Nothing is better than receiving a gift. If it is a surprise, it is even more special.
I was having a hard time finding my subjects when I first moved back to Japan.
Yes, I found a small farmers market nearby.
Yes, my partner's father grows vegetables as his hobby.
Yes, now I have a little bit of space in our backyard to grow my own vegetables.
Those alternatives have provided me more than enough subjects to tackle for two years. Yet the excitement of being in the New York City farmers’ market was special and it was hard to forget.
One day I was checking a local magazine, and there was an article about a local farmer who is a retired biology teacher and a self taught organic farmer at a family farm very close to my place. They grow a variety of unique vegetables. I contacted the farm immediately, and started receiving a box of vegetables twice a month. It is exactly like receiving a gift box from a high-end chocolate shop or Santa Claus toy factory. Maybe I overstate this a bit, well, it is exaggerated, but for me it is so true that the box is an unpredictable surprise present. The farmer packs seasonal vegetables freshly picked from the field, and I don't know what will be in a box until I open it. If you see me opening the box, I will look like a kid in a candy store. It is a middle sized cardboard box, and all the vegetables are wrapped with newspaper. Unwrapping the newspaper is the same feeling when you tear off the wrapping paper of a gift box on Christmas Day!
It was late morning on a chilly winter day. I received a box from the farmer and opened it right away at the front door. It was such fun removing the newspaper until I found the surprise. The first one was a black daikon radish. The next one was a watermelon radish. Both were such fresh and innocent looking vegetables. The third one was a small romanesco broccoli. I had been thinking of painting it for a long time…I was wondering which to pick for my next project… either one of the radishes or the romanesco. Then, I saw a beautiful, velvety rainbow leaf! These were turnips. As soon as I saw the leaf, I put the rest in my fridge without checking. I rushed to my desk. The rainbow leaf was actually not velvety, but because of the color and freshness, the texture looked mossy and silky. I didn't want to lose the goodness of the leaf. Time is ticking. Leaves will not last a long time.
Even though it was in the chill of winter and my studio was as cold as the inside of a fridge, the turnip did not last until I finished painting it. Sketches and photographs can be helpful, but basically I need an actual subject next to me when I paint. I am often asked how I work, so this is how.
I used to think I painted ONLY through pure observation. That was partially true. Yes, it is true that I observe my subject thoroughly and check it every minute while I paint. Every single stroke comes from an actual object...almost every single stroke. When I have tried to explain how I paint, I have realized that I paint not only through observation, but it comes with my “fixes”.
Take an example of the turnip. In the three turnip painting, I ended up using three different turnips to complete just the one on the left, so it is a fusion or mash-up of three different turnips. I started to paint the rainbow leaf, and while finishing it, the rest went bad. So I took a second turnip to finish the turnip root and base stems coming out of it. A third turnip covered the rest. How do I work? I have a kind of photoshop program in my head. I cannot create a new part of a turnip from scratch, but by referring to existing subjects, it is easy for me to merge and blend the parts in my head. Memory and imagination help. I don’t have a formula and I work on a case by case basis, but my point is that I can see those fixes clearly in my mind's eye.
Still, the excitement of the NYC farmers' market is not fully regained. I am longing for the place where I once had easy access to new fateful encounters. Yet I get a boost from a surprise inspirational vegetable box! Now, instead of visiting the farmer's market in NYC, twice a month I am eagerly waiting and looking for the box from the local farmer. The last box was full of different kinds of eggplants. I wonder what will be in the next box. Maybe, I will get another eggplant pile, or squashes are in season…maybe squash.
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Read more about this artist's work: 17th Annual International