My First Solo Exhibition in Japan

I have been preparing the artwork for my solo exhibition in November in Japan.  There will be a series of my 4 seasons' wildlife art work of original paper-cut artwork, screen prints and relief prints.

'when you walk in woods and meadows'

As imagined, my great interest is wildlife around here.

Alongside the original paper-cut artwork, I have collaborated with the Printhaus, the screen print art studio in Cardiff to create screen prints from the artwork since it's difficult to make screen prints by myself with my wrists.  They did to make stencils from my original work, to create colours what I wanted, to make screens, to print etc....  The work was tremendously demanding, but they were always patient to listen to me and hardworking.  

I cannot say thank them enough.  I am overjoyed with the work they have completed!

I am very thrilled about this special event.

Next week I'll fly to Japan.  The exhibition will be held between 4th and 8th of November.  I am going to update on this blog and Face Book as well.

When I get back home, I will take part in various craft fairs around south Wales(details updated soon).

The new calendar for 2016 of wild plants (relief prints) will be on sale as well.

'Garden Foraging' Back to the Nature: From a talk event of the Book Festival

'Garden Foraging', it was very tempting to me.  It was the title of today's talk event of the Book Festival of our town.

The guest speakers were the author of 'The Garden Forager', Adele Nozedar, and a local artist and illustrator, Diana Mead.

I have one of Nozedar's book, 'The Hedgerow Handbook', which is one of my favourite plant books, from which I have often cited in this blog.  I was looking forward to this event.

Yes, as expected, I (I suppose, everyone at the event as well) enjoyed it very much.

They brought an apple and a few branches of Himalayan honeysuckle from Diana Mead's garden.  Nozedar said that about 90% of garden plants on the market (of the UK) were edible, even though it says 'not edible' (because of the marketing of traders).

Thinking about plants generally, it's difficult to distinguish between wild an cultivated ones.  cultivated plants nowadays were, of course, cultivated from wild species.  And vice versa, like Himalayan balsam and Japanese knotweed, both of which are edible and tasteful, they are categorised under unpleasant name, 'invasive plants'.

One of the audience questioned about the bitter taste of many of wild plants.  Nozedar said the bitterness of those wild plants have been eliminated through cultivation to suite our (consumers') favour, but the component of the bitter taste has good effect on immune system and so on.  We tend to prefer perfectly proportional spotless but less tasted fruits and vegetables from supermarkets.

She also told (in response to another question) that children in the two generation before (which means, grandparents as children) consumes much less sugar than children today.

I recall articles, many years ago, somewhere in a Japanese newspaper, that someone tried making dishes what the Tea Ceremony master or guru in the 16th century, Sen no Rikyu in those days.  Unsurprisingly the tasters felt the dishes tasteless, which was meant to be little salted and spiced.  

Our sense of taste (generally including other senses, actually) has been gradually weakened over the centuries.  

Why not use those plants as healthy diet source and get our ancient sense back?

This is Himalayan honeysuckle in our garden.  To be honest, I didn't know its name.  Nozedar said it tasted like bitter sweet chocolate.  After back home, I picked one of the berries and tasted it.  Indeed!  (An audience asked her if the leaves were also edible, and she immediately put a leave in her mouth!  So, recommended young leaves rather than old autumnal leaves.)

And, fuchsia in our garden as well.  The flower are also edible despite the vivid neon colour.

In the end, I bought another foraging book of Nozedar, 'The Garden Forager'.

Calendar October 2015: Wayfaring Tree

October: Wayfaring Tree

Colouring the Late Autumn

(Viburnum lantana, Order: Dipsacales, Family: Adoxaceae, Genus: Viburnum )

At the far end of our garden, I saw the red berries some years ago. They were of wayfaring tree.  I can't remember it used to be there when we moved here.  Presumably a bird brought a berry and simply dropped (you know what I mean).  

Usually they are seen commonly at the edge of meadows, in hedges where the sunlight reaches well.  The leaves are distinctively creasy, undersides with dense white silky hairs.  In the autumn they turn red or red brown, firstly surface where the chilly air touches directly. The colourful berries are beautiful, but we'd better leave them for birds and animals as they are not entirely edible.

The creamy white flowers, which are tiny and make a flowerhead, bloom in the mid summer. The berries turn at first red, then purple and eventually into dark purple (almost black).

Nearby our house there is a big grassland.  There grow grasses, meadow flowers and shrubs like wayfaring.  You cannot imagine it used to be a quarry, then be a land fill site.   I can spot quite a few former landfill sites, which were transformed into parks with wild plants. 

Wayfaring tree is one of the wild plants, which thrives well in the site.  The berry clusters of  red, purple and black are striking at the boarder of the grassland in the autumn, where leaves of grasses and bushes turn yellow and brown.

Having wondered where the name, wayfaring tree, came from, I have searched the reason but without result.  Wayfaring is 'traveling on foot', while seafaring is 'traveling by sea'.  Is there any connection between the meaning and the plant?

Maybe wayfarers, travellers in the olden days, used the berries (or leaves) for food or remedy.  I have tried to find out, but couldn't find.  (If I find something about the origin of the name, I'll update this blog.)

In October, the temperature drops sometimes under 10 C°.  The leaves turn yellow, brown and red, and fallen on the ground.  Ripen berries are eaten by birds and small mammal animals to prepare for the winter.  Walking in the morning, I feel the air holding more moisture, which makes chilly, but refreshing.  We still enjoy the warm sunshine in October, and yet prepare for the coming wet cold months....