Newsletter May 2023
Hello, all! Hello May! May is my birth month, so I would like to make it rather festive as much as possible. I have plenty of reasons to make this new month more fun and festive than previous months. I thought things would get easier and have more time for myself once my younger son got to the 1st grade, but I still struggle making time for art. In fact, I feel busier than ever before. Or maybe I just feel that way because of post-Covid time. School events are back. Tourists are back in town. All kinds of little things that AI cannot help pop up every week. You know about that if you are parents. And we are trying to move out of Japan this summer. So I don’t remember how April went by, but it was busy. Again.
At the end of April, I finally started working on a new mandala project, Cat Mandala. I thought I had great idea at first, then I got into the phase of self-doubt for awhile. It’s easy to be trapped in the phase when I let days going by without working out, eating well, sleeping well, and all the other good self care routines I developed. It’s hard to getting into the zone while I try to handle many things that have nothing to do with creative work. But it’s possible if I stick to routines. Those routines help me get back to a safe zone inside myself, where I can reconnect to my creative source. Adding music helps it too.
To start May Fest early, I went to go check out Henri Matisse’s exhibition, The Path to Color, at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum last week. I started liking to go to museums alone. I could completely concentrate on feeling the artwork. I purchased the audio guide though the museum app this time, and I spent more than two hours absorbing Matisse and his colors into me.
This is the first time I love living in Tokyo. I was born and grew up in Tokyo, but my hometown is on the north edge of the city. I used to hate the commutes to school and work because of the distance. Now I am close to everything. I love the easy access and the speed. I get energized just from walking around neighborhoods and watching what is happening. It was the same when I lived in Brooklyn. Instead of getting overwhelmed from masses of humans and tall buildings, I get energized. I guess it’s very strange.
Al final…my music recommendation this month is this:
Moça, Poeta e Violão by Vinicius de Moraes.
I wish I could understand Portuguese. Speaking of foreign language, I would like to restart learning Spanish again. I am a genius of making myself so busy.
Let’s make May a fun and healthy month!
