My initial intention was to do some work about the sakura - and I intend to do so, but the experience was so wide ranging that I know I will work on other subjects. Here a very selected few photographs of images / experiences which resonated and will appear in the work I make in response to the trip.
We stumbled upon a citizen’s exhibiton of Ikebana at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Tokyo; it was the opening day and was alive with the buzz of excitement as participants stood next to their creations. We happened to follow the Iemoto of the next Ikenobo School around the exhibition as she gave sage ikebana advice.
I found the shadows as impactful as the plants and the spare balance of the arrangements inspirational.
Of course, the food was fabulous and always a source of inspiration- and the presentation always beautiful. The least promising restaurants deliver the most exquisite food, and I can say with confidence that with our without Trip Advisor you can slide into a restaurant and fail to be disappointed. From lunch boxes to supper - all our meals were between £7.50 and £15 a head- but breakfasts the most varied and beautiful.
Just back and starting to think about work- so many inspirational experiences framed in the buds of the blossoming cherry from the moment we arrived to the falling of the petals just as we were leaving. We travelled from Tokyo to Hakone, then to the southern island Kyushu where we drove to Kurokawa and Beppu for the first half of the trip and returned via Osaka, Kyoto, Naoshima. The blossom travelled with us and remained the constant metaphor for a beautiful, if fleeting, trip - but with the promise of return.
I am very excited to be making my forth trip to Japan, and the second time for sakura (cherry blossom time). I am travelling from Tokyo to Hakone, Osaka, Kobe, Naoshima, Osaka, Kyushu and Kyoto ( not in that order!) and am very excited to see the cherry blossom bloom in each district we pass through. I have always found Japan to be inordinately inspirational for my work and am looking forward to responding to the trip on my return.
I am picking up emails so do message while I am away, but will be back in the UK mid April.
I am often asked how long it takes to make a picture, and it’s an impossible question to answer. The creative process is not linear for me, inspiration and application comes/ lays fallow/ goes / returns.
‘24 trees’ began with a week away in September, and since then I have worked on the picture periodically until I was happy with it and, finally, I picked it up from the framers today. It will sit on the wall for a while until it goes……
In 2013, after my Unintended Consequences exhibition at Touchstones Rochdale, I put this series of pictures into storage. They explore the impact of the importation of speciment plant species in the Victorian period. There are 8 of them. Each reflecting a colour of the spectrum. They are stitch and imported fabric on antique prints of sailing vessels and measure 40 cm x 50 cm. They are now for sale - framed- do message me if you are interested.
The beginning of a series of silk landscapes inspired by the extraordinary colour palette of the environment surrounding Loch Sunart in the autumn
