Monday, September 15, 2014

Mioko Iyhara






Pictures: Miyoko Ihara / Rex Features from the Telegraph


Nine years ago, Japanese photographer Miyoko Ihara began taking pictures of the kinship between her grandmother and her unusual-eyed white cat. 





 Miyoko's grandma Misao found the abandoned cat as a kitten in a shed on her property and the pair have rarely been apart since.





"Misao named the white cat "Fukumaru" in hope the "God of fuku (good fortune)  would come and everything would come "full circle"  (as maru :circle)".






Fukumaru is always at Misao's side whether she is farming her land, having a bath, eating or sleeping.

 Now nearly a decade later their closeness and adventures have been published by Miyoko in a photography book called  Misao the Big Mama and Fukumaru the Cat.  





The couple have become increasingly popular in Japan with this unusual photo essay becoming a bestseller and becoming a viral sensation across the world. 

  All these pictures tell a lovely tale of friendship that not many of us can resist.      

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Shadow of a Doubt

oil on canvas, 60x73 cm, Mary Payne

If you hold the screen so that the colors are the least saturated you will get a pretty good idea of this painting which is one of three of the same size and color range.   I call this one " Shadow of a Doubt" .




Alone/Surrounded


Oil on Canvas, 60x73cm, Mary Payne

Again, to get the full affect of this painting you need to hold the screen so the colors are palest.   I have titled this painting : "Alone/Surrounded".  

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Castles in the Air

Oil on Canvas, 60x73cm , Mary Payne


This is the third canvas of a series of the same size and color range.  I call it "Castles in the air"  after the saying by Henry David Thoreau.

I will paraphrase his words for you:  "so you've built your castles in the air, now put foundations under them."  My mother used to quote this and it has stuck with me.



Kabuki : sketch of the day



 Now that I am out of the cast and into my life again,  I want to pick up one of the treads of my life:  the studio.   I found this photo in my archive of paintings . It is a piece I did from a photograph I found in the newspaper.

 It is done with oils using mainly a palate knife on oil paper.   I still like it.