Friday, December 11, 2009

About my art

Often, when people hear I'm housewife and artist, they think it's like paradise. They often imagine me to sit at home the whole day, painting because I'm bored and painting is "just fun". Nope, this is not true at all. First of all, my main-job is being housewife and this is as challenging as any other job... sometimes I have 10 professions at the same time... if you clean, cook, do laundry, iron, for other people, if you are a nurse, a tailor, a teacher, a mediator, a secretary, a psychologist, a driver for them 7 days per week, 24 hours on "standby", you are a workaholic... but if you do this for your own family, some (especially Western people) look down on you or judge you as "too lazy or too stupid to work".
I just recently dropped a German penpal about this, who told me after just two letters, that a "woman under 40 being at home is nothing!" Quite rude, but this is just one of the examples I always heared, when I lived in Germany. Here in Japan I really enjoy that I can be what I want and my job is still respected and honored as "real work".

For my art, some people think the same. Often people think painting is "just fun" and very easy for me. Yes, I do it to relax... but it's also always a big challenge and... if you have a deadline to keep, it can be very tough, because you need to paint quickly, but need to hold up the quality.
For example, right now I work on that painting for the contest. I finished it, but I totally hated it, because I felt, I could have done so much better... on the canvas I can be my worst enemy sometimes. So I decided to paint it completely new... will be another week of hard work and self-struggle, but otherwise I won't feel satisfied. Worst for me is always, when I feel I could have done better. This goes for art and family alike... so I will go once more for it, after making the laundry the dishes and the cleaning... tough work, but I really would not want to miss it anymore.
I love my 10 jobs and I love my family ^___^

Here is another older work from me... I exhibited this last year at the Minoya wine-shop.


 Done with acrylics, watercolor and airbrush on paper, size is B3 original available...
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5 comments:

  1. KokoDecember 12, 2009 at 12:18 AM

    I give you a lot of credit for being a housewife, and I'm glad to hear that in Japan you receive the respect you deserve. It's really unfortunate, at least in the part of the USA where I live, that people just expect wives to handle all the work related to the family.

    I certainly know couples who divide the work evenly, but there are plenty that don't, and the kids are the ones that suffer the most for it.

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  2. KokoDecember 12, 2009 at 12:31 AM

    I just realized that my last comment may not be clear: taking care of kids full time is a huge job, and if it is the responsibility of only one parent, it deserves plenty of respect for that homemaker.

    On the other hand, if no value is placed upon child care/caring for the family, then those responsibilities should be shared by both parents equally.

    I didn't mean to suggest that your children are suffering if you are their primary caregiver; rather that when the bulk of that work gets dumped on one individual, and they don't feel appreciated, it may be hard for one parent to perform those duties to the best of their ability, which, in the end, might have a negative effect on the kids.

    I think that makes sense...

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  3. AnonymousDecember 12, 2009 at 4:48 AM

    Ich glaube, dass Leute, die solche Dinge sagen wie "Hausfrauen haben ein leichtes Leben" einfach nur neidisch sind. Darauf, dass du deine eigene Chefin bist. Dass du deine Arbeit zuhause erbringen kannst und nicht in ein Büro/auf eine Baustelle, eben einfach "außer Haus" gehen musst. Als Angestellte/r sind Aufgaben vorgegeben, die man nach bestem Wissen und vor allem GEwissen machen muss. Läuft was falsch, drohen einschneidende Konsequenzen: Kündigung etc.

    Die Arbeit in einem Haushalt ist nicht weniger anspruchsvoll, aber ich glaube, sie macht mehr Spaß, weil sie in einem gewissen Sinne freiwillig ist: man arbeitet so, wie man es selbst für richtig hält, und nicht, wie es von anderen fest vorgeschrieben wird.

    Ich hoffe, ich konnte das so ausdrücken, wie ich es denke :)
    Viele Grüße, Kerstin

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  4. Julia TakagiDecember 12, 2009 at 9:31 AM

    @Koko: Thank you so much !!! Yes, I totally agree with you.
    With us it's like that, my husband has a tought and challening job as researcher and Professor. I back him up, so he can do his job best.
    When he has an idea for his research, he can work on it as long as it's necessary, because I can focus fully on the house and kids. We are a good team that way... and when he is free, he plays a lot with the kids and we go out alltogether and have fun.

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  5. Julia TakagiDecember 12, 2009 at 9:39 AM

    @Keezrha:
    Das sind die einen, die anderen Frauen, mit denen ich darueber diskutiert habe, denken echt, der Haushalt macht sich nebenher, weil sie Singles sind und es natuerlich einfach ist, wenn man allein ist und keine Kinder und keinen Mann hat, der viel arbeiten muss und viel ins Ausland geht.

    Als ich Yumi in den deutschen Kidnergarten damals brachte, haben viele Frauen mit ihrem Status als manager oder controler in der Frima XYZ angegeben. ODer wo sie ihren Wellness-Urlaub (natuerlich ohne Kinder) machten und wie toll es sei, dass ihr Kind jetzt nur noch russisch spricht, weil das Kindermaedchen und die Putzfrau aus Russland kommen.
    Ich wurden dann auch einfach als "dumme Putzfrau" eingestuft, weil ich weder Titel noch Status hatte. Eine Frechheit, denn ich respektiere eine Putzfrau mehr als solche arrogante Schnepfen... deren Kinder hatten auch nich das geringeste Benehmen. Markenkleidung fuer was weiss ich wieviel, aber kamen schon mit Spruechen "mit dem rede ich nicht, der hat Billigschuhe an"... Bin froh, dass das hier noch nicht so ist und das Hausfrauen hier einen sehr hohen Status haben.

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