Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Another Opportunity from Open Studio Press

Hi All,
Below is a call for entries for artists of all mediums. A great opportunity to publish your work! I am now experiencing first hand what all my mentors have been telling me...it is becoming difficult to balance making art, documenting it and showing it, with work, paying bills, friends, travel and family. Making the work is not a problem, in fact that is all I want to do...it's the documenting and submitting that is hard for me! Any suggestions?

The live link isn't working for me right now so just visit www.studiovisitmagazine.com for submissions guidelines...sorry about that!

Hope all is well.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

A Weekend in Kyoto

Last weekend, I made the trek out to Kyoto with my brother and his friend. We left at 5:30 in the morning and took the bullet train, making it there in two and a half hours! I got to see Mt. Fuji and then fell fast asleep.
Kyoto used to be the capital of Japan, and although it isn't any longer it still holds a lot of really historic feeling from when it was. The overall feeling of Kyoto is much different than Tokyo. Over the course of two days we visited about ten temples, 8 Gardens, a castle, walked through a bamboo forest, saw real live geisha, and a whirlwind of other great events.
My brother and I both agree that we can't believe it had only been two days, it felt like we saw a week's worth of sites! The highlight was a hall that was filled with over a thousand statues that were guarding one huge Buddha right in the center. I can't post a picture because we weren't allowed to take any, but below are some pictures to give you a sense of our trip. Enjoy!







Monday, January 14, 2008

Greetings from Tokyo!

Hi All,
Greetings from Tokyo! I arrived six days ago and have seen an incredible amount, almost all of the major spots in Tokyo, and then alot of the hidden gems. I am travelling alone so I can take my time and go wherever I want. My brother lives in Tokyo so I do always have a place to go back to which can be a tricky part of traveling. I do miss my studio but my brother had a spot all set up for me when I got here that I use as a painting area. My first day I walked around his neighborhood (Azabu Juban) and Roppongi Hills, in the last week I have also visited Asakusa with famous temples, Shibuya with a famous crosswalk that hundreds of people cross at a time, as well as places like the Tsukijui fish market (gross but awesome) and a huge beautiful garden that used to serve as a duck hunting pond and retreat for the royal families. I had tea in a teahouse that sat right on the water...Ulysses S. Grant visited there during his presidency to discuss "the state of the world"! and the only Parasite museum in the world. It's great! I also ate beef tongue last night!
More updates later, below is a picture of me in Kamakura. Enjoy!