Monday, August 29, 2011

'not'egami?

We now come to the thorny question...what qualifies as an etegami?
For the purists it is a drawing (of something you can basically see in front of you) dashed off using sumi ink and gansai paints on an absorbent card, throw into the mix a pithy verse or comment and a red seal and BINGO! an etegami.
Well folks gather 'round and I will whisper a little secret, boundaries are being stretched, boxes are being thought outside of and etegami are exploding in all directions. For instance, my friend Fumiko does delicate papercuts pasted to the postcard, Shungo is fond of carving stamps (and making his own paper), Debbie uses collage and (I think) she and I use photographic references for our more exotic subjects .... the list goes on.
All this is a preamble to these delightful paintings of cats sent to me by Gay of Silvergum Studio  a talented illustrator and glass artist who lives in the far flung reaches of Tasmania.  She protests that they are not etegami but "will they do?"


Now I must admit that a nice red seal would set them off a treat but they are the best darned 'not'egami I have ever seen!
These felines have the most expressive faces. Thanks Gay.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Hot, hot,hot!

I think that is the message that Mayumi is sending me with this exquisite etegami. The summer in Japan is always hot and humid but this year seems to be particularly hot.
I love the combination of painting and stamping on the fan and the blue colour is so cooling. Thanks Mayumi, I always look forward to your cards.