WORKING.

Here are a few images of some drawings out of my sketchbook. Been looking at ornamental line and economy of line. The house drawings are what I used to base a series of woodcuts which are in an exhibition on Friday, eek! Getting itchy feet, possibly because I am going to Tokyo with my Dad on Friday via Mount Fuji so expect an image overload come early next week!

RE-BLOGGED.

My friend and exchange buddy Lucy has a cool blog so because we cant re-blog on blogspot I copied and pasted for you. Mostly pictures of me. And one of some Pompokos.

www.lucindaabel.blogspot.com

FABRIC OF THE BUILDING.

Just a few student projects around Uni. One of the massive benefits to not having any health and safety or nagging from the only employees of Brighton University who were shirts and suit trousers about the `fabric of the building`, is that if you want to hang something off the cealing to see what its like, do it. First images are of a textile project and the other is KEEP OUT tape used to mock the meaning of barriers and signage.

UNI-HOME.

Here are a few pictures of my new home, Nagoya University of the Arts. I love it here. A lot.

FOOD. PART TWO.

Now for the meals we have had out:

This delightful little duo I shared with Shelly on our Printmaking Day trip to the mountains. It was nice if a little weird, cornflakes in hot chocolate is something I wont be bringing back to the Uk.

Our meal at a roadside Cafe, Printmaking Day trip lunch. Shelly and I had the `special`, some kind of pork which you cooked on mini hobs, pickles, rice, miso and tofu. Tasty but masses of food!

Haha! This night was so good, out on the town in Nagoya by bike had to be finished with a midnight supper. Unfortunately for Lucy, it was pig`s foot for her. She got his dinner, snooze you loose. Not really, she just used her finger skills and got toes in return.

This was from a gallery/cafe in Gifu and it was a sort of rice dish in tomato gravy with an omelet on top. I was craving a bit of egg and this hit the spot.

From our meal out in Kyoto, this was the finale. Cassis Cheese Cake deconstructed. YUM.

And of course to finish this post, my favorite dessert of Japan. Green Tea Ice-cream. This little dream I got when we went for lunch with our Landlady, Mrs Hirano. Ta for the Tea.

FOOD. PART ONE.

Here is a selection of foods I`ve tried, or watch the girls try, under the catagory SNACKS AND FAST FOODS. Meals to come later.

Octopus with a Quail Egg stuffed in it`s Head. Best canape ever.

Green Tea KitKat. Yum.

Smarties, Japanese style. They have blue ones.

Traditional fast food, octopus balls. Batter cooked into a ball with octopus inside. Served with a kind of BBQ Sauce and mayonnaise. Amazing after a night out in Kyoto.

KUT.

Here are a few short clips I took in Kyoto.

K.O-KYOTO.

Kyoto is amazing. I love it. We went there this weekend and had a fantastic time. It felt really nice to be in a hostel again as I haven`t since I went traveling around Europe in 2008. Smelt exactly the same.

On the Saturday we went round the temples - one of the many sites of Kyoto - and saw some cool deities, had a snow cone and got a peak of a Geisha. Deceivingly, the Japanese tourists can pay hundreds of pounds to get dressed up like real Geishas and hire out the thousands of pounds worth of Kimono. We saw plenty of mock Gs but only when we went for a lovely meal (post to come) down a back street by the river did we sneak a look at a real one going into a house. They really are amazing looking women but I have no idea why you would want to be a living doll.

GIFTED.

We went to Gifu over the weekend to sort out a little ambition we hadn't realized we even had. Ever seen the HSBC advert about amazing fishermen in Japan that have a relationship with the local birds that help them fish at night? Been there, seen it, done it. Even had a traditional Japanese dance performance on a parallel boat. Came across a shrine for children too, with rows of paper cranes hung up for good health.

On our boat-of-amazing-dreams, met a very nice family who had some of those cool bean paste and leaf parcel sweets. They were with their friend of 20 years who was also a Buddhist Monk. Hit that.

SERVED.

Went for breakfast this morning with my newest friend Yoko on 3D Design with Shelly. Japan has many coffee houses but in Nagoya, you get a little breakfast with your coffee. I had green tea toast, a boiled egg and a little salad. It was amazing. All for 380¥, about 3 pounds. The weather is also incredibly hot now so I have my comeuppance.

Buddha and Jesus are in a comic together. I love Japan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Young_Men

STARY-SCARY.

This is going to sound a little ungrateful, I know. But the thing is, in Japan you are a Gaijin. A forgiener. And people stare. A lot. Its quite un nerving because its not in a celebrity way, its in a you-look-weird-way. Maybe I will convince myself its a celebrity way so I wont care. Works in England.

WOOD YOU LIKE TO?

I have been invited to show in a woodcut exhibition of printmaking students and tutors. I am very scared. Also excited though, because it will be my first in Japan and I have a crit on monday to check up on what I am intending to put in. Sae (my friend in printmaking who I sit next to) gave me a copy of the invite today. If you havnt gathered already, its been raining so it got a bit mushy in my bag. Soz.

PEAKED.

I have been working so hard here and I`m finding that my influences are coming form what`s around me but also things that I`ve seen and stored in a sort of mental image bank and are now filtering into my current work. One such thing is the work of Nigel Peake. He is an illustrator, artist, and wonderkid who studied architecture at Edinburgh and now has the coolest back catalogue of projects and works. His website is okay but his blog is better. Check it.

http://nigel-peake.blogspot.com/

NOSEY.

I was trying to think of ways to tell you about japan besides hundreds of photos and my whiney moans, and I realised even the smell of the place is different. The streets have very deep covered gutters which are designed for when it rains, but when it is sunny, there is a faint but definate smell of stagnant water. Soy also has a funny smell to it. I dont really know how to describe what dairy smells of, but Soy is probably the direct opposite. While dairy is a foggy sort of haze of a sent, Soy cuts straight through and smacks you right in the nostril. In the more mountainous areas with all the greenery around it doesn't feel so close and the smell of wild flowers and leaves floats around.they are very very clean here too, so there is always that sort of soapy smell in the studio and the workshops have turpentine everywhere.

So there you go. The smells of Japan, from one nose to another.

STORM.

I know I have already mentioned this, but in Japan it rains. A lot. It has been raining for two days. And not drizzle rain, but POURING rain. 2 days. However, three days, even four days ago it was brilliant sunshine and the only thing to complain about was the mosquitoes. (I have 14 bites already, 2 on my face. stop laughing.) So when the heavens opened, we were quite surprised. Were the Japanese? Hell no. They can tell exactly when it is going to rain. Its a super power (see Storm from x-men). Every single Japanese person on the street that day was carrying one of their trusty golf size umbrellas. And yes, I have been looking at the weather forecast, but the British ones are always wrong! How was I to know the Japanese come with built in barometers?!

Only up side to being drenched daily is getting into pyjamas at 5:00pm - although I did find some rice in my bed this morning, bad chopstick skills at dinner.

FELT BAD.

Felt a bit bad about that last post. Heres some yummy yummy green tea with a sort of cream and some cool chocolate and strawberry sweets. And I didnt just buy it for the packaging. Well, almost.