Japanese folklore
The restriction of using black and red for my sketches has got the Japanese theme to stick. And it's lead me to research Japanese art more which I've always been interested in but never appreciated it for it's influence on art that appeals to me. Craft and precision are the most common attributes when thinking about Japanese art.
These two sketches appeal to me because of the energy captured. The complex network of the tree internet needs to be a busy layer of infinite connections.
These diagrams could be used as a repeated pattern
A whole page in the book just for a busy pattern?
Trees relationship with people
I now want to focus on trees' importance through history up until now for humans. I will explore the mythical, ancient folklore more specifically in Japan as my gut instinct feels this is an interesting path I want to know more about.
Tone of my story so far?
Informative/mark making/symbols/Japanese aesthetic/diagrams/communication
I want to connect two areas that interest me
Trees talking to each other & the spiritual connection between people and trees
I now want to try ask what our relationship with trees is now and if we have lost the ancient relationship
I had these books to hand and they were a huge help in learning about the traditional Japanese approach to image making
The Great Japan Exhibition had many drawings of trees and seasonal illustrations of blooming plants and cherry blossom. Cherry blossom have a brief period of blossoming and symbolise the 'fleeting beauty' of life itself and are given offerings and eventually became the hanami party, a festival of celebration held for centuries. Japanese Women Artists had some beautiful, delicate drawings and both books highlighted how important trees are in Japanese culture as symbols of beauty and how respected they are.
Trees in Japanese Culture
I researched the history of trees' in Japanese mythology and discovered the Kodama which are spirits that live within the trees. The spirits take the form of a tree and supposedly bleed if they are cut down. People would and still do (Izu Islands) pray and worship to the trees especially before cutting one down to avoid being cursed by the spirit.
Spirituality
I want to explore this spirituality more as I am totally scientific in my views and have no belief system but want to see understand the spiritual connection to nature people can have as I have a love of nature too and also want to continue including people in my illustrations.
I've done a few portraits using biro
I'm definitely developing my drawing technique to a point where I can express myself better, remembering the experiments in visual language.
No comments:
Post a Comment