Failure and Creativity: Some Things I Got Wrong
Around the end of the year, many people like to look back and measure their stages of development with their achievements. I do this too,...
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- Dec 31, 2022
- 3 min
36 Views of the BT Tower: Fireworks on the Thames and Sumida Rivers
As we approach the New Year, I felt it was appropriate to discuss my design of new year fireworks on the Thames and Hiroshige's...
- Nov 17, 2022
- 4 min
The Foreigners Making 'Japanese' Art
As an artist working with strong Japanese influences, I sometimes get asked about my justification for this cultural 'appropriation'....
- Oct 2, 2022
- 3 min
Foujita's Feline Friends
Foujita is most famous for his paintings of nudes and cats. Indeed, it's his paintings of cats that drew me to him the most. My other...
- Aug 24, 2022
- 4 min
In Search of Foujita: An Artist's Pilgrimage (Part 4)
On a sunny Saturday, Vicky (my fellow pilgrim) and I made the journey to the Holy Grail of the Foujita trail: Foujita's house and studio...
- Aug 24, 2022
- 4 min
In Search of Foujita: An Artist's Pilgrimage (Part 2)
On Thursday 18th August, I arrived at my second stop of the Foujita trail: the Musee D'Art Moderne De Paris, which is interestingly...
- Aug 24, 2022
- 5 min
In Search of Foujita: An Artist's Pilgrimage (Part 1)
People go to Paris to see the Eiffel tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame cathedral etc...but I went this time with a very different purpose in...
- Jun 27, 2022
- 3 min
Noh Performance and Ogata Korin's Painting
I recently had the opportunity to see Noh being performed in London. Noh is one of the oldest continous forms of theatre in the world...
- Apr 25, 2022
- 3 min
The Mystery of Foujita's White
Foujita (1886-1968) is an artist I have come to appreciate more and more over time; not just his depiction of cats and nudes, but also...
- Mar 15, 2022
- 4 min
Playing with Ink: 'Pomo' and 'Tarashikomi' Techniques
In my studies of the Rinpa school in Japan and their techniques for my own paintings, I suddenly realised something that I didn't think...
- Mar 8, 2022
- 2 min
Of Gods and Cats
I recently painted two cats on gold leaf with mineral pigment. In composition I wanted them to mirror each other like the Gods of Wind...
- Jan 19, 2022
- 8 min
Learning from Hokusai
The influence of Hokusai on subsequent artists is truly huge; ranging from Degas, Van Gogh, Klimt, Picasso (he loved the octopus and...
- Jan 14, 2022
- 3 min
Painting Cats: Foujita, Goyo, and Me
There are two main artistic influences on my cat paintings: Hashiguchi Goyo (1880-1921) and Tsuguharu Foujita (1886-1968). In this post,...
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