Battling Preconceptions

Leaves don't have to be green. The sky doesn't have to be sky blue. If it creates a better atmosphere, you can change the colors. If it expresses your feelings better, you can change the colors. The moment you choose the color you feel, your frontal lobe gently presses the shutter. Color is not a copy of reality, but a reflection of the swaying of the heart. I have been engaged in a quiet battle against preconceptions for a long time.

A 10-year-old's resolution: The moment I decided to become a painter

For a homework assignment in elementary school, I had to write a book report, and I chose the biography 'Potter Kakiemon.' The part where Kakiemon succeeds in creating an original red color seemed to draw me in with the joy and excitement of discovering new colors. At that moment, for some reason, I decided I would become a painter, not a potter. From then on, I asked myself the same question every day: How can I become a painter? How can I paint? How can I use color? My life began not by searching, but by deciding. That small resolution would later attract great encounters. I just had a confidence with no backing.

A series of 'encounters' that moved my life

Life starts moving through encounters with people. I have experienced this many times. One day, someone suddenly said, 'I've booked a venue.' I was filled with surprise and confusion, but I didn't refuse. I had to pay for it myself, but I had been telling everyone I met that I wanted to have a solo exhibition. That one word allowed me to take a step forward, but three months later, the form of my work was still not visible. I spent three months going back and forth, feeling anxious with a positive mindset of just layering paint on the canvas. When I washed it off in desperation, I felt, 'Ah!' This might be it. It was negative thinking. My first solo exhibition. I still remember how my husband and I shared a small rice ball in the corner of the venue because I was too nervous to eat. After that, encounters continued like a chain reaction. Exhibitions in department store windows, exhibitions in the space under the stairs of commercial facilities. I placed a survey box to build a fan base. I received 99% serious responses. With this, I could send out invitations for next year. Newspaper coverage, illustrated maps for the World Expo, event illustrations, and a solo exhibition at a department store art gallery connected through a student's introduction. Another step forward.
I took my original paintings to Tokyo, and again through an introduction, a solo exhibition began at the Bungeishunju Gallery. A sales representative from Holbein I met at the venue asked, 'Was this really created with our paints?' Introductions to merchandise production companies, publishers, and the NHK Culture Center Aoyama. Everything was a connection that started with 'people'.
When I was exhibiting next to an escalator at a department store event, I made eye contact with someone coming up, they bought a piece on the spot, and six months later, they said, 'Have a solo exhibition in Fukuoka.' Life can suddenly start moving like this. What's even more amazing is that they came to every solo exhibition on the final day and bought a large piece.
When I realized that the colors of the scenery I saw every day were leaning toward blue and purple, I turned my eyes overseas. I thought I might be able to use different colors.

[The Philosophy of Color—The Color of Wind, The Color of Light]

How do you decide the color of the wind? It's a question I'm often asked, but the answer is very simple.
'Choose the color that flashes into your mind at that moment'
The wind has no shape. The temperature when it touches you, the speed at which it brushes your cheek, the sound of grass swaying, the movement of light. They all mix in an instant and rise up as color.

The color of light is the same. There is no need to be bound by the image of the color of light. When you paint with the color that flashes into your mind, a work (story) with a different atmosphere is born. I enjoy that process with excitement.

[On Techniques—Bleeding, Colors, and Changing Brushes]

There are times when I just can't get the right atmosphere. At those times, I don't think about this or that.
Change the color. Change the brush. Change the speed of the brush.
Just by doing that, the air in the painting can change. Bleeding is like magic. Because it doesn't go as planned, a 'story of coincidence' is born. When I stare at the bleeding, I can see the shadows of mountains floating in the mist or the presence of distant light. Bleeding creates a 'flow of time' within the painting.

[Behind the Scenes of Production—Anxiety and Shouting at the Mountains]

Before a solo exhibition, I am filled with anxiety every time. I talk in my sleep, I become forgetful, and sometimes I think I'm holding a brush when my hand is just dancing in the air. Even if people tell me to 'have confidence,' it's not something you can have so easily. That's why I shout at the mountains I can see from my studio. 'Give me power! Power!' All that's left is to take the plunge and exhibit. Let them say whatever they want. That resolve creates the next work.

[Summary Message]

Life moves through encounters. Colors can be free. The battle against conventional wisdom continues today. Just as the small resolution I made at age 10 brought me connections with many people, believing in the freedom of color opens the door to new expressions.

There must surely be 'free colors' in your heart, too. Please, cherish those colors. That will become your own story.

Preview of Part 2 Theme: Colors Evoke Memories—Stories of Flowers, Scenery, and the Heart
・Colors evoke memories ・Techniques for capturing scenery ・The philosophy of distance ・I will write about bleeding, wind, light, mist, shadows, etc. Please, be sure to read it.