The Hidenoya Sketchbook

Diary 2008.9.23

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投稿者:Andrea

Here are a few pages from my sketchbook. I sit at Nori-chan’s diner, Hidenoya, every day sometime between noon and 2pm eating lunch, reading and drawing in my sketchook. Sometime people come by for a chat because they know they can find me there. Drawing in sketchbooks can be like thinking without words, processing the world in an intuitive way, engaging the brain’s right hemisphere, which comes more naturally to me and often seems to yield a more profound understanding.

This first spread is the remains of my samma lunch at Hidenoya. You might have seen this one already as Chan posted it a little while ago. One is drawn with rapidograph, the other with my tri-color pencils Chan also posted pictures of. The colors that come out of these pencils are entirely random. One thing I really like about using them is giving up control and letting the pencils decide on the colors. Less to worry about, one can really focus on drawing.

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The next page is a view just outside the window from Hidenoya. There is even a small stream that flows by and many leafy and flowering plants of all shapes and sizes. On the right side page is a study of a dead dragonfly I found on the road on my way home from lunch.

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This is my drawn rendering of one of my favorite comic books from the Hidenoya collection. The fact that I don’t understand a word of it doesn’t bother me at all, on the contrary, it’s easier to follow the visual narrative with no words to interfere. There is also a slice of tomato on the table, a Coke bottle, a sprig of parsley, a glass of water and a chopstick holder made of a tree root. And the garden outside.

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On the left page is the story of Oiwa Iyemon the poisoned wife whose hair was falling out as she was combing it until the pile of hair on the floor reached the ceiling. It’s a beautiful Japanese kaidan, scary tale, one that visually influenced many contemporary Japanese horror films inlcuding Ringu and Dark Water. The iconic indigo and white makeup of the poisoned wife, later her ghost, the white dress, drooping right eye and the long black hair falling into her face came from the classic Kabuki version of the play.
On the right side page is a view from the yard of the Kamiyama Culture House in Shimobun, the building on which mounted loud-speakers announce the prices farmers ought to charge that day for every type of produce sold in Kamiyama from potatoes to sudachi. The announcement goes on every morning at 7:20 am and sounds loud and clear through my house, although it doesn’t wake me up anymore.

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This page is a collection of observational sketches drawn during long meetings. Also featured is a large round stamp from the Awagama Paper Factory with my hand-written note about our visit scribbled inside the stamp. The small red stamp is my initial, the hiragana symbol for the letter A. I chose it because it looks like a fish spouting water from its eye at a celestial body.
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Left page: Welcome to Hell Paper Factory. People walk in to the cauldron area, a demon strips them of their flesh from which paper is made. Their skeletons leave happy and light-heartedly, feeling not that different from the way one feels after getting a great summer haircut.

Right page: The Incredible True Story Of The Man Who Had A Cherry Tree Growing Out Of His Phantom Limb. Also featured, a female ghost, the man’s bride, materializing from the smoke of a special incent stick, used to summon the dead.

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The strange story of Hoichi The Earless has captivated me the moment I read about it. In Lafcadio Hearn’s English translation  is truly beautiful. This little manga I drew today at Hidenoya was inspired by the story.00001403.jpg

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Andrea

KAIR2008 Artist

Articles by Andrea

Comments

  • I like the steam and smoke and precision. Is that a stamp of a guy tending to a cauldron?

    09/23/2008 7:00 AM | adam

  • Yes, both that and the blue round one on the opposite page are stamps you can get at the paper factory; they show the process of paper making. These were old stamps and kind of washed out to begin with but I also smeared them as I pressed them down so I decided to incorporate them in drawings.

    09/23/2008 11:23 AM | Andrea

  • Your drawings are AMAZING as per usual. You really should come back to Chicago and make paper at CCC.

    09/23/2008 3:23 PM | Ken

  • Thanks Ken, I appreciate that. I'd love to come back to CCC and do a paper residency sometime. I'll answer you more about the ghost story stuff on Facebook.

    09/23/2008 11:01 PM | Andrea

  • Andrea, I am so thankful you are an artist - the world would be robbed if the way you see things stayed inside of you.

    09/23/2008 3:55 AM | Alison Dilworth

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