Opening Weekend – Ridgefield Art Walk 2016 (8/19 -9/11)

日本語 It was the opening weekend of the 2016 Art Walk, here in Ridgefield, Connecticut. On 8/19 (Fri), artists who were selected for this art event had opening receptions at all the restaurants, stores and the town hall in the downtown in the evening. The Ridgefield Guild of Artists, the organization my husband and I belong to and the organizer of this event, had…

Memorial Day Weekend in Jim Thorpe, PA

日本語 Memorial Day weekend is officially the start of summer vacation season in the United States. Last year, we spent the weekend in Camden, Maine. We still lived in Massachusetts back then, so it took only a couple of hours to get there. This year, however, we had to think of going to somewhere else because we live in Connecticut now. It would take…

Acrobat – The First Time to See a Circus

日本語 I went to see a circus with my 4 year old daughter and my husband a couple of weeks ago. It was the first time for my daughter and me to see a circus live! I have never thought that it would be so exciting. It was also visually very appealing. The movements of acrobat artists looked even more dynamic with colored spot…

Dandelions on the Sidewalk in Camden, Maine

  日本語 This was my first attempt to paint dandelions. I found these dandelions on the sidewalk of the shopping street in Camden, Maine in last May. I was spending a holiday weekend in Camden with my family and it was still a little bit chilly there. When I was walking along the street, these dandelions caught my attention right away. They were bigger…

Wisteria

  日本語 I just felt like painting another Japanese flowers. Wisteria can be typically seen in larger parks in Japan. When I was a child, I liked walking under a wisteria trellis to smell the sweet flower fragrance. It was a little more work than I thought to paint these flowers. I had to paint many layers of colors to depict the texture of…

Watercolor Pencil Sketches from 90’s

  日本語 I happened to find my old sketchbook and a set of 12 watercolor pencils I bought in England when I was still a college student. Oh my, it is over 20 years ago! I was an English major student in Japan and participated in an overseas seminar in England. I was not much of a painter back then. Instead of buying a…

Art as a Therapy – Beyond the Sorrow

  日本語 It is finally spring. For me, it is time to get ready for spring art shows. I usually enter something that fits the season of the art show. In Japan, cherry blossoms are the first thing that comes to people’s mind when they think of spring.  At this time of the year I always remember and long for the beauty of cherry…

Snow Landscape Paintings, Inspired by the Garden Views of Our Former House in Massachusetts

日本語 This is the very first blog in 2016. Belated Happy New Year! It has gotten very cold here in Connecticut. The temperature went down to 14 Fahrenheit (or minus 10 Celsius) a couple days ago. I could not resist and rushed to the North Face store to buy a nice down jacket. The store was full of people. North Face down jackets are…

Christmas in West Chester, Pennsylvania

日本語 Time seems to fly faster in December. While I was participating in some December art shows in Connecticut, I was also busy with Christmas shopping and planning what to do during the holidays. In addition to the art shows in CT, a couple of my paintings were also on display until 12/22 in this show in West Chester, PA, “$300 and Under” ,…

My First Appearance in Connecticut-Art Show at Mark Twain Library

日本語 It is December! Yes, it is the holiday season and time for Christmas shopping. Therefore, there are many art shows for sales in December. After I moved to Connecticut from Massachusetts, I started searching for local art shows so that I can “debut” here in Connecticut. The first one I found was this annual art show (12/5 – 12/13) at Mark Twain Library…

Good Bye, Massachusetts and Hello, Connecticut!

日本語 I just moved to Danbury, Connecticut from Franklin, Massachusetts in mid-October. It has been a bit crazy before and after the move. I had no time to paint for a while. Now that my little one started going to a new preschool, I finally got time to breathe. This allowed me to look back at the 2.5 years I spent in MA. The…