Today I want to share a bit of how my mind wanders and gets inspiration from the things I come across. I took a mental trip to Asia.

This morning I was reading in A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor. Normally it’s a bit of a dry read. I’ve been trying to spend 10 minutes a day reading my way through it as it’s been a book that’s been sitting by my bed waiting for years to be read. The object I read about today was a Korean clay roof tile from 700-800 AD. That sounded rather ordinary, but then I turned the page and saw a lovely detailed and ornamental object that would have been stunning to see in multiples on roof tops. What a surprise! See link to the BBC episode. I immediately started thinking about how would I draw that. Lots of stippling - one of my favorite things - came to mind. So that tile from the past is now on my to-draw list.

I then moved in time to slightly more recent Korea because another thing which is on my want-to-draw list are dancheong. These are decorative colorings in green, yellow, white, blue and red that I’ve seen on older wooden buildings and temples. I love patterns and these are repetitive but not exactly. I don’t know how to sit down and draw one so would like to spend some time with them to figure them out. If I spent long enough on it, I could eventually become a dancheongjang, an artisan who paints dancheong. It’s good to have goals!

My final mental destination today ended up in Japan on the islands of Okinawa. When my son went off to his first year in college this past fall, I came across a subscription service called Bokksu that sends snacks from Japan. Every month he would get a bright orange box filled with snacks designed with some particular theme.

Because of the coronavirus and the pandemic, when he came home early, I had the Bokksu subscription continued but mailed to my house. He was happy to share with me and I have been delighted! I lived in Japan for three years in the 1990’s and have lots of memories from that time. Japanese snacks are so interesting and sometimes so strange to Western tastes. I enjoy both trying them out, but also, and more importantly, I enjoy drawing the snacks and their packaging.

This month’s box was treats from Okinawa. I’ve had an empty package sitting on my desk for a couple of weeks, so that is what won out from my mental world inspirations. I spent about 30 minutes working on the inking of the box and one bag of rice crackers and then another 30 minutes adding some watercolor to it. There are lots more treats to add and taste!