207 cm.

THE MUSIC IN MY HEAD, BEHIND MY EYES

2010-02-20T16:28:00.000-05:00

"Samidare" means "Early summer rain"
photo by shashingar-z
The singing group "HIFUMI"

Thank you Tereya Cafe for the link.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tereya-Cafe/120212699420
http://tere-ya.at.webry.info/

DAWN TILL DUSK

2010-01-18T12:39:00.000-05:00

Fog and morning dew

Fill the cool and silent woods

At the crack of dawn.

Dorothy (Alves) Holmes

On this New Year's day

Each thought a loneliness

As winter dusk descends.

Basho

THE SMALL HOUSE IN THE BACK GARDEN

2009-11-19T10:37:00.000-05:00

Seseragi my garden, has a Japanese tea house overlooking the pond. During the warm weather everyone likes to sit on the engawa and feed the fish. (The engawa is similar to the Western porch or veranda.) Today the pond is frozen and cold. The fish are at the very bottom hibernating until the spring. When the water reaches 50 to 55 degrees they will swim drunkenly to the surface. I sit and wait for them and count them hoping that they all make it through the winter.

SESERAGI

2009-09-19T20:18:00.000-04:00

I call my garden and pond seseragi. Seseragi means a murmuring stream, a hidden stream, or the sound that a stream makes when tumbling over rocks. For me, seseragi is the most beautiful sound in the world.

MY GARDEN SESERAGI

2009-09-05T15:20:00.000-04:00

My garden Seseragi was inspired by Rakushisha "The Hut of Fallen Persimmons" that was owned by Basho's disciple Kyorai. Basho was a poet who visited Rakushisha three times. In Western eyes he is known as the haiku poet. He is the archetype of Japanese poets and poetry. AWAKE AT NIGHT Awake at night-- the sound of the water jar cracking in the cold. ................ FIRST DAY OF SPRING First day of spring-- I keep thinking about the end of autumn. Basho

WABI

2009-09-02T21:46:00.000-04:00

Wabi refers to simplicity and tranquility as guidelines for living, provides the ideal philosophical foundation for life....It is the most suitable and the most satisfying physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. Quote from Elements of Japanese Design, by Boye Lafayette De Mente Wabi stems from the root wa, which refers to harmony, peace, tranquillity, and balance. Generally speaking, wabi had the original meaning of sad, desolate, and lonely, but poetically it has come to mean simple, unmaterialistic, humble by choice, and in tune with nature. Someone who is perfectly herself and never craves to be anything else would be described as wabi.