the 400 blows, froggie version

nowadays in water-filled rice fields
live massive population of frogs
their gargling fills up the night

i bet most will stay in those muddy ponds
sing loud nightly, fall in love, mate and procreate
but there are some, who embarks on a quest for unknown...


like this guy here


hey frog, where are you goin'
what's ahead may not be
your kind of water...



he proceeds cautiously
few steps, rest, then takes few more



a moment before wind blows sand in his face
he makes himself compact and still
with his eyes tightly shut

how did he know when it blows?



sun-dried froggie
pauses for a long while...



finally turns his back to the sea and
curls up like a pup in a shadow casted by
some incessant observer



end of a frog tale
(nonfictional)



in case you haven't seen the film and
wonder about the title of this post

wing dress update: swish-swish, chop-chop

wing dress is a project been ongoing
since may '07
made some errors on the first piece so
a decision made recently to
re-do the whole thing
all over again
ya

here's the update of the
insane starting over

(feathers/ design drawn on paper first,
then will be traced onto fabric using acid-type dye)


below:
initial plan was to re-design the back panels only...




below:
sometimes, such plan expands...
previous design traced onto
sleeve and front panels (2 on far right)



below:
getting a wee-bit dynamic, maybe?




below:
an entire make over taking place...



wearables' been my number one medium
since the beginning of socialization process
it was a way to build a shield that also
spoke a secret language
sending out a smoke signal

with it i wish to capture a sense of velocity
but this particular medium sometimes feels
not quite enough to catch what's swishing about

but then again, isn't it like that, this
creativity thing
can't quite nail it, you can only come
very very close...

wing dress update: ya gonna do...wat?

(let me caution you, this is a long post)

been a month since the last post re. my
ongoing project the wing dress


the dress is almost done but
there're some things i've been contemplating a while


thing number one:
layers of touch-up with pigment
changed the texture and the color of the feathers

as you see below, prior to painting in with acid dye
i've tested with pencils but

what i somehow overlooked was the
difference of light-dark contrast between
pencil and fabric dye

i should've gone several tones darker with dye
so as to lessen such contrast hence less "busy" look

especially since the swatch made previously proved me
that this particular color (blue black that is)
turns out just as painted post "steam setting" procedure
(some colors ain't so)

because of this, i had to use pigment ink as touch up
to darken wider areas darker than i planned which
affected the original fluid texture, and the color



number two:
the design itself

although i am generally pleased...

at one point i noticed that
the front and back do not
quite go together

they should be made into two seperate pieces



number three (the last push):
tones of ivory on painted and unpainted panels
do not match.....

ironically, with the previous pieces, i've let
all the panels, painted or not, go through
every procedures altogether
and turned out i didn't have to worry

this time, i slacked and
didn't bother treating the unpainted pieces
and look what happened...

can you tell?



so what's now?
well

i am redoing it


i was willing to overlook the thing #1 and 2 but
not feeling too cool about it so really
the #3 was a happy push, no more doubty indecision


looking back, all this time i have been
cold-feeting against "in the groove" state
as if holding onto the last rock at river mouth
longing for but fearing of the ocean

(and such hesitancy seems to attract
little carelessness here and there...)

it's almost as if i've spent all this time
-one month short of two whole years-
becoming ready to let my hands go...


so here i am, hands free, feet warm

(well, almost)

starting another piece as an
exciting experiment
working rather quickly this time...



thankyu for reading
and for your interest...

please check back soon!

blossom fell

...best part of the season

cherry-o-babypink

right around this time, for about 10 days out of a year
the whole thing of tokyo turns baby pink
and the otherwise shy. busy tokyoites
throw their "fear of sentimentalism" out the window

i bet right about now the city must be in a
swirling mess of falling petals
heavenly pink confetti in wind

cherry blossoms, everywhere you go...



below:
roppongi, newest high-rises in background

i declare, as of now, that
high-rise is out!!!
it's official, from this moment on
no mas, enough's enough



below:
also in roppongi
foreground used to be a
playground for an elementary school

japan is shrinking...



below:
shot from 48th floor in shinjuku
small squares on right lower corner
that's people sitting under cherry trees
doing god knows what, but in an
impeccably orderly manner



below:
on the day of tepodon* threat
tokyoites nonchalantes
getting together and feeling alright



below:
best encounter this year
full blossom
in a yard of an abandoned house

it really is a nice story
how the tree called on me and the other attuned ones



thank you for your visit!!


*just in case you haven't heard...what is tepodon?
a character from 60's japanese monster flick?
nope, that's the name of north korean missile