September 20, 2017

About boxed, balance and beautiful things

Tigger enjoying some sunshine in the tatami room before the house was taken over by 388 boxes...

Wow, I didn't realize it had been this long since my last post! We have been slowly adjusting to life here in Nagoya. Two weeks ago our boat shipment arrived, this meant that our tiny Japanese home was flooded with 388 boxes delivered in four separate trucks by 12 impeccably dressed Japanese movers. I have to say that I was really impressed with the movers here in Japan, there were exactly on time, covered every single surface in the house with bubble wrap and blankets, were really polite and courteous and they handled out things with great care and efficiency, oh and they were finished at 2pm! The minimal effort and carelessness of the movers we dealt with in Montréal was seriously sad and almost laughable in comparison.



For a little while the house was a little full, 388 boxed can be a bit overwhelming in a Japanese home, but after two weeks of hard work everything has found its place and our home feels like home again :) Both my studio and office are up and running, I'm actually typing this blogpost sitting behind my own desk in my own desk chair! If you had seen this room a week ago you would understand why that feels like a huge accomplishment ;)

 Hubby built me some lovely new shelves to hold my paints <3


In between all the boxed and the craziness I did get to enjoy some Japanese culture. A couple of weeks ago I attended an awesome pottery demonstration by this amazing Japanese pottery artist, his name is Kato Heroshige and his family has been making pottery for hundreds of years. 


Last week I finally had a chance to try my hand at some Japanese Calligraphy which was quite challenging. I learned how to write the word 'Artist' in Kanji. Japanese calligraphy is all about balance and harmony, every stroke of the brush needs to be just so. Usually I'm quite comfortable with a brush in my hands but here I'm really starting from scratch, I even have to relearn how to hold the damn thing :D It was tons of fun though! I met some awesome new people and I love working with ink so I'll definitely be taking additional classes!



I'm also still working hard at learning the Japanese language, which is a slow and difficult process but I can now sort of kind of order something at a restaurant which feels like a huge accomplishment. 



I'm slowly getting into a new rhythm of life here in Japan and I definitely want to return to my studio soon although I do have a few technical things to figure out before I can start creating again.

I will leave you with some more Japanese awesome...





 
 Yes, this sign actually says "Welcome to in the woods hair myth Ricky"