Nom de Plume

Now doesn’t THAT sound all art gallery-ish.

I have a ton of unframed prints I haven’t posted up at the house. Those that come with frames, I lug down to the shack and put up on the many bare walls. Which is where I am, and where my digital camera is, so ….

Eichii Kotozuka. I’m not a huge fan, with the exception of a couple of prints. She looks so young and tense, and the way her kimono is depicted is lovely. That said, if this hadn’t been dirt cheap, I probably wouldn’t have bought it:

Another one I wouldn’t have bought if it hadn’t been dirt cheap. But I have another print with a girl and rabbit, and it appealed to my whimsy to have two. The frame and glass are terrible, but the print itself is in good shape, notwithstanding the fact that someone folded the margins to make it fit in the frame. It looks much better outside the frame–but I have other prints I would rather spend money on framing, so back in it went.
Oh yes, this is Shuzo Ikeda.

Sometimes, one (that is the royal one, one understands) does not pay very close attention to the size of what one is bidding on–and one ends up paying a lot for two little “nothing” prints rather than not very much for two prints one knows nothing about but likes.

Sigh. I love Toshi Yoshida’s less representational stuff. Pencil titled, signed, and dated 1954. It needs to be reframed at some point, but I rather like it as is:

She has the rather unfortunate name of Peaches, but she’s really a love.

Well, not yet. But soon. Steve’s depressed. “You gave me such a great birthday,” he says. “But I have no clue what to get you.”

“Want suggestions?”

“No, because then it’s not a surprise for you. I mean, I wasn’t expecting any of the stuff you got me, you just went and got stuff you knew I’d like.”

(Ahem, this is me putting in a plug for myself for awesome girlfriendedness. Never mind the fact that even though he SAID he wanted an alarm clock with a CD player, he now wants me to return it and get a plain one. But he liked the rest.)

“Okay,” I said.

Silence.

“Well, okay, tell me what you want.”

“There’s always the still,” I said hopefully. Actually, I’ve decided that I want a copper alembic still, so I can make hydrosols, rather than the glass one.

“Are you kidding? You’ll set the house on fire.”

Bummer. Though he’s probably right.

“There are some prints I’m coveting.”

“Naah.”

I told him that I’m thinking about replacing my desk, which is sawhorses and building planks for something that looks nicer and is a bit smaller. All of a sudden he got quiet. This morning, he left really early and came back an hour ago. “You’re going to have the best birthday ever,” he said before he took off again.

Dare I hope?

It’s been a long, long time. I’m chock full of excuses for not updating the blog, but basically it comes down to one thing: Sheer laziness. Here’s a brief recap:

1) Amazingly, the ranch didn’t burn. The fire was only about two miles away, but everyone stayed and were fine. I was pretty useless for a full week, doing nothing more than hit refresh on the various google map mashups people created. What is really stunning is how different this catastrophe was than Katrina.

2) Obie the foster pug has been adopted. Steve is relieved; he hated him. As for me, I grew rather fond of him, but it’s nice to have a single mellow dog again,

3) No progress on the kitchen, but Steve did finish rebuilding the deck this summer, started and finished carriage doors for the garage, and busted out more concrete in the backyard. He also ordered new windows (2 large , rather than 4 narrow ones), which are sitting on the deck.

4) All of a sudden, I’ve gotten really, really busy workwise. This is going to be one of those weeks. Actually, this is probably why I’m probably updating the blog, after these many moons. It’s funny, but when I’m not busy, I get nothing done–and when I am, I get oodles and oodles accomplished. Not very logical, but there you go.

5) I’m feeling all sustainable living and stuff. Those pumpkins I grew? Peeled, pureed, and frozen. Okay, okay, I never quite got around to making the pickled green tomatoes, or making as much jam as I did last year, but there’s something so satisfying about putting up the veggies you’ve grown for the winter. Granted, most of it will probably end up as dog food–and granted, if I HAD to do it, we’d starve. And, of course, it wouldn’t be fun anymore. However, I’m kind of on a buying locally kick, making a concerted effort to buy only food that’s grown around here. Alas, my efforts are completely negated by:

6) On the Japanese print front, I finally took the plunge and bought some from artelino. The shipping costs are outrageously high, so you can choose to hold your prints over a period of time and then have them shipped all at the same time. So I don’t have them in my hot little hands yet. Funny thing though–I keep seeing prints recycle their way across the Internet. Something that was on ebay with no title reappears on ebay with artist and title and then wends its way over to artelino or a gallery.

7) But speaking of the buying locally thing–I’m trying to buy more stuff locally too, so no more book chains, local supermarkets, and so on. But here’s my question: Amazon and Starbucks are headquartered in Seattle, so does that constitute buying locally??

I just bought this Toshi Yoshida …

… and this Kiyoshi Nagai …

… and it occurs to me that I haven’t posted any of the prints I’ve bought in the past 6 to 8 months. So here they are.

A Mikumo print–which confuses me, because I thought Mikumo was a publisher. I like this print, but the main reason I bought it was because my great aunt Elaine had it. It reminds me of her little house in San Diego, with the huge deck built into a little green canyon.

I think I’m over the Tokuriki phase. The prints are quite pleasant, but some of them are just not very appealing. Like this one:

On the other hand, I really like this little Teruhide Kato:

Ditto Maekawa Senpan:

And I don’t really know why I ended up getting these three Kaoru Kawano prints at that auction house I like going to–other than the fact that they were dirt cheap. I don’t like Kawano. Every time I look at them, I get a creepy feeling. But here they are:

A while ago, I got an e-mail from someone who wanted to buy this Sekino print, which he had seen here:

I wasn’t that interested in selling, but he was really nice. We started e-mailing about Sekino prints. I sent him pictures of the other four I have, and he encouraged me to post pictures on the blog. So here they are:

Roosters Fighting

Dont know the title … Boy with Owls?

My Daughter

Don’t know the title, but think this is from the Tokaido series

And to make a long story short, he’s a serious collector who has been looking for this print for 10 years (in other words, he’s not a dilettante like me) and made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. And while I like the print enormously, the fact is that he will get much more enjoyment out of it than I will. So I’m sending it off to him.

And I think I’m going to buy one of those Saitos I’ve been coveting.

I have become totally addicted to auctions.

There’s a place in Renton that auctions off estates, and I’ve been going quite regularly–coming home laden with stuff I don’t need (and in many cases, I confess, that I don’t really want). It’s easy to get caught up in the heat of it all. The first one I went to found me with three Kaoru Kawano woodblocks. Sure, the price was right–but I don’t even really LIKE Kawano prints. I think he was a pedophile; all his little girls look really freaky. I’ve bought table linens, kitchen goodies (the $5 espresso maker was a real winner), random pottery …

But I have to tell you: I am really pleased with the carpet I just bought last Thursday.

Never mind the fact that I don’t need new rugs.

Now, I’m on a kick to become a carpet expert. I checked out a bunch of books from the library, and am thinking that it may be a Lesghi Shirvan carpet. Does anyone know anything about carpets? Am I right?

Also, I have two carpets that were my great great grandfather’s, and am pretty sure that they are a Fereghan …

and an Akstafa …

Anyone?

I’ve been tasked by Literate Kitten to come up with 10 things I like that start with the letter “A” (because the opposite of “Z”?) So …

1. Aardvarks. Well, not the actual creature, but the word. With that double a, it reminds me of classrooms and who got to beat out the erasers in second grade. We all fought for that dubious honor.

2. alibris. That would be alibris.com–great for out of print books. I’m still holding out for a hardback copy of Ann Moray’s Rising of the Lark that’s under $50. I loved that book as a kid, but the paperback simply will not do. I need that pale blue cloth cover, and the squidgy old-fashioned font.

3. Amazon.com. Is this cheating? Two book sites? Well, I adore Amazon, though I rarely order from them. Frankly, they piss me off. Like they’ll say 5 day shipping, but it takes an additional 5 days to leave their warehouse. What’s that about?!? I order from bn.com instead. So why, then, is Amazon on the list? Because they are great to research books and perfect to store to read lists. Just not so good to order from.

4. Apples. And not just apples from the store, but sweet tart honeycrisps with their streaky skins on a brisk fall morning.

5. Absolutes. As in aromatherapy. I just spent an ungodly sum on a small vial of rose absolute, and it is the most divine thing ever. Alas, all the scents I really love–rose, Mitsouko perfume–make Steve tell me I smell like his grandmother. Apparently, this is not sexy.

6. Arpeggios. I love the word; it sounds like what they are. I liked arpeggios when I took piano lessons too, because I have big hands and was good at them. Well, mainly those for c and g. Too many sharps and flats kinda stumped me.

7. Almond paste. Not marzipan, but the almond paste you can buy for pastries. YUM.

8. Astrology. It’s kind of pathetic, but I love reading my horoscope. Never mind the fact that you can apply pretty much anything to pretty much anyone. Really, I think most horoscopes are basically about self-affirmation. But hey, it works.

9. Auctions.I’m a huge, huge eBay fan, mainly for Japanese prints but also for books and household sundries. Artelino.com is a wonderful Japanese print auction site (and even better for research). Also, I’ve started branching out to some local auction houses, where you can leave your bid and then they tell you whether you’ve won or not. Haven’t won anything yet, but it’s fun.

10. The alphabet. How could any reader/writer skip this one? And who came up with the tune, anyway?

Let’s keep it going! I am going to copy Litkitten and say that if you want a letter, leave me a comment.

As you well know, I have an obsession with Japanese shin hanga and sosaku hanga woodblock prints. And I finally got my hands on a copy of Helen Merritt’s book, Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: The Early Years, which puts 20th century woodblocks into historical perspective. The second part of the book is a bit more boring — short artist bios — but the first section is amazing. If you have any interest at all in Japanese art of any kind, read this.

Well, maybe one and a half. There is masking tape residue and staining at the top, but it’s pretty localized and the tape itself peeled up easily.

I have coveted this one for a while.

Jakkou-in

I like this too.

Rock Garden

This one I wasn’t quite so wild about at first–it was part of the lot–but it’s now growing on me. Kind of like what appears to be a fungus on the upper lefthand margin.