Andalucía

My friend and I made our farewell trip to Andaluía, Spain. We needed the bright happy sun. Spain was beautiful. The buildings have white bare walls with mustard coloured frames and black decorative fences and they all shine in the sun!

Glorieta Curro Romeo
I don't know how many hours we spent looking at this scenery talking about art and beauty and life and ethic. Orange trees were everywhere in Seville. I realised that how vegetation can change the atmosphere of the place. Seville looked tropical with the palm trees, bougainvillea, trees with entwined roots.

セビリアの理髪師のロジーナが顔を出すバルコニー

We also spent quite a long time under the huge wood structure looked like mushrooms, the Metropol Parasol. This is a sketch from there. Lots of tiles are used in the buildings. Lapis lazuli colour matches very well with the mustard frames.

We also visited Cordoba for a day. We found this lovely alley way with geranium hanging from the windows and started to sketch. While we were in the middle of drawing, a young man from the nearby hotel came out and asked us if we would like to see and sketch the roof top view of the city.

So some minutes later we found ourselves sitting in a comfortable chair with cushion on a terrace under a parasol. Thank you so much!

Lavenham

My friend kindly took us around to some beautiful fairly tale villages, Clare, Long Melford, Lavenham and Kersey in Suffolk. Many houses are painted in yellow and pink and orange, quiet version of Burano island, and either have pargeting or Timber-framed.

The houses are all leaning this way and that way because the timbers have moved over the century but they are still standing firmly and people are actually living in there! This is what I really love about here. Old buildings are not just kept as historical attractions or museums. So many of them are still used as somebody's daily home and because of that they are lively.

Although they are all in different bright colour and sitting right next to each other, somehow they look so pretty. It maybe because the colour are actually in quite similar shade and tone with lots of white in it.

Roma

After Bologna, we headed down to Rome. I love the funny shaped pine trees!

"Where do you live?"
"...Colosseum..."

ちょうど3月はじめに見に行った「トスカ」の第三幕の舞台、サンタンジェロ城。
先週、BBCラジオのプッチーニについての特集番組で、プッチーニは「トスカ」を作る際、写実を徹底しようとローマを訪れて、地理を把握したり、街で鳴る鐘を聞いたりと、さまざまなリサーチをしたというエピソードが語られていた。サンタンジェロ城からトスカが身を投げても、テベレ川までは距離があるので、川に落ちることはあり得ない、などという点まで言及しているらしい。
自然科学をベースにしつつお話を作ろうと思うと、話としておもしろくまとまるラインと、科学として正しいラインを維持するのに苦労する。写実主義の芸術家は、誰でも抱える悩みなのかもしれない。

And of all the amazing things in Rome, the Cappella Sistina was something beyond comparison. When I think back I can still feel the great, powerful atmosphere under the paintings and still hear the low voice saying "silent please!"

Now the Italy trip, one of the last and the biggest events of my pretend student days, is over. I need to move on and step forward somehow!

Bologna Book Fair

The Bologna Children's Book Fair was inspiring as it was two years ago! It was very much overwhelming. There were so many publishers from all over the world displaying thousands of wonderful picture books of all kinds. And there were so many illustrators with big portfolios and when they open them, I could peek their beautiful, strong, artworks.
But this time I found myself not just being overwhelmed but enjoying a lot more, knowing what to do!

The first thing we did after arriving the fair was to go to this year's Illustrator's Exhibition and find our amazing classmate, Zack Rock's artwork! Congratulations Zack for entering the exhibition!


This is our Cambridge School of Art stand, which was always nicely crowded thanks to all the visitors. Thank you so much Pam Smy, Marta Altés and other volunteer members for organising the stand!
It was so nice to see many people from our course especially from my year and to be able to catch up with them. We have Bologna Book Fair for the reason to get together even though we got separated in different part of the world after the course. We should really meet up in Bologna in every few years!

And the web gallery of our school's stand has just opened!

It was also great to know that Japanese illustrators were doing so well at the Bologna Book Fair. This year 16 people entered the Illustrator's Exhibition and Satoe Tone won the International Award for Illustration! Congratulations! The Japanese TALENTS exhibition was held in the city of Bologna during the book fair, which showed original artworks from picture books by 21 artists, including Taro Miura and Ayano Imai, who became famous after discovered at the Bologna Book Fair some years ago. And I can not remember how many Japanese illustrators I came across at the fair!

Now I am so motivated to work!!

海の都

Before the Bologna Children's Book Fair, we visited Venezia again! I was so excited to go there because I had started to read an amazing book about the history of Venice, Storia della Repubblica di Venezia by Nanami Shiono.

Venezia from Lido. I learned from the Shiono's book that the Campanile at the piazza San Marco used to be lighted at night for the ships coming in from the Adriatic sea passing Lido inlet. This must be the first sight of Venezia that seamen saw, coming back from their voyage.

ベネチアのラグーンは水深5メートルほどの浅瀬が多く、至る所に船を誘導する杭が打たれている。
フランク族を迎え撃ったベネチア人は、こういう杭をすべて引き抜き後退し、潮が引くのをまって小舟に乗り換え、大勝利を収めたという。

Murano
This time we also visited Murano and Burano, beautiful islands!

This time I somehow didn't manage to make any nice sketches. It was too cold and raining!
In Venice all the campo and campiello (squares) have a well or two called Pozzo. But these are not for pumping ground water but for collecting rainwater and purifying it. Venice has available water but Venetian could not use it because pumping ground water causes land sinking. Shiono also writes that until 12 century everyone in a parrocchia (parish), rich and poor, used the same water from the same pozzo.

Making dummy books

Bologna Children's Book Fair is just around the corner!
This year, my works will be on the Cambridge School of Art stand again and also I am going to the fair myself!
Yesterday, I submitted my portfolio and dummy books to the school and they will go on a van, heading off to Italy together with all the other students' and graduates' amazing works.

Cover images for two of my new stories. Both of them still have many pencil sketches but I at least managed to bind them.

Some inside pages. We had to make three copies each per story idea for the stand. So for the last few days, I was cutting and pasting from three thirty in the morning, getting so many paper cut! But now they are done!

Please visit our stand and see our works if you are at the Bologna Children's Book Fair.

お祭り

Last weekend was my uni's school festival. I don't know if this is Japan's unique culture or not but most of schools in Japan (from elementary schools to universities) have a school festival in autumn. Students run food stalls, exhibition, haunted house and music concert. For the university clubs, this is the best time for fund raising for their activities.
I don't think there was anything similar at Anglia Ruskin University...

農工祭の名物、耕地の会の芋きんつば。ついつい並んでしまった。そして暇だったのでスケッチ。

ピート

Peat for fuel
燃料用のピート（泥炭）の山。土壌生態管理学の授業で出てきたやつだ！　今思えば農工大時代は、生活する中で出くわすトピックをいろいろ勉強した。こうやって現物が見られるのはやっぱりうれしい。
ピートは、低気温の湿地帯では、いまも燃料として使われている。燃やすと燻製のようなおいしそうなにおいがして、大地を感じる。ただ現実的には、泥炭は年間1ミリしか堆積しないので再生可能なエネルギーとは言い難く、しかも泥炭が固定していた二酸化炭素を一気に大量に放出することになるようだ。ローカルにちょっとずつ利用している分には、許容される範囲なのかもしれないけれど、なかなか難しい問題だ。

Heather moorland

My Japanese friends came to visit me and we traveled up to Yorkshire moors together. Heather was in full bloom.

Ilkley Moor
We wandered around the moor for hours.

"it’s just miles and miles and miles of wild land that nothing grows on but heather and gorse and broom, and nothing lives on but wild ponies and sheep.”
“I feel as if it might be the sea, if there were water on it,” said Mary.
from The Secret Garden

ハワースから「嵐が丘」の館が建つ場所だとされるTop Withens へも雨と濃い霧の中、ムーアをハイキングしてきた。一瞬、霧が晴れたけれど、スゲの荒野の他は何もない。キャシーとヒースクリフの亡霊がさまよっていると言われれば納得する景色だ。廃墟は羊たちが我が物顔にしていた。

カラフトライチョウのイギリス産亜種であるRed Grouseがたくさんいた。
We often scared red grouses and were surprised by them flying off suddenly.

Keighley steam engine train station to Worth valley. It looked exactly what you would imagine as a railway station in literature!

Snow Globe

It was one of the days when I sneaked into my grandfather's study room when I found the peculiar snow globe. It was sitting on the bookshelf in between his old books. I wouldn't have noticed that the snow globe was different from the ordinary one if I didn't pick it up and shake it. But I did and found that the snow in the globe was in cross shape and had two black dots.

"That was a souvenir from my brother."
My grandfather was standing at the door and watching me.
"I'm sorry...to come into your room." I jumped and apologized.
"That's all right. You see the island in the globe. That is where it snows in summer. I guess it should be snowing over there at the moment," he said.

The farewell evening

On the last day, I went to Aberlady bay with a few others to sketch but since the weather was not that nice and there were only a few waders far away, we came back early.
But I decided to go out again to the North Berwick harbor with my sketchbook.

I wanted to continue the incredible week...

In rain

The weather forecast for that day was very bad but since it was not raining in the morning, some of us went to St. Abbs head again. It was foggy and windy.

When I had just finished the first wash on this painting, it started drizzling. And of course, the rain drops made marks on the wet colour. The paper got wet as if I misted it with spray water. Colours started to run and had no chance to dry. I had to put the painting quickly into a car.
But this is, in fact, one of my favorite pictures during the course!


The pink flowers at the front are thrifts. In Cicely Mary Barker's fairly series, "T" (for Ting) is a cute pink thrift fairly looking at sea and I used to love it. And just yesterday, my friend found the flower fairly book at the market and got it for me! Thank you!

Midsummer camping days

I brought up a tent with me, which my friend kindly lend me and camped for the week of the drawing course at caravan and camping park. I was a little nervous before I started the journey but once I set a tent, it was fine and actually... very nice! Every night I would come back to the campsite past ten o'clock and have shower afterward but the sky was still bright at midsummer in Scotland. I doubt that I used my head light more than three times. And every morning I would automatically wake up once at around four because it was so bright again. Although even I decided to go back to sleep for another an hour or so...

But I managed to spend some mornings sitting on the beach, watching birds and drawing. I loved that quiet time to think and be excited about the day a head.
チューターの話の中で、紙の大きさや形に構図が自ずと左右されるというものがあった。横長の紙があったとき、真ん中に線があるだけで、左右をそれぞれ一ページとしてみるため、構図がかわると言う。考えてみると、わたしは最近よくスケッチブックを見開き一ページで使っており、中央の綴じ代を意識して絵を描いている。どうも絵本というメディアが頭の片隅みに住み着いてきているらしい。

Scotland

I have just come back from an amazing trip to Scotland. I had been looking forward to this trip and joining the Seabird Drawing Course 2012 by John Busby for months and months. I spent one of the most fulfilling days but at the same time, they went by so quickly.

The first thing I did when I arrived in Edinburgh was to climb up to Arthur's Seat in Holyrood park. I was so happy holding a nice whole baguette which my friend had brought from her work for me. The gorse bushes were bright golden yellow.

The next day my friend's friend kindly took me to RSPB Vane Farm Nature Reserve at Loch Leven. It was raining and drizzling all the time but we saw quite a lot of birds. The cattle came across the water to say hello to us in the hide!

Black-headed Gull at the nest. ユリカモメ

エジンバラでも最も安い宿であろうBelford Hostelのキッチン。古い教会をユースホステルに変えたもので、礼拝堂をアーチごとに仕切って部屋を作っている。その小さな部屋に6人分のバンクベッドが入っているのだから本当に狭い！　しかもわたしが泊まった部屋には、大学を卒業し就職先を探しているという子が3人長期滞在していた。光熱費や敷金を考えると部屋を借りるより安いという計算らしい。わたしだって一歩間違えれば同じような生活をしていたかもしれないと思い、居候させてもらっている家主に改めて感謝した。

The End of a Voyage

"Land is in sight!" the able seaman called out with the binoculars in her hands.
Soon after the Captain commanded, "Prepare to enter the port. Get the anchor ready!"

The Spectrum arrived in port safely and is cleaned up. All the crews and ship cargo had landed. A voyage had ended.


Thank you so much for the pleasant voyage, ladies! We shall prepare for the next one soon!

イタリアの夢

Lovely sunshine is coming through my window.
A sunny day in Cambridge just like in Italy.
Bologna Children's Book Fair started today and I am dreaming of Italia. I wonder what my Little Brown is doing over there.

Sketches of Venice from last year that I missed the chance to upload.
I always dream about living by the river or canal and going out by boat. Although now after hearing about the flood in Bangkok last October, I know that it is not always fancy and comes with danger of being flooded. But it is still amazing and exciting idea to live on the water.

Remember last year? We were by the Piazza San Marco doing nothing but sitting and sketching in the sun.