Painted Memories in Laos

In September 2008, our silk painting group hosted an art exhibition at the T'Shop Lai Gallery. We received a lot of positive responses from our friends, artist community and media in Vientiane. Thanks to Mimi Shada, the gallery owner, and Michel Mixay from Lao Journalist Association, the exhibition opening was attended by more than 100 people and we could sell many paintings and prints. We donated part of the proceeds to the Women's International Group's welfare projects to help disadvantaged women and children in Laos. Here are some of the paintings and artists:

Hisae, originally from Japan, came to Vientiane in March 2001 and soon thereafter she joined WIG art group. Hisae has always been interested in drawing and painting. She started to paint on silk since last year when she joined the WIG silk painting group. She likes to paint nature, flowers and animals, and it shows in her exhibit "Tree of Life." Animated, vibrant, cheerful, and detailed oriented - that's her characters that reflects in most of her paintings. I can say Hisae and her paintings are full of life.




Here's Cida's painting "Ban Pathang" - a village on the other side of Mekong River. Cida Copriva Cida is from Brazil, and has been in Laos for almost 10 years. She started playing with colors since two months ago. She’s never painted before until she joined the silk painting group, and she enjoys it ever since. This painting is her third since she joined the group. The soft coloring makes the painting look natural. Many people wanted to purchase this painting, but Cida prefered to keep it as her personal collection.

Kazue Kitamura has been living in Laos for more than two years. She started silk painting in 2007, and it is a new form of art for her. She likes painting flowers, nature and beautiful places in Laos. One of them is "That Luang Temple" - one of the most beautiful temples in Laos. This Buddhist temple which was built in the 16th centry is covered with gold paint, and it is outstanding and stunning. And, so does Kazue's painting

Maria Koller is an expressionist and her painting shows a lot of her emotional experience and artistic imagination. Most of her paintings are very playful and spontaneous. This painting "Fantasia" receives a lot of praises because of its peculiarity and originality. Maria has been painting for 15 years. She said, "Painting is a joy and also therapeutic - it helps to relax and forget everything". She paints mostly with acrylic and she started to paint on silk in Laos in 2007. Maria comes from Germany.

Arja Arasmo comes from Finland and has been living in Laos since 2006. Arja paints usually with quash or water colors. She also likes drawing and has recently started to draw comics. She is now learning oil colors with a Chinese artist in Laos. In 2008, Arja joined the group of silk painters. For this exhibition, Arja tried to capture a different images of daily life in Laos, and combine them with natural and imaginative backgrounds.

Mekong River

Few years ago, I had a chance to take a boat along Mekong River and witnessed the villagers whose livelihood depended solely on the river. They catch fish, play with their buffalo, wash their clothes and take shower in the river. Their houses are semi-permanent - made of tin and bamboo – and normally without a door or window. Some of them reside on boats. These people are mostly Vietnamese immigrants who are welcomed in Cambodia but without a legal right to own any land. Sometime they are pushed away from one river bank to the other because of new building construction being started and the land has to be emptied. In the distance, as a contrast, you see a row of five-star hotels which accommodate foreign tourists who are willing to pay more for river view.

Life in Cambodia

Phnom Penh is a bustling and lively city; and there's hardly any place in the city where you don't hear either construction noise or traffic. People honk, dogs bark, and occasionally we hear a sirene from a motorcade of some VIP people with their body guards passing by. In the middle of its rapid development and commotion, I could find peace and serenity in temple grounds, where changes seem remote from life there and where people are happy to resign from the chaotic world outside. These are two of my favorite scenes from my last stay in Cambodia. The black and white one shows a sweeper at Ta Phrom temple, Siem Reap, who becomes the face of the Lonely Planet guide book. The second one is a monk who lives in a quarter next to Wat Ounalom, Phnom Penh. The house which is located in a small alley is painted in bold yellow and strikingly beautiful.

Moroccan tapestry

It has been months since I last painted, and finally I could finish one today - the first in 2009. The idea comes from a tile design in Morocco which is very much influenced by Islamic arts. I like the bold color combination mostly assembled by primary colors such as blue, yellow and red. Blue is a dominant color in Islamic design, and it gives a spiritual touch to the painting. For my tapestry, however, I painted the background in yellow, just to show the contrast. Working with transparent gutta is so messy because it is very liquid, and it is tiring to try to find out the lines that are invisible after the gutta dries up. So while working with clear gutta, it is almost a must to draw the lines with pencil first. But, the pencil lines should not be too thick, because it will stay after you wash the silk. The finished painting is then framed using blue and white Khmer silk.

Exhibitions

T'Shop Lai Gallery, Vientiane, 10-30 September 2008

Anita Dean, Kazue Kitamura, Cida Copriva, Hisae Sakamaki, Maria Koller, Arja Arasmo

Bali Cafe, Phnom Penh 2006
Yunmi, Natalia, Kae, Minoli, Anita, Etsuko, Mika and Marcine

Asia Art Gallery, Phnom Penh 2005

Ms. Kobayashi, Etsuko Matsuo, Kae Okada, Anita

German Consul's Residence Phnom Penh, 2004

Ms. Kobayashi, Tessy, Yunmi, Miyuki Kakimoto, Anita and Kae

Flowers on silk

Flowers is one of the most popular designs in our silk painting group. Members play around with its color, texture and share and create an original decorative piece of their own. My flowers are big; painted on 50x50cm frames, I try to capture the details of each petals on each painting. Here are some of them:

Friends

Over the years of moving and living overseas, I value friendship more and more. It does not really matter where I live; friends are the ones who create memorable moments in my life. We enjoy every little thing together and give each other a hug when we need one. I painted some of those memories on silk, and I will always cherish all the time we had together.

Salsa Group: Before our last performance, 2004

Miyuki, Anita, Pilar, Mami, Jenny, sitting on the floor: Kae, Yunmi

Silk Painting Group: Farewell to Natalia, Phnom Penh, 2006
Standing: Anita, Minoli, Marcine; Sitting: Shantini, Kae, Rika

Halong Bay, 2007
Anita, Etsuko, Yunmi

Chilies

Two attempts were made to paint chilies on silk. The first one was a simple 50x50cm and the second one was 60x80cm; both were sold at the exhibitions. The first one (2006) took about 4 hours to finish, while the second one (2008) took 4 days.





About Chilies

Chili peppers have been a part of the human diet in the Americas since at least 7500 BC. There is archaeological evidence at sites located in southwestern Ecuador that chili peppers were domesticated more than 6000 years ago, and is one of the first cultivated crops in the Americas that is self-pollinating.

They are rich in vitamin C. Psychologist Paul Rozin suggests that eating chilis is an example of a "constrained risk" like riding a roller coaster, in which extreme sensations like pain and fear can be enjoyed because individuals know that these sensations are not actually harmful. This method lets people experience extreme feelings without any risk of bodily harm.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chile_pepper

More from Laos: Lao house and kitchen

I found Lao traditional houses are a very beautiful. They are normally made of wood and built on stilts to protect themselves from flood in the rainy season. So, the residents have to climb steps or ladder to get in. The following painting was made based on a house I saw in Pakse, on the way to Khon Phapheng Falls in the south of Don Khon Island. The house was standing in the wet green forest and looked as if it was part of the nature. And, I like “Full moon” because it lights up the darkest hours, and always brings back my memory to all the places where I saw one…

PS: The little black dog in both paintings is “Aloha” who is called “Ethen” now. She is one of my favorite puppies, and it was so sad that I had to give her away. So I want to keep her in my memory on my painting.

Lao Kitchen on the other hands is dark and black because Lao people use charcoal or wood fire to cook. However, the combination of woods, fire, and baskets in the kitchen inspired me to paint. I added corns, garlic, chilies, fish, and a puppy behind the water bucket to give colors to the painting and make the kitchen more lively.

Another market

Night market in Luang Prabang, 2007

Market, psar, talat, pasar....

“Market” is one of my favorite subjects; I just love capturing the colors of markets. Painting a market is a good exercise to learn color combination. You don’t have to think too much about which colors to use, because you know the color of an apple is red, the color of mango is orange, and banana is yellow or greenish. It is also a good exercise to learn composition, as you have to arrange those fruits and things in a way that will be attractive to see… try it out!

As you can see, here are my attempts to paint a ‘market’ over the years...

Pakse Market, 2008




















Floating Market in Bangkok, 2005

Market in Phnom Penh, 2004

When you said “I do”

“I do” is the simplest and yet the most powerful word a human being ever said at one point in her/his life, because it will change one’s life completely – sometimes it will bring you to a kind of life that you’ve been dreaming of, and in some cases, to a kind of life that you never expected at all. It comes with surprises, extreme happiness, regrets, joy, chaos and madness - and often uncontrollable and unpredictable. Some people see this as a fate or obligation, and try to live with it. Some might realize after a while that it is as a mistake and try hard to get away from it, or stay as it is because they are are too afraid to do anything about it, and it is convenient or because the consequences are by far undesirable... Many are facing some ups and downs and that’s normal. Few think that it’s just a form of institution, and do not what it means anymore… For the lucky ones, “I do” could really give happiness, sense of security and achievement, and they could proudly celebrate this moment every year….

Painting: Teth's "I do" moment in Cambodia, 2004

“Creative Block”

I love painting…(I said it in various places in this blog) but honestly I haven’t painted since September last year. In September 2008, where I organized a group exhibition and spent three weeks only for painting, framing, painting and preparing for a big opening, and painting. After the exhibition which was a big success, I thought I could take a rest for a while, but ….. it’s been 5 months!!!! Am I having “creative block”? Is it normal? How long does it last? How to solve this problem?

A little panic, I checked on the internet, and found this article:
http://painting.about.com/cs/inspiration/a/artistsblock2.htm

Silk Painting

I love painting, and would like to share my knowledge, creation, feeling, and ideas with fellow silk painters and friends. I have been painting with different media – oil on canvas, water color, and acrylic – I found myself in love with silk painting. Silk is a fine medium which creates a nice transparent color combination and a vibrant picture. The themes of my paintings are mostly ‘daily life’, people faces, nature and some decorative and cultural elements.