FEB!

I can’t believe it’s February! Eek. I’m pretty sure I’ve said that before – I can’t believe it’s ______ already! Time is flying… - and I wonder how many times I’ll say it again. I’ve never thought about it before, but I wonder how long I’ll keep this going, the blog. Maybe as long as I have time? Readers? Interesting stuff to write about? Meh, I dunno. Anyways…. SO! It snowed here the other day! I went running on Monday morning, and someone said that the forecast for the day, as predicted by a massive weather billboard visible from her apartment, ranged from sun icon to snowman icon. So the first day of Feb saw sun, clouds, and snow, all in a day – normal for Calgary, but so far, not normal for Tokyo (at least not for us). Steve and I met for dinner at an Indian place close to our house (yum – curry and naan) and afterwards the flurries were crrrrazy! Huge flakes the size of hockey pucks were floating down and whipping all over the place – it was pretty! And chills. So the verdict on Groundhog Day – the only day of the year sporting a snowy morning blanket – was that winter will continue. Even so – with winter and still-cold weather, there are plum blossoms making their way out into the world. I went to Shinjuku Gyoen Park on Sunday afternoon and along with a small crew of other photographers, snapped some pics of the pink and white. It was a beautiful park – the only pay-to-enter park I’ve been to so far – and definitely worth a visit. Some pics…








I went to a workshop on Friday night hosted by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators - Cut to the Chase: Discovering and Making Cut Paper Art and Illustration with with Patrick Gannon. It was fun! Interesting. The workshop opened with introductions (there were only maybe 12 of us), and most of the attendees were artists or designers, so I, as a non-artist was the minority. Patrick Gannon talked about the history of cut paper art, showing slides of artists from a variety of styles, backgrounds and eras. Some names and work that stood out for me are Nikki McClure, Mayuko Fujino and Lotte Reiniger. After he and showed us some of his work (and work in progress), he talked about technique and then gave us a chance to try it out. I made a cute little tree, but was majorly impressed by what some of the artsy people made – a motorcycle, landscapes… all connected and cut out with an X-acto knife. Talk about precise and demanding work. Okay... it's lunch time.