It was fun scene.

It makes me smile.

Warming up as looking at waves. They are exited to do surfing. They are imagining what kind waves, how surf waves…

I have never done surfing. But I have seen a lot of films of surfing. It’s a very fascinating sport.

I met Gerry Lopez in late 70’s. We talked about his way of surfing was Zen world. He just relaxed and rode on huge waves. It was amazing. And then I met him and shook hands. It was miracle moment. His way of walking was like a feather. Shaking hands was so soft which I have never experienced before and after. Way of his talking was so calm; bring us into a nice quiet world.

Surfing is a harmony with nature.

I appreciate cameramen of surfing photos and films. They show us fantastic world.

Thank you for stopping by my blog.

Please leave your comment.

Sunny day in Santa Rosa, it’s like spring.

When I was in San Diego, below 65 degree I felt it’s cold. But I was wearing only T-shirt.

Now when it’s below 60 degree I feel cold. I wear under shirt and wool sweater. And turn on heater.

And I painted this “Suffers”. It made me warmer.

Do I miss warmer climate? Not now, I’m enjoying here’s variety temperature and changing view.

When I moved to Santa Rosa in early November. It was autumn leaves on trees. So it was yellow, red and green on trees. Now no leaf is on the trees. The ground is covered with fresh green.

Still Roses are blooming.

I like here and miss San Diego.

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After “Rainy day”, I strolled on Mendocino Headlands. Then I saw the sparkling of light came done.

It was so beautiful.

After rainy day, we got a beautiful gift from the sky.

I jointed dailypaintworks.com and this painting is in their auction. Please visit.

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I was in Mendocino.

It was a Rainy day. When I got Mendocino Headlands, rain stopped and yellowish sky was peaking under grayish heavy cloud curtain.

I love the moment.

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Please leave your comments for me.

Early morning I took a walk at my neighbor after we decorated our Xmas tree.

Several houses have a fir tree in their front yard.

I wonder if they were Xmas trees one time.

I love Xmas tree and Xmas lights. They make me happy.

Just like Peter Pan asked boys, “Imagine happy thing”. And boys say “Xmas!!” and they fly.

I know that you have your own Xmas stories. I do too.

Thank you for stopping by my blog.

Please leave your comments for me.

I came back to the Northern California.

I met nice artists in San Diego. I learned from them and had a good time with them. But I really missed the Northern California’s Air.

Now I live in Santa Rosa. One hour to S.F and two hours to Mendocino Coast. It’s a house with front yard and back yard. I just seeded salad mix inside of my studio. These days, it gets cold morning and night. But still I’m hoping that they sprout.

My studio is 14′ x 19′ with very bright daylight lights. Thank you for my nice landlord for that.

When I left San Diego, I didn’t know where I want to live. I looked for a place for almost two months. During that time I didn’t have my studio. It was hard for me without it.

I rejoined the Northcoast Artists Gallery in Fort Bragg CA.

Thanks for members of the Northcoast Artists Gallery accepting me as a member. It’s very nice to have a place, where artist can show whatever artist wants. In general speaking, mostly commercial galleries’ owners decide what to show in their galleries. But the Northcoast Artists gallery is a cooperative gallery. So we can express ourselves freely. It’s very important for artists. And we have good quality works, display very nicely and artists greet people friendly.  So customers enjoy shopping there, Artists meet customers and have feed back from them direct. It’s wonderful opportunity for both of us.

I painted several paintings of Mendocino Coast scene in oil. I realized that it takes long time to dry in Santa Rosa now.  It’s very different from San Diego, of cause.

Now there are beautiful autumn leaves on trees around my house and roses are blooming.

A lot of painters move or travel for painting. I understand that very much now. Changing place changes paintings. Stimulate and excite me to see things fresh.

I’m looking forward to see where my painting goes.

2012

January 21: Demo of Watermixable Oil painting for the Clairemont Art Guild in San Diego CA

March 2-April 3: Mariko Irie Solo show 2012 at the Northcoast Artists in Fort Bragg CA

May 9-21: Minnie Valero and Mariko Irie 2012 at the Gallery 21, Spanish Village, Balboa Park in San Diego CA

Aug. 11 -12: Workshop “Let’s paint in Water Mixable Oil” at the Mendocino Art Center

Thank you for stop by my blog. I’m looking forward to seeing you sometime, somewhere.

It’s spring!!!!!!

Sprouts are growing, and flowers are blooming everywhere.

It’s a beautiful and colorful season. I’m celebrating as painting Flowers & Girls.

“Poppy Girl”: I painted same design, image size 11” x 11” in Watercolor & Gouache before. I love the design so much. I wanted to paint big in oil. So I painted on 24” x 24” Gallery Wrap Canvas.

I love Bird of Paradise. In Mendocino I didn’t see them blooming. Now in San Diego they are blooming everywhere. I feel passion from these flowers. Just like a Flamenco dancer.

Daisies are ordinary flowers and everybody loves them.

Once upon a time, in Japan “Flower” means Cherry blossoms. They bloom for only one week very beautifully and gone. When they are going away, becomes to be single peddles and falling, just like snow. Some windy day, it’s flower storm. Then ground and ponds are covered with white peddles in Japan.

Let’s celebrate this happy season, as dancing and jumping.

I’m going to show these paintings at the Mission Federal Art Walk at Little Italy. My show place will be with aaaSD, between Tent #302 and #303.  Our location is at Cedar St. between India St. and Kettner Blvd. near Indigo Grill. Please come by.

April 30th and May 1st, 2011

11:00 AM – 6:00 PM

After the Art Walk, these painting will be shown in the show “A flower Affaire”.

The show runs from May 2 to May 27, 2011

Reception: Sunday May 22, 2:00pm – 4:00pm

At The LJAA Gallery

8100 Paseo del Ocaso, Suite B

La Jolla, CA 92037

(858) 459-1196   Open daily 11 – 5

You are invited. I will be at the reception. I hope to see you there.

I have been searching for peace and eternal beauty for many years.

The last winter I felt the world is getting harder and heavier.

I asked myself how I could get a better life.

Align to your good feeling and manifest.

How I can get good feeling?

Make yourself happy.

What is happiness?

Where happy comes from?

Paint it.

So I painted “Opening of Happiness”.

After I painted two big happy colors Hibiscus at dawn. And my brash stopped. I need something. But I couldn’t figure, so I fooled around a couple days.

My friend photographer Ron/www.levalleyphoto.com sends us his photo every morning. Actually he sends around two am. I wonder when he sleeps.

He is a bird lover including all kind of nature. One of his birds attracted me. Just fit in my between two hibiscus. So I painted the bird and one four leaves clover, because The Noah Boat story flashed in my mind.

Yes, small Hope opens Happiness.

Then “Opening of Happiness” is done.

I found that Japanese Green Energy technology is ready to switch over nuclear energy plants. Leaking of radioactive is threatening us. But moneymakers don’t let them change to Green Energy.

Then my friend in San Diego received this letter from her friend in Australia.. This letter traveled all over the world and came to me:

Date: March 14, 2011 7:23:04 AM HST

From my cousin in Sendai, Japan where she has lived for the past decade teaching English. Very moving!!

Hello My Lovely Family and Friends,

First I want to thank you so very much for your concern for me. I am very touched. I also wish to apologize for a generic message to you all. But it seems the best way at the moment to get my message to you.

Things here in Sendai have been rather surreal. But I am very blessed to have wonderful friends who are helping me a lot. Since my shack is even more worthy of that name, I am now staying at a friend’s home. We share supplies like water, food and a kerosene heater. We sleep lined up in one room, eat by candlelight, share stories. It is warm, friendly, and beautiful.

During the day we help each other clean up the mess in our homes. People sit in their cars, looking at news on their navigation screens, or line up to get drinking water when a source is open. If someone has water running in their home, they put out sign so people can come to fill up their jugs and buckets.

Utterly amazingly where I am there has been no looting, no pushing in lines. People leave their front door open, as it is safer when an earthquake strikes. People keep saying, “Oh, this is how it used to be in the old days when everyone helped one another.”

Quakes keep coming. Last night they struck about every 15 minutes. Sirens are constant and helicopters pass overhead often.

We got water for a few hours in our homes last night, and now it is for half a day. Electricity came on this afternoon. Gas has not yet come on. But all of this is by area. Some people have these things, others do not.

No one has washed for several days. We feel grubby, but there are so much more important concerns than that for us now. I love this peeling away of non-essentials. Living fully on the level of instinct, of intuition, of caring, of what is needed for survival, not just of me, but of the entire group.

There are strange parallel universes happening. Houses a mess in some places, yet then a house with futons or laundry out drying in the sun.

People lining up for water and food, and yet a few people out walking their dogs. All happening at the same time.

Other unexpected touches of beauty are first, the silence at night. No cars. No one out on the streets. And the heavens at night are scattered with stars. I usually can see about two, but now the whole sky is filled.

The mountains are Sendai are solid and with the crisp air we can see them silhouetted against the sky magnificently.

And the Japanese themselves are so wonderful. I come back to my shack to check on it each day, now to send this e-mail since the electricity is on, and I find food and water left in my entranceway. I have no idea from whom, but it is there. Old men in green hats go from door to door checking to see if everyone is OK. People talk to complete strangers asking if they need help. I see no signs of fear. Resignation, yes, but fear or panic, no.

They tell us we can expect aftershocks, and even other major quakes, for another month or more. And we are getting constant tremors, rolls, shaking, rumbling. I am blessed in that I live in a part of Sendai that is a bit elevated, a bit more solid than other parts. So, so far this area is better off than others.  Last night my friend’s husband came in from the country, bringing food and water. Blessed again.

Somehow at this time I realize from direct experience that there is indeed an enormous Cosmic evolutionary step that is occurring all over the world right at this moment. And somehow as I experience the events happening now in Japan, I can feel my heart opening very wide. My brother asked me if I felt so small because of all that is happening. I don’t. Rather, I feel as part of something happening that much larger than myself. This wave of  birthing (worldwide) is hard, and yet magnificent.

Thank you again for your care and Love of me,

With Love in return, to you all,

What a beautiful, strong, intelligent person’s letter is.

The painting “Opening of Happiness” is in the show “”Birds of a Feather”

The show runs from April 4 to May 1, 2011

Reception: April 17^th from 3pm

At The LJAA Gallery

8100 Paseo del Ocaso, Suite B

La Jolla, CA 92037

(858) 459-1196   Open daily 11 – 5

You are invited. I will be at the reception. I hope to see you there.



I decided to join the group show “A Celebration of Culinary Delights”.

I started to design “ Let’s Open Our Good Feeling” for the show.

I figure all good feelings are inside of us. It means how we think, how we open our good feeling. That is a key.

Good food is nutritious for our bodies. Good words and Art nourish our soul. That is my concept for this project.

I wonder how I can make me good feeling. So I started to write words which make me good feeling.

Love, Comfortable, Beautiful, Belief, Joyous, Passion, Amused, Contentment, Aglow, Optimism, Hope, Appreciation, Free, Soothing, Happiness, Cheerful, Ease, Delight, Compassion, Anticipation, Pleasure

I made a panel,then put four paintings:

When take one painting from the panel,

a message appears. And other, and other, and other.

When I was working on this project, The Sendai earthquake and Tsunami was happened.

I received e-mails. They are asking if my family in Japan is OK and my feeling. I got e-mails from my family and found that everyone is fine. I’m so happy to hear that. I’m so sorry for people who lost love ones.

Then some nuclear energy plants along the ocean in Japan got a problem. I started receive e-mails about “Radiation in Japan, From Japan.” People are worry about Japanese people and themselves, who are living in this U.S.

So I e-mailed back

On San Diego News, after they talk about the Japanese earthquake and the nuclear plant, they were talking about nuclear plants along the Ocean in San Diego. In Santa Barbara as well.

My friends worry U.S nuclear plants, because they are so old.

I hope that this is a big warning for every nation has nuclear plants.

Every time I go to Mendocino, I pass by where a lot of windmills are standing on top of the hills in Bay area. Every time more wind mills than before, that makes me happy. In Japan as well, every time I go there more wind mills.

I love the movie ” Wall Street money never sleeps” very much. In that movie, our generation or older, they are just making money for themselves ego. But young generation is supporting Green Energy. Developing green energy needs huge money.

And in that movie ” Wall Street money never sleeps”, the young guy finds money for that.

That our HOPE, isn’t it?

I hope that world is moving right direction.

Love,

Mariko

And I added:

I believe Japanese are fine. They take care each other very well.

Even they got atom bombs in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Now flowers are blooming there.

If you have never watched the movie “Rhapsody in August” (1991), directed by Akira Kurosawa, please watch it. You will get positive feeling from the movie.

When Russia got a Nuclear energy plant’s accident, they studied Japanese food when Japan got Nuclear bombs in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. They found Wakame, which is seaweed, removes radioactive.

So I eat Wakame everyday.

Please check http://www.loveseaweed.com/health.html

I’d like to introduce a recipe of one of my favor dishes.

Wakame Salad

1. Reconstitute Wakame in water for about 5 minutes.
2. Slice a cucumber paper-thin.
3. Slice ginger like pine needles.
4. Dressing is Rice vinegar and a little bit of Japanese Sesame oil.
5. Mix Wakame, Cucumber and Ginger and marinate with the dressing.
6. Sprinkle Roasted sesame seeds.

Wakame removes radioactive and good for other things.

Cucumber cleanses.

Ginger supports immune system

A teaspoon of sesame seed has calcium as same as one glass of milk.

I need to mention that I don’t recommend to eat Wakame a big quantity. Eat small quantity and variety food is the best.

My artwork “Let’s Open Your Good Feeling” is in the show ”A Celebration of Culinary Delights”.

The Show runs Mar 14 – Apr 3, 2011

At The LJAA Gallery:

8100 Paseo del Ocaso, Suite B La Jolla, CA 92037(858) 459-1196   Open daily 11 – 5

The reception: Sunday, March 27, 3pm – 6pm

I will be at the reception. I hope to see you there.

Let’s open our good feeling and enjoy our lives.

I just came back from Japan. It was winter. I live in the coast side of San Diego, so even it’s in winter, and the temperature wouldn’t go down below 50degree. I spent time in mountains for a week. The house built for summer and only small electric heater. So I got amazing experiences.

I was in Pacific side in Japan. The center of the Honshu Islands is mountains. In winter wet wind comes from the East and hit the mountains, so the Japan Sea side gets snow or rain in winter, but the Pacific side it’s cold, dry and very rear snow.

Where I stayed, they had snow end of the last December. There are snow left in shady places. It makes a view so charming.

The local person gave me a warning on the fist day. So I turned on electricity on the pipe out side and run water a little bit all night, so the pipes didn’t freeze. But every thing has water on them got frozen. I left the water the outside faucet run. The water from the faucet didn’t get frozen, but where the water landed, dead weeds were surrounded, created beautiful crystals. The crystals got bigger and thicker everyday.

Almost everyday I wake up just before the dawn around 6:30am. That time is marvelous light. The air was so cold and dry. It was 15 degree at the fist day of before dawn. The outside was getting lighter and mountains’ color changed from gray to reddish purple, shadow were Ultramarine. I started painting in watercolor. The watercolor on the paper started crystallized and created beautiful pattern. I still have the painting, because the paint remained the crystal pattern. It’s beautiful and fascinated.

I painted this “102. Waiting for spring in Miasa” in 1999.

Miasa in Japan and Mendocino CA in U.S are a sister City. Artist/founder of Mendocino Art Center Bill Zacha and Internationally famous Japanese Woodblock Artist/ Miasa Art Center founder Toshi Yoshida worked together to made happen to be a sister city between Miasa and Mendocino in 1982. Every other year middle school students visit from Miasa to Mendocino, and the other every other year middle school students from Mendocino to Miasa. It’s a great event. The year a boy from Miasa stayed my home, and the boy wished to go to Middle school in Mendocino. My son, ken wanted to stay in Japan as well. So his parents and I worked to happen. In spring 1999, Japanese school starts in first of April, I took my son to his home stay. This view was in front of their house. During staying their house, I visited Museum of Kaii Higashiyama who is one of my favor traditional Painter (Nihon-Ga) a couple of times in Nagano prefecture. It might be influenced by paintings of Kaii Higashiyama. Anyway after I painted this painting, I felt so good. He said that he was let be and let him paint. He didn’t think that he was painting all the time.

It’s covered with snow, then a fantastic world appears. There is an expression “makeup by snow” in Japanese.

I painted this “131. From Mt. Bachelor” in 2001 when we went to skiing. I don’t use white paint for watercolor. White is paper itself. I designed the front of the painting is a big white space which was deep snow. The shadows on snow were just sweet. It was a little cloudy, and the cloud was so beautiful and watercolor accidentally created just what I wanted. That was the first time we went to Mt. Bachelor in Oregon. People are so kind there.

I wondered if we could have a white Xmas at Yosemite, it would be wonderful. When I was talking with my friend, who performs at Brace Bridge Dinner: http://bracebridgedinner.com/ every year, I told that. Then we got an opportunity to be there with them around Xmas time. Even we got snow.  It was a great performing. What a nice Xmas memory.

We got snow, so I was happy, I dressed super warm with my watercolor gears. When I got the bridge, I was going to paint out there. I had never painted in so cold place. Before I brushed on watercolor paper, watercolor got frozen on a brush. It was amazing. When I got home in nice warm studio I painted “166. Snow on a sand bank (Yosemite)”. I used Gold Leaf pieces along the bank. So I paste gold leaf pieces on Giclee prints as well. When I was showing the original of this painting at Winesong event (fundraising for the hospital in Fort Bragg), the person purchased the print of this image before, purchased the original painting and donated good money for the hospital as well.

It was cold outside, but it was nice warm inside of the Ahwahnee hotel, which was built in 1925. They have very tall beautiful windows. The tall window made the painting “169. Snow view from the Ahwahnee” very interested in. Outside was so cold snowing and two small birds on the twig gave me a sweet moment. A person purchased the original painting was past away, but her family came to my last show at the Northcoast Artists Gallery, told me that they love the painting very much. A lot of people love the image, so one year I made Xmas card with the image. People told me that the card is one of saving cards forever. It’s nice to hear.