Kohava Ray
1.1.16-1.7.16
1.1
Now it is the new year! It's a monkey year. I wanted to design something related to a monkey. “Saru” in Kanji is also pronounced “Shin”. We go to the temple to pray to God for a healthy, prosperous, happy year. So, I collected several kanjis which have the pronunciation “Shin”. The background is red and white. It gives a feeling of festivity. Here is the story...
"The Story of Shin"
We are born from parents. The parents were born from their parents. They were born from their parents. Each of us is born in total happiness and given a body. Against gravity, we keep growing upward. The expansion of the body will stop at some point, but the expansion of the mind won't stop.
So, what is the truth to me? What is best to believe? 2016 is a year of monkey. Not to see, not to say, and not to hear. I want to focus on my duty. Until now, I was sleeping and that's enough. Now it is the time for action. I shuffled the old me and trembled with joy at getting a new version up and running. New year, looking at new horizon. Let me go forward. The main character is I. The conclusion is within my hand.
1.2
On the way to Hyuga Shrine, I found a small wallet shop open. I stopped to get a hand-sized wallet. It's so pretty. Chrysanthemum flowers in red and white. I use it for going to shrine when I need coins and to the public bath when I need coins, too. My husband says it looks like corals!
1.3
I bought 3 plants for my room. First time in my life that I did something like this. Until now, I enjoyed only looking at them at the store, never trying to buy them. But this day, I don't know why, I couldn't help being attracted to stare at them. So, I bought 3. I put nick-name to each one. Pakira-Paki, Table Yashi-Yashi, Gajumaru-Gaju. I wonder if I could bring them to the US.
1.4
At Ninomiya Shrine
The fortune-telling paper was Chukichi, or Middle Luck. Here are the words written in the paper: "Hazardous events many expand to the others and you may feel painful to it. But be patient to everything. Let God decide, purify yourself, believe in God, then you will have prosperous time as if the pine tree extends its roots on the rock and prosper." I drew the pine tree.
1.5
I thought about the proverb of Monkey: See no evil, Hear no evil, Say no evil. I feel refreshed in the new year. I appreciated it. I want to do a better job.
1.6
I brought back a lottery ticket which I had bought at the end of last year. Then, no luck... The picture for today is a tool which gives you money and treasures when you shake it.
1.7
Duality: a day that tends to have good and bad mixed together. A good thing is that I am able to believe in what they say: "Things are always working out for me." The bad thing is that I only think myself as a victim. Picture this day is number 2 as well as an animal with a human upper body and 4 animal legs for the bottom. It also has a pair of wings like a centaur. To me, this is a symbol of duality. The image I used is from a book on the city of Pompeii.
1.8-1.14.16
1.8
I listened to Bashar and Ayako's session on YouTube. Their advice to live better is to visualize the thing you don't want or the thing which bothers you as a ball. And then you roll that ball on the path to the sea and let it fall into the sea. The back picture is the one from Pompeii.
1.9
I was thinking to exhibit my artworks in the future. I copied the style of Wolfgang Tillmance.
1.10
I thought about God's providence. The word Providence is a religious term; meaning that God, or a force that some people believe controls our lives and the things that happen to us, does so usually in a way that protects us. There might be a message from God, so I did an automatic drawing.
1.11
From a story of Rabbi Akiba. It is said that even when he lost everything after he was robbed, he thought that was still within Gods plan. The story is like this; He had a donkey. a parrot, and a candle, and they were stolen. But he didn't feel sorry for himself. He rather thought, "It's good that happened!" Later when another more serious robbery came, he was not spotted because there was nothing to make a sound; no donkey, no parrot, and no candles which gave light. I hope I can think this way all the time. Nothing bothers you, nothing disappoints you. nothing depresses you. But then I wondered what if you were eaten by a lion, could you still think it was supposed to happen, and you'd still be happy about it. This day's picture is from that doubt. The model picture is taken from a piece of art from Egypt.
1.12
I heard that energy goes two extremes, high and low. I was looking for the image of high frequency. This is a design made by a Mandala during chanting on the water.
1.13
I went to Yawata with Liz Sally-san. There is a bamboo forest there visited by Mr. Thomas Edison’s workers when he was looking for a lightbulb filament. We had a cup of coffee and talked to a woman who oversaw Fudo-san. The water was warmed in a kettle on top of the stove. The sound it made was very memorable. In a way, it's a healing sound. When we left, the rain began to pour down. She offered 2 vinyl umbrellas, telling us that we didn't need to return them. Before we took a train, we went to a Japanese tea shop which sold well-known sweet rice cakes. We had some spiritual talks, too. This day's picture is a collage about what happened this day.
1.14
I went to Hirakata public library to borrow several books. I copied North European Design. I flipped through the pages and decided to use this page.
1.15-1.21.16
1.15
Recently, I feel more contemplation. So, today's picture is a face of a woman who is contemplating. Putting her face on a hand and the elbow on the table is a habit. I do it, too. The image is taken from a picture in the mural of Pompeii.
1.16
I thought about sublimation, shifting the endless flow of destructive energy to the creative one. I chose to draw the “Lotus Flower" blossoming from the mud to inspire me. In Greek mythology, "Eating the fruits, you will forget the suffering." The pot in the picture is from Egypt.
1.17
I copied a main character of historical drama, Sanada-maru. He also looked like Nobunaga. The kimono has the family crest on his collar.
1.18
Parallel Reality
You choose which way to go, shift to that direction. From the point, the past also changes related to the future you choose.
1.19
I thought about 2006. Both my husband and my son came into my life. Also, this is the year I started to read "Conversation with Gods."
1.20
The book I found in the bookstore has hieroglyphs. It also is used for purification. The color of the book was yellow which I liked. I colored today's picture yellow in the background. The letters are from ancient China.
1.21
Toji Temple.
First time purification at this temple. I wandered around by myself. I wrote my name and my family members ‘names on pieces of wood which were later burned while the monk chanted. This is, I think, a permission slip: By this act, I can believe that I am purified.
1.22-1.27.16
1.22
I went to eat Pasta with my mother in Yawata. The exterior design was pretty like the one in Europe. That made me think of an ideal dining room for my family. Here is what appeared in my imagination: A glass window, the height is from the ceiling to the floor. Through the window, we can see the blue sky and the sea. A round table. In the middle, there is a golden vase in which has various colors of flowers. Tea time in one afternoon. Soft white carpet.
1.23
I was so deeply attracted to the book I'm reading; Kocho no Mai or Butterfly dance by Ryotaro Shiba. In one of the parts, it's about a memory of the main character, when he was a child he saw a mountainlike cloud. So, I drew that type of cloud.
1.24
About Concentration and the idea of a mother who helped her child under the wheel. I also want to have that power of concentration. Furthermore, the meaning of wheel; circle, destiny, forever...I want to move the wheels I have energetically and in so doing, overcome everything so that people who are at lost want to follow me.
1.25
After skyping with Tommy and Toraji, I wanted to make a delicious meal for them. I took a picture from the mural in Egypt.
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Fish shape container BC 1340
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Men picking grapes, west of Thebes BC 1340
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A plate served with food appeared in a picture of manager Ka and his wife Merito in front of Osiris
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Fish appeared in the picture of Nebamer who is hunting wild birds in the marsh with his cat
1.26
This day, I thought we shouldn't bother worrying about evolution of others for each one is in a different stage. The person needs to experience from low or beginning to higher ending stage.
1.27
The picture is Stargazer. We must not forget the importance of dreaming while we have stable lives. "Keep your eyes on the stars, keep your eyes on the ground."
1.28-1.31.16
1.28
I am hoping to travel around as an artist at the same time I wished the distance between America and Japan got much closer and wished to live with my husband and my son.
1.29
I twisted my body in a strange way and got a shoulder-ache. So, I went to massage. The picture is a woman mixed with Chagall and Miro. Her head and neck are from Chagall, the body is from Miro. Also, I put plum tree, too because it's the season now.
1.30
I had to wait 40 minutes for my husband. I got angry at him, but he didn't care. I was wondering if there was any way to let him know that he shouldn’t have done this. If he had to do, he should have apologized to it. From curiosity, I checked the definition of the word, Matsu or waiting. Wait= stay in a place or remain without doing anything, expecting someone to come or something to happen.
In Japanese Matsu in different Kanji means pine tree. It is said that Matsu as pine tree also might connote the idea that we (or the tree) wait for good coming down on the trees. This day's picture, I drew how God's coming down, the pine tree, the mountain shines from the happiness. The flower is taken from a Japanese proverb.
1.31
TOEIC examination day. I put my clock at the desk, checking it frequently.