Traveling without Knowing
Traveling without Knowing
After four years of studying Japanese in high school, all I can remember to say is: 私は日本語を勉強します (I study Japanese). Although the language left me, the memories of my stay on the northern island of 北海道Hokkaido shaped the person that I am today.
“We must not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time..” – T.S. Eliot
That trip opened my eyes to the hugeness of this world and the infinite possibilities that it offers. My love of art is almost indistinguishable from my love of travel. Last year was no exception, and my trip to France marked another evolutionary mile stone.
I was walking the same French streets that Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Lautrec, had walked when they first discovered Japanese art for themselves.
The sensitivity of Hokusai and Utamaro’s line work and the vibrant Parisian nightlife all came crashing together for me. This trip helped me to solidify something in myself.
I am a traveler. An artist who loves Japanese, Italian, and French culture as much as I love the soft rolling hills of my home in Ashland Oregon.
So I’ve begun going through my old sketches and photos again. This time without focusing on a specific trip or event. I’m not looking for a specific subject or time. I’m after that feeling. The feeling of Japan, the feeling of France, the feeling of home. The paintings that feel like me.
So maybe it’s time to dig out the old family photos and revisit those parts of our lives that moved us and made us who we are.
You are the culmination of all of your experiences. Those experiences are your style. Innovations and breakthroughs from every artist that you have been moved by live in your work. The cubicle you spent years in as an accountant, or the field where you road your first horse also can make beautiful shapes in your mind. Still, the only person who can express what you have lived with paint is you.