art and more 高木ユリア

Oyster mushrooms

2012-01-15T18:45:00.000+09:00

Saturday we mostly go to Onsen and later try out some of the restaurants in downtown Fukuoka. This time we went to Kirin Beer-pub in Tenjin. The potatoe-salad is one of the specialities and it's made with self-smoked ham.

We also had delicious ham-pizza with rosemary oil...

...carbonara-pasta and famous Kirin "Brau Meister" beer.

and on top of that a beautiful view on the shirne and city illumination...

...but on that day, we also found a BIG surprise... mushroom-finds always happen, when you expect them less, but you need the heart to go out and have a look. We took a detour to the Onsen and suddenly found an old tree with MASSES of Oyster Mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) ヒラタケ.

You can buy them in shops, of course, but from nature they really taste best !!!

My mom invented a delicious and easy recipe how to cook them. It's the same I use for Blewits (lepista nuda) ムラサキシメジ.

You need some chicken-parts like chicken wings... glass-noodles and the mushrooms. Make a broth out of the chicken and flavour it with some broth-spice powder (consome powder). Then take out the chicken-parts (you can grill them crispy later in the oven) and put in the sliced mushrooms. Boil the soup again and add the noodles in the end...

Here is the result on my plate... best fits a good dry white wine with it. Bon appetit ^_^

Happy new year 2012

2012-01-09T15:13:00.000+09:00

Since we came back to Japan, I have been very busy... overcoming our jet-lag, laundry, e-mail and snail mail (got 25 letters waiting...) and reading though all the beautiful X-mas and new-years cards.

There is one thing, we were eager to eat: Jinanbo-Ramen !!!!

The store is located near Muu's pet hotel and so we ate these Thai-style Ramen before we picked him up. They taste very different from "regular" Ramen but they are very deliciously flavoured with Coconut-milk and other spices.

The next day we went to Ukitake-shrine to greet the new year.

That shrine is over 700 years old and has a lot of ancient paintings and sacred rocks...

In the evening we took a lovely walk through Tenjin, had some great food at the Hakata Harp and at a cozy restaurant, called "Gaza". Actually, I wanted to take some more pictures, but we were mostly in the mood chatting and laughing, so I totally forgot. Well, I will do so next time ^_^

Today, on our trip to Shikanoshima we were totally surprised to see the very first Cherry-blossom this year. It was the only one and the tree is located at an Onsen (hot-spa) and since Shikanoshima is the warmest place in Fukuoka, it might be the reason, why it already came out.

Now I really look forward to Hanami-season... even if it will take about 10-12 more weeks.

But first I will be busy working on my new big painting for the upcoming show in Tokyo and on some other pieces. Also need to catch up with my mail... >_>

X-mas in Germany, food and fun

2011-12-31T16:25:00.003+09:00

As usual, we use to spend X-mas and new years eve in Germany with my father. We always enjoy the quiet time we have there and... of course the wonderful and delicious German food.

As always Yumi and Yuki decorate the X-mas tree together...

While we others organize the rest... My father places the presents under the tree, Tsuyoshi is the chef of the Wine-cellar and I prepare the food. We mostly eat all kinds of fish-salad and a shrimp-cocktail, my mom used to make.

The next day we eat duck...

First of all, the kids prepare the potatoe-dumplings, typical for German style food (Braten).

and here is the whole meal... crispy duck, red cabbage, sauce and potatoe dumpling.

We also visited a lot of restaurants we always do, but I did not take any photos of it this time, because I already wrote about it here last year^^

Well, this time we drove to Darmstadt. This is the Mathildenhöhe. It looks a little bit grey and dark in Winter, but in Spring and Summer it's a more beautiful place.

We had a new and wonderful culinaric experience yesterday though...

My father invited us to the Klosterschänke of Kloster Eberbach. A historic cloister in the famous Rheingau.

http://kloster-eberbach.de/gastronomie.html

I had Riesling-soup

and goose with red-wine sauce...

the kids ate boar-meat...

and Tsuyoshi and my Dad took the deer. All of the dishes were delicious and the cloister-beer, too. I hope we can visit here in Summer someday, too. The historic buildings and the view are beautiful.

Today is new years eve and I still have a lot to prepare, so I want to wish everybody a happy new year... see you in 2012 !!!

new available postcard-sized art

2011-12-10T12:14:00.003+09:00

Here is some availabe postcard-sized art from me. Each piece is 3000 Jpn Yen.

All paintings are originals, 10x14,8cm.

The price includes framing and shipping.

Please contact me for further information.

martoo1973@yahoo.de

*** In a private collection ***

*** in a private collection ***

Hiking at Furuyu

2011-12-05T08:33:00.000+09:00

This Sunday, we decided to hike Jouyama (城山) near Furuyu (古湯), which is an old Onsen-village with many hot-spas. The nature here is still more Autumn than Winter...

And you can still see typical Japanese Autumn-colors...

The entrance is beside an old, beautiful Shrine.

And on the side of the hiking trail are the ruins of some medieval houses, along with beautiful japanese Maple.

Rocks in this area are very high quality, so people used them to build residences, statues and shrine-gates.

After a one hour hike we reached the top. Down there you see the village, where we started.

If the weather is good, you can see Kuju-mountains from here.

The castle was built on this spot, but only the old pine-trees remained.

Later we took a bath in the Onsen and bought some vegetables from the farmers...

Kinuko Nagae-Exhibition of a wonderful friend

2011-11-28T12:06:00.000+09:00

Please let me announce the exhibition of a brilliant artist and wonderful friend:

Kinuko Nagae (永江絹子)

If you have the chance, visit her exhibition at the Gallery "Ruhe"

And please check out more of her beautiful art at:

http://www.kinuko.jp/

Higedaruma at Fukuoka

2011-11-26T09:18:00.000+09:00

one of the most lovely and delicious Izakaya in Fukuoka is definetelly the "Higedaruma" in Meinohama (ひげだるま). It has a wonderful atmosphere and always the best seasonal fish and vegetables.

This was the starter, which is always serverd with beer...

Sanma-sashimi...

fried Oyster...

eel Tenpura...

*YUMMY*

New works

2011-11-21T15:23:00.000+09:00

Finally back to my brushes and canvas I was able to do 3 paintings (German landscapes this time).

Here where the Sasanqua are blooming at the moment and the trees are full of Oranges it's quite difficult to get into Autumn-mood. So I tried to get that feeling through my paintings.

The one above are some churchtowers in Wuerzburg.

It's Acrylic and airbrush on Canvas (size is about 15x17 cm)

Original is available.

This is a typical German Autumn landscape, which came to my mind...

Acrylics and Airbrush on canvas.

Size is 17x15cm

Original available.

And here is a landscape from the Rhoen-mountains.

Acrylics, watercolor, ink and airbrush on paper.

Size is about 25x35cm

Original available.

Have a wonderful Autumn !!!

Autumn walk at nijo

2011-11-14T08:16:00.002+09:00

This weekend we went to Nijo (二丈), a small town near Nanayama, with a beautiful valley.

This is the view from Ringobashi (Applebridge/りんご橋)...

and here you can already see the sasanqua-flowers. It's what I love here so much. Even in Winter, you can see flowers blooming...

This is typical Japanese country side. I hope and pray that people find a way to preserve it... those old farms and villages are the CORE of Japan.

Later, since the weather was nice, we decided to drive up to Kagami-yama and enjoy the view over Karatsu.

In the evening we went to a wonderful Italian restaurant (da Ciruzzo) in Imajuku.

The food is delicious and the service excellent. We will definettely come again.

This are some antipasti.

Quattro formaggi pizza...

... and deer carpaccio. YUMMY !!!

Finally mushrooms

2011-11-07T17:15:00.000+09:00

After all the wonderful exhibitions and the kids' music festival in school,

we decided to take a break and drove into the woods for a mushroom hunt.

To our surprise, the forest was FULL of shrooms. We found masses of "Numeriiguchi"

(suillus luteus)...

Hatsutake (lactarius hatsudake)...

AND, the biggest surprise were 2 Matsutake (Tricholoma matsutake). Tsuyoshi almost stumbled over them and could not believe his own eyes. It was the first time we found some...

Here you see a close up of them. We had them with clear Japanese soup and they were delicious !!!

And here is the rest of the hunt. The green color comes from the Hatsutake. They turn green after you cut them. Actually, I wanted to take pictures of our mushroom dinner, but everybody was so hungry, that I had no chance ^^". Well, if the weather is good, we will be off to the woods next weekend again.

"10. couleur exposition" photos

2011-11-02T08:35:00.000+09:00

Yesterday, I had a wonderful day at the gallery Tokunaga at the first day of our group-exhibition.

I could only stay until 3 p.m but already many people came to see the show.

Here are some photos...

10. Couleur exposition in Fukuoka

2011-10-28T10:52:00.001+09:00

From November 1st-6xt Matsuda-sensei, her students and I will have an exhibition together here in Fukuoka in the gallery "Tokunaga" (とくながギャラリー).

If you have time, please visit !!!

The opening is next Tuesday and I will of course post photos here.

Here are my paintings, which were selected for the show.

A visit at Sennyoji

2011-10-24T08:08:00.000+09:00

After all the exhibitions and the conference of my husband, we went to Sennyoji, a wonderful temple in the mountains near of our house to relax a little bit.

http://www.sennyoji.or.jp/

It was our first visit there and I was amazed by the wonderful gardens, trees and old temple.

It reminded me a lot of Kyoto and yet, I like this place more, because it's really quiet... almost no tourists and you really can relax and meditate there.

Here you see statues of 500 gods. Each one is unique and different from the rest.

After we took part in a Buddhistic ceremony, we took a walk and felt refreshed.

And on our way back, we found our very first Akebi. It was very delicious. Unfortunatelly, the season is almost over, but I want to pick more next year.

Some Photos from the exhibition in Fukuoka.

2011-10-22T15:21:00.000+09:00

Here are finally the promised photos from my exhibition.

Thanks to wonderful Kitamura-san, from Muraokaya gallery, my kids and my hubby for all their wonderful support.

I hope, I can exhibit here again in 2012, next time together with my Dad, who is a wonderful artist, too.

Dear guests, thank you so much for coming and giving great feedback to my works. I really enjoyed every day at the gallery. It was totally exciting !!! Now I'm working on some more paintings and I'm looking forward to more events in 2012.

Exhibition in Fukuoka

2011-10-07T08:01:00.001+09:00

From Oct 11-16 2011. I will have my solo-exhibition in Fukuoka in the gallery "Muraokaya" in Shintenchou (新天町).

http://www.shintencho.or.jp/muraokaya-gallery/index.html

If you have the chance, please take a look.

I will be at the gallery every day from 11a.m til 18:00 (last day til 16:00).

Here are the paintings which will be exhibited and available.

For further information, please contact me:

martoo1973@yahoo.de

***SOLD***

Exhibition Marathon Part 2

2011-09-29T08:04:00.001+09:00

One day after Makurazaki we flew directly to Tokyo, to see the exhibition of "Salon Blanc".

The art there was breathtaking again. So many paintings, sculptures and diffetent art-styles and techniques.

It's always a joy to see so many different works and it was wonderful to meet all my artistic friends there again.

The time was too short to see all of the works, but I got a catalogue and so I'm able to have a better look later.

Here is my butterfly painting. I simply wanted to paint something "light" and carefree after the rather rough year we had over here.

Later we went drinking with our good old friends... it was so great to see everybody again.

Thank you everybody for the wonderful day we had at Shinagawa !!! I hope to see you again in 2012 !!!

Exhibition Marathon Part 1

2011-09-23T13:25:00.002+09:00

O.k finally an update of all the exciting events we had in the last week. I can not post everything, because it was soooooo much, but before I get too far behind, I will try to give a short overview.

One week ago, my father and I took the train to Makurazaki again, where we saw the grand finale of Kinuko-san's and our exhibition "Wind from Europe".

Here you see the "Tengu nose" an impressive rock in the southern part of Kyushu... I already saw it last year, but forgot to take a picture.

After we arrived I met Els, one of the artists from Holland. She is a nice person and I was happy that she could come to Japan and see the exhibition, too.

This is "Kaimondake". An impressive volcano near Makurazaki. I always wanted to see it, but I was never lucky, because of the weather. But I was lucky this time.

I would love to hike it once together with Kinuko-san.

And here you see the famous rock "Tategami" of Makurazaki. There are many legends in this place. One says it is the god, which protects the port and city... another one is about two gods fought each other and in the fight the gods of Tategami spit fire and so the shape of the rock is like a flame and got it's red color.

Here is Els and me infront of Kaimondake.

This is "Akebi" or "Uba" as it's called in the native slang of the people in Makurazaki. When it's ripe it will turn purple. The flesh of the fruit is bitter, but part in which the seeds are is very sweet. I always wanted to find them in nature, but I was never lucky, because I did not know exactly how the plant looks like, but I found some growing right beside the museum.

Later we came back to the museum and did a little Hindelopen workshop organized by Kinuko-san and her daughter.

Everybody got this sample and we needed colored it.

This is my picture. I did not paint for 8 weeks or so, so it was really so refreshing to do it again.

My Dad went at it, too. It was his first try with acrylics and he liked it very much. I hope he will start painting again someday !!!

Later, the great festival/party started.

Here you see my Dad, Kinuko-san and the major of Makurazaki.

Once again CONGRATULATION, Kinuko-san, for 20 years of your beautiful art !!!!!

Later, after everybody held there speeches, various artists performed different kinds of modern and classical music.

It was a great event and I would like to thank everybody for their kindness and for the wonderful time we had. I hope I can visit beautiful Makurazaki next year again !!!

Exhibition in Tokyo

2011-09-09T10:19:00.001+09:00

Sept.14-19 is the annual exhibition of "Salon Blanc" in Tokyo. I'm already excited and I will be there on Sunday (Sept.18).

For further inforamtion, please check:

http://www.salonblanc.jp/

Here is my painting for the show. Done with acrylics and airbrush on board. Size is 70x100cm.

Original available...

In the meantime, please let me apologize, that I did not do a lot of updates here lately. I was so busy with the exhibitions and other things and I still do my best to catch up with e-mails and letters inbetween. After November, things will hopefully get calmer again.

I did not even touch a brush in the last 4 weeks and I miss painting so much :(((

Well, anyway, looking forward to Makurazaki and Tokyo again ^____^

Makurazaki / "Wind from Europe" Part-2

2011-08-22T14:48:00.002+09:00

In the evening after we arrived, we went to the famous local Brewery, the Kedogawa beer house. The beer is very special and tastes delicious.

http://www.kedogawa-beer-house.com/

The Chef himself is an artist, too. Not only for cooking and making beer, but he also loves making ice sculptures.

So while we enjoyed the delicious buffet and beer, he made this fancy sculpture.

The kids instantly found new friends. Later, the chef took a picture from us, too and wrote in his blog about us and the group-show.

http://www.kedogawa-beer-house.com/news_diary/?p=6557

The next day, we went to the opening...

Here you see Kinuko-san's beautiful Hindeloopen art...

...and also other paintings. I especially love her hanabi pictures.

Please visit her homepage, too.

http://www.kinuko.jp/

Here are Toshiko, me and Kinuko, ready for our speeches.

I was so nervous to talk in Japanese infront of all the guests, but everybody seemed to like it, even if it was not perfect sometimes.

Here we cut the band together with the major of Makurazaki and open the exhibition symbolically.

Later, some of the visitors wanted to talk with me about my art and it felt great to recieve so much lovely feedback.

Toshiko-san did a wonderful job representing the other European artists there.

Here is once again the three of us... Toshiko-san, Kinuko-san (in the middle) and me.

Thank you everybody, for the wonderful time we had in Makurazaki !!! I'm looking forward to September to see you all again on the party !!!

Makurazaki / "Wind from Europe" Part-1

2011-08-19T17:39:00.001+09:00

After a 6 hours drive, we reached beautiful Makurazaki and went for Katsuo-Ramen.

Katsuo is a special fish, famous in this area. It tastes a little bit like Tuna and Japaneses often use it dried as flavour for soups and other food.

This is "Kagetsu" (香月) Ramen, the shop, where Katsuo-Ramen was invented. The Ramen were delicious and I can understand, why it became famous all over Japan.

Later, we met my wonderful friends Toshiko-san and Kinuko-san and had a first view on the exhibition.

The show is held in the Nanmeikan museum on mt. Katahira and I'm always impressed by the size and architecture of this building.

Last year I visited the famous Trienale here and it's an incredible feeling that I can take part here in a show as well. Kinuko-san did a wonderful arrangement for all of the paintings. Each artist has the "perfect place" for his/her painting. It was a big joy to see the all of the works form Europe and Japan together. Tomorrow I will take part in the opening-ceremony and I'm already excited. Here are some photos I took today... enjoy!

Wind from Europe

2011-08-09T09:35:00.006+09:00

Dear friends,

I can finally announce our group-exhibition in Makurazaki, called "Wind from Europe".

Different artists from Holland, Belgium and Germany will show their works in the Nanmeikan Museum of Makurazaki from Aug.20st-Sept. 19th.

I will come to the opening and hopefull also September 16&17.

Here is a the list of all the artists:

Please take a look at their websites to see their works:

Nagae Kinuko, Japan: http://kinuko.jp/

celebrating 20 years of her beautiful Hindeloopen-art

Els van Baarle, Holland: http://www.elsvanbaarle.com/

She is coming toward the end of exhibition.

Helene De Ridder, Belgium: http://www.helenebatik.be/

Jacques Coenye, Belgium: http://www.jacquescoenye.be/

Ria van Dijk, Holland: http://www.riavandijk.nl/

Rita Trefois, Belgium: http://users.telenet.be/ritatrefois-batikart.be/

Erika Fiedler, Germany... a wonderful friend of mine,

who has already exhibited in Japan several times.

She will also have an exhibition of scarves in Makurazaki from Sept 13st- Sept 18st
http://www.erika-fiedler.de/

and Julia Takagi (me)

Here are my works, which will be displayed and also available during the show.

Looking forward to see you at the opening !!!

*** SOLD ***

Umi no hi 2011

2011-07-19T08:14:00.001+09:00

Yesterday was a public holiday, "Umi no hi" which means "day of the sea". We had a long weekend and decided to drive to Nanayama (7 mountains). Here you see typical countryside-food with all kinds of herbs and vegetables from that area. It was less than 5 Euros and very delicious.

Beside the restaurant is a wild river. People use it as public bath and the kids had a lot of fun playing in the cool water.

Later we drove up the mountain to our fave spot...

I always love to visit the shrine there...

It's a nature resort and you can spot all different kinds of animals, flowers and plants there...

even some snakes, which try to catch the frogs there.

Later, heading back home, we found a great shop in one of the small villages... they sell all kinds of homemade smoked saussages, ham and other foods and won a lot of German awards. The shop is called Kunya http://www.kunya.net/

and they even have things like Zwiebelmettwurst. We will definettely go there again, because it tasted delicious !!!

Driving along the mountains gave us a beautiful view on the islands...

This is Fukuoka direction. It's difficult to show here, but behind one of those peninsulas and islands is out appartement.

In the mountains there are also some wild rivers and we want to go there during Summer vacation and have a picknick.

In the end we saw another stunning sunset. Before typhoons they are always totally amazing.

Koi and Sakura

2011-07-08T12:15:00.000+09:00

Just finished this painting. My friend gave me wonderful hard paper to paint on and I wanted to try it out. This is the result... Koi and Sakura petals... done with airbrush, acrylics and watercolor on hard paper. Size is 29 x 44 cm

Original available.

The Ninja-master of chopsticks...

2011-06-30T21:05:00.000+09:00

Not much happened this week... it was hot, hotter and rainy and I worked a little bit on some paintings.

Well, but I HAVE to share this snapshot I did today...

Muu-chan the ultimate ninja-master of the evil chopstick ^___^

Pappare Fukuoka

2011-06-27T19:00:00.001+09:00

Before Tsuyoshi had to go on another business trip, we went to Meinohama and had Kushi, but afterwards, we were also lucky to finally have dinner in the Italian Restaurant "Pappare" near Meinohama-station.

Very delicious, excellent dishes and great service.

This is Kinmedai-Carpaccio with olive oil, pesto and ruccola... Wonderful !!! We also had wonderful pizza and pasta, but the kids ate it faster, than I was able to make a photo. But we will definettely visit again.

Oh and here is a beautiful flower in our yard, I spotted on Saturday.

Wishing everybody a wonderful week !!!

African Grey parrot painting

2011-06-24T14:11:00.002+09:00

Since I bought the adorable book "From the wild" back in the 90s, I always wanted to paint animals, too.

Well, today I finished my very first painting of an african grey parrot. Muu was a great model and got some extra-snack for sitting still.

Done with acrylics and airbrush on paper... size is 19,5 x 15 cm.

In a private collection.

Food-art in Karatsu Part 2

2011-06-20T08:02:00.000+09:00

The weekend was mostly rainy and cold and so we could not do much hiking. So we decided to go to Karatsu again, have good food in the Nijinomatsubara-Hotel and simply relax... here you see another delicious lunch-menue there.

Starting with vegetables and Octopus...

sauted white fish...

pork and beef with balsamico and Tenpura-topping...

salty egg-pudding with wakame.

duck-stew,

fish-tempura

rice, soup and pickles,

fig, cooked in redwine as desert.

Not so much we did this weekend, but going to Karatsu was again like being on a vacation ^_^

Summer's end

2011-06-14T15:05:00.000+09:00

Summer's end???...no, not at all, it just begins over here, but it's how I call this painting. I started it in my painting-group last Wednesday and finally had some time to finish it.

Done with acrylics, airbrush and watercolor on paper. Size is about B4, original available.

Fun at Bayern/Fukuoka

2011-06-11T18:05:00.000+09:00

On Friday we went again to "Bayern", the German restaurant and bakery in Nishijin, Fukuoka.

Had wonderful Hefeweizen and Wiener Schnitzel...

Brettjause with Bretzel and brown bread and...

Original Schlenkerla Rauchbier (smoked beer) *yummy*

Oh and I spotted the first lactarius laeticolorus at Odo Koen this week. :D

This weekend I will mostly spend painting, because Tsuyoshi is at Kuju, but having such a great Friday evening together was already so much fun.

new "momiji and butterfly" art

2011-06-07T19:18:00.001+09:00

Finally had some time again to paint... done with watercolor, ink and airbrush on paper.

Size is B4.

*** SOLD ***

Food-art in Karatsu

2011-06-05T15:13:00.000+09:00

After a long time, we decided to finally drive to Karatsu again. We always use to go there for relaxing, having great food and also for mushroom-hunting. Karatsu is famous for it's 5km long pine-tree grove at the coast called Nijinomatsubara (虹ノ松原), which was originally planted by the local Shogun to protect the village from typhoons. I love to walk there... some of the trees look like if they were shaped by magic.

Actually, we hoped to find the first "Akamomitake" (アカモミタケ) "lactarius laeticolorus" or even "Hatsutake" (ハツタケ) "lactarius hatsudake", but instead we found masses of Amitake (アミタケ) "Suillus bovinus". We will have them with miso-soup tonight.

After our little "hunt", we went to our all time favorite restaurant there in the "Nijinomatsubara hotel" and had a delicious course... salad with cheese and smoked salami,

Duck soup fondue...

smoked duck with orange marinade, grilled eggplant and balsamico...

Tuna/salmon tartare with caviar...

salty egg pudding...

Spring-flounder...

Sushi and pumpkin soup...

Fig cooked in Redwine and a good, strong coffee...

Excellent service, great food with view on the beach and on the islands and less than 20 Euros per person. Having such a great course always makes me feel like I was on a long vacation.

Later, we took a walk on the beach... the weather was dark, but warm... we gathered some squid-bones and shells for our birds.

And the kids enjoyed to play a little...

Now I play with my "Muri-muu" (Muri means "impossible" and I chose that name, because of his temper sometimes^^), who is happy that we are back. We just were away for 4 hours, but it was soooo much fun and felt like a week.

Rain-season and Typhoon

2011-05-29T13:57:00.002+09:00

Sorry, for not updating so long... rainseason has already started here and I felt a little bit tired and worn out. I'm also still working on my huge painting (110x70cm) for my solo-show in October, so I did not do much other artwork lately. But I hope this will change soon.

This night and morning a typhoon struck Kyushu. But it's already getting better...

I just heard it was already downgraded to a tropical low-pressure system. So there is just so much rain, rain, rain... here. There was not much we could do today, because it rains non-stop, so we went to our fave family-restaurant "Gusto" and had some brunch. ^^

I will spend the rest of the day painting and catching up on my snail-mail.

Golden week, food and fun ^^

2011-05-10T12:16:00.002+09:00

In Golden week, we drove to Nagoya to see my family in law. A lot of Western people still have the impression, that Japanese food is just "Sushi". But every area here has it's own very unique food and flavours. Here you see fried Oysters from Hiroshima, we had on our way.

And here is one of the specialities from Nagoya: Misonikomi.

Nagoya is a famous for red-miso/Aka miso. It tastes very strong almost a little bit like German brown-bread and gives the soup a very good and deep taste.

And here you see "Yokoi" Pasta or "Mirakan", as it's called in the famous Yokoi pasta restaurant down-town. The sauce is also made with red miso and the taste is spicy and hot, but you can become easily addicted to it.

Oh and here is what Yumi and Yuki prepared for us for dinner at the evening. My mother in law has a very huge kitchen and they enjoyed cooking together with her.

This is Tai-sashimi... it's a special fish, which is often prepared, when there is a special event to celebrate. In this case it was the 70st birthday of my father in law.

Well, here is the fun !!!

In the morning, the kids went to the park with my mother in law and their cousins.

And Yuki-chan FINALLY wore her Kimono !!! She wanted to do at her Shichi-go-san ceremony, but she couldn't, because she caught a cold... now, here was her chance ^^

She really had fun dressing and posing and enjoyed to have all attention ^^

and here you see my father in law and all of us celebrating his special day !!!

Happy, happy birthday Jii-chan !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was a wonderful time we had. Now school and work are back to normal again and I will fling myself into more painting.

One last shot of Muu-chan, who traveled with us and enjoyed it as well. ^___^

Easter in Japan

2011-04-27T20:36:00.002+09:00

In Japan, Easter is not celebrated. But on the other hand, a lot of rites, like rabbits and egg seaching were old traditions from older nature religions to rejoyce Spring and fertility. Like every year, we celebrate our Easter exactly that way ^^

A lovely walk in the nature, enjoying the blossom of different flowers and healing herbs...

On the picture above you see for example Esoengozaku... it's root is good against pain-relief, but we don't pick it down here. It's very rare in the south and you need to climb about at least 800m high to see it. It' such a lovely humble flower with a vibrant blue. The yellow and the purple one grow mostly here, but they are poisenous.

And here you see a carpet of Anemonae... Nirinsou in Japanese... also very rare here in the south.

Tsutsuji/Rhododnendron is awesome over here as well...

And here you see gentian. It grows everywhere in Spring and Autumn in the mountains near Fukuoka.

This is Shakunage... don't know the english name...

...we walked about 10km that day, but not only to see the flowers. To celebrate Easter properly, you always need to search, right ?!? Not eggs in our case, but...

Bamboo-sprouts...

Warabi...

Udo (aralia cordata)

Shiode

AND MORELS ^________^

And so we had our Easter-dinner, straigt from Mother nature...

HAPPY EASTER !!!!! HAPPY OSTARA !!!! HAPPY, HAPPY SPRING !!!!

Kushi

2011-04-24T08:42:00.001+09:00

Let me introduce our fave dish down here in the south called "Kushi". We had lots of seafood and sushi while we lived up in the north. Our appetite changed down here somehow, maybe because of the different climate.

In Kyushu, people love to eat "Kushi" a lot. Kushi comes from "Kushikatsu" and it means "meat on a stick". But it's not only meat, it can be all kinds of meat, vegetables and seefood, which is either fried or grilled. There are a lot of great Kushi-bars in our area... you can order different kinds of Kushi, which are grilled fresh infront of your eyes on coal.

We often go to a kushi-bar at the weekend, eat, have a beer and relax...

Bamboo sprouts ^^

2011-04-19T11:04:00.000+09:00

On Sunday, we drove to our favorite Bamboo-sprout spot. You can see, looking at Yumi and Yuki how HUGE the bamboo here is.

That's how bamboo-sprouts look like. You need to dig them out with a shovel and you have to be careful, because they break easily.

Later we took a detour to Raizan, where we always wanted to go and discovered a lovely, ancient shrine there. The trees are old and over 1000 years old.

A really beautiful place...

On our way back, we found some more morels ^^ and Taranome.

here is the "result" of our "hunting-tour"

I prepared olive-oil/garlic/peperoni pasta with the bamboo-sprouts, Taranome and morels. Looking forward to the next weekend ^_^

Thank you Esther

2011-04-14T17:46:00.001+09:00

Just got this 10 sentences from my wonderful friend Esther from Malaysia and I wanted to share them here, because these are things I love in Japan and these are virtues, which make me want to stay forever here. All people, who love this stupid book "Darum nerven Japaner" and actually believe the $%&@ in there, should read and respect this 10 things instead, if they REALLY want to know how Japan is.

************ LESSON TO LEARN FROM JAPAN ***********

10 THINGS TO LEARN FROM THE JAPANESE

1. THE CALM
Not a single visual of chest-beating or wild grief. Sorrow itself has been elevated.

2. THE DIGNITY
Disciplined queues for water and groceries. Not a rough word or a crude gesture.

3. THE ABILITY
The incredible architects, for instance. Buildings swayed but didn’t fall.

4. THE GRACE
People bought only what they needed for the present, so everybody could get something.

5. THE ORDER
No looting in shops. No honking and no overtaking on the roads. Just understanding.

6. THE SACRIFICE
Fifty workers stayed back to pump sea water in the N-reactors. How will they ever be repaid?

7. THE TENDERNESS
Restaurants cut prices. An unguarded ATM is left alone. The strong cared for the weak.

8. THE TRAINING
The old and the children, everyone knew exactly what to do. And they did just that.

9. THE MEDIA
They showed magnificent restraint in the bulletins. No silly reporters. Only calm reportage.

10. THE CONSCIENCE
When the power went off in a store, people put things back on the shelves and left quietly

Solance

2011-04-13T10:57:00.000+09:00

Painted this 2 weeks ago in my art group. Done with acrylics, pen and airbrush on paper. Size is about 8x10 inches. Original is available...

I will probably paint this in a bigger size for an upcoming exhibition.

relaxing day

2011-04-11T16:22:00.001+09:00

On Sunday we felt a little bit tired from our hikes, so we just bought some school stuff for Yumi and Yuki and did Hanami. Odo-park (小戸公園) is always crowded during Hanami time, so we decided to go to Iki-shrine instead. It's close to our home... maybe only 1km or so.

Here, the atmosphere was peaceful and quiet and we took a long walk in the pine-grove there.

When we came home, it was time to prepare dinner. Here you see Shiitake filled with minced meat and garlic-cheese (a recipe from my wonderful penpal Diana ^^).

And here you see morels on the fried minced meat. I also filled some and fried them.

and the full course on my plate ^^ Hope we can find more morels and fresh bamboo-sprouts next weekend.

Cherry blossom in Fukuoka

2011-04-09T15:06:00.000+09:00

Please let me share some photos of the beautiful cherry blossom in Fukuoka.

Just again I got some e-mails and letters from friends and other people asking me if I will come to Germany again after the earthquake and tsunami. I really feel touched, because they worry so much about us, but I also feel angry and sad, that most the German media only spreads terror and fear... giving a very wrong impression of the situation here.

The tsunami was terrible, the area where it hit will take a long time to be fixed, but 90% of Japan is not affected and people are leading their normal lifes. We grief, we are sad, but we are not paralized by fear and terror and we know that it's not the end of our country.

I will never leave Japan... even if there will be a similar catastrophe in my area. The peace I have here, the wonderful people, the shrines, the food, the nature and all of my friends and family are my soul and my heart. Without it my life would be empty. Maybe some people won't understand it, but Japan is my home and my life and the only place, where my heart is at peace.

Some people, who read this will think I'm naive and "just saying this, because I have no idea", but you can be sure, after all of my life-experience my decision to stay here forever is a very simple one (yet, I don't expect them to understand it).

Here are some photos of Aburayama, where we hiked today again.

Cherry-blossom is full finally and there were other flowes like violets, narcissus and dandelion...

We hiked about 5km and felt perfectly refreshed and tonight we will go out and have some delicious "Kushi".

Muu-chan, morels and cherry-blossom

2011-04-04T10:43:00.001+09:00

First of all, let me apologize for not updating so long... I was busy with Spring-cleaning and we also got an adorable new family memeber. Our grey-parrot, named Muu-chan.

He is 5 months old and still needs me to feed him twice per day. He is such a sweet, calm and clever bird. He instantly allowed me to have him on my arm and 2 days later he let me pet him for the very first time. Actually, now he wants me to pet him non-stop ^^

Oh and that weekend, we also went to do some hanami, watch the magnolia, cherry blossoms.

The bloom is still not full, but it feels great to enjoy the first Spring days.

One thing, which keeps us eager to hike and walk is not only the cherry-blossom, but also our annual morrel hunt. We spotted the very first ones this weekend and after checking some good spots, we had about 50 of them !!!

If you find one... there are mostly 5-6 arround... sometimes even more.

Here we tried something new... morels with bamboo-sprouts, olive oil and spring vegetabels *yummy*

Oh and for everybody, whom I owe a letter or an e-mail, I'm working on it... so many things happened in March and the kids have Spring-break til tomorrow. I was very busy and exhausted, but I will try to answer everybody in April.

Tulips...

2011-03-27T09:47:00.001+09:00

Painted this some weeks ago to release all the stress I had.

Done with acrylics and airbrush on paper... size is B5, original available.

Nagasaki Part 2 \ Visit at the Suwa shrine

2011-03-26T08:24:00.000+09:00

On the next day we visited the Suwa-Shrine. It was built in 1625 and is actually 3 shrines in one, including the Suwa-shrine, the Sumiyoshi-shrine and the Morizaki-Shrine.

There are a lot of ancient holy trees there.

and you feel very peaceful there... people often ask me "what is a Shrine?" And most think it's only a place for Shintoists, worshipping the gods. I often go there to pray, but a Shrine is far more than just a place for worship.

Shinto shrines are religios facilities, but so much more as well. They also serve as guardians of many important assets of Japanese culture and tradition. In or near a Shinto shrine, you will find not only religioes symbols, but memorials to literary and other cultural figures as well.

Therefore, shrines do not only serve only as religious places, but also as an institutional memory of the Japanese culture as a whole.

I was especially impressed by the old trees in Suwa-shrine. Here you see Yuki beside one of them... being near those trees in a shrine always gives me a feeling of peace and rest.

Photos from our trip to Nagasaki Part 1

2011-03-23T09:10:00.000+09:00

Now that things are calming down over here, please let me share some pictures of our trip here...

We head to Nagasaki at Friday moning, but instead of taking the highway, we drove the scenic way over the mountains.

After driving over the mountains, we reached Sasebo, where we had the famous Sasebo burger.

The very first burger made in Japan.

And it was really delicious. I especially loved the smoked ham on it ^^

One of the most awesome spots I ever saw is Kujuku Jima, which means 99 islands (actually, there are 208). A part of the Saikai national park. Most of the islands are uninhabited and protected areas to preserve nature and wildlife there.

Later, we arrived in Nagasaki and went to China town.

Here you see the entrance of China town. A lot of restaurants and small and unique shops were there.

And here is the harbor... it reminded me so much of Hakodate. Many little Cafes and restaurants... and a very relaxing and mediteranian atmosphere. I want to go there again in Summer, sitting outside and have a good beer or wine.

There is a mountain there, which is so much like Hakodate yama. I want to go there, too and enjoy the nightview over the city.

Later we had Gon-Aji, a local speciality. The Aji here has a special golden color and is caught near the 5 islands close by. It tasted delicious...

Later we had some tapa and wine at the hotel and felt refreshed and relaxed. The stress we had last week finally wore off...

PEACE at last ^_____^

Off to Nagasaki

2011-03-17T16:11:00.000+09:00

Dear friends,

Today we have our 11st Wedding anniversary and so we planned a while ago to go to Nagasaki for 2-3 days. We always wanted to go there once, because it really must be a beautiful place and we are looking so much forward to take a break from all the madness arround us.
I'm worn out and tired... After doing my housework today, I felt so tired, I could instantly fall asleep, maybe because I feel a little bit relieved today.

Since things are still looking quite good here, I will probably not post another update on the situation... so while I'm away, try to think positive, o.k ?!

Hope to be back with some good news in a few days !!!
And I'm looking forward to some mountain hikes with the kids and my hubby.

Love you all !!!
Julia

Plum blossom in Fukuoka

2011-03-06T16:14:00.000+09:00

Still no morels and bamboo sprouts, but...

...let me share the adorable plum-blossom we just have with you instead.

Need to paint them someday, too.

Ohina Matsuri and WiP part 2

2011-03-03T18:35:00.002+09:00

Today 3.3 is Ohina Matsuri, the Japanese festival of dolls and girls.

People build an altar/stage of dolls, normally King, Queen and servants in their houses and eat special colorful foods (Chirashi Sushi) and have sweet sake.

Here you see a Ohina Matsuri Bentou, I bought today for the kids ^^ They also got some sweets, ribbons and some other stuff. Poor Yumi needed to work on her math-homework so hard today, but she was very ambitious to finish it...

Oh and here is my "homework". My WiP I finished today. Last time I did a brown/black layer for the background trees. I continued to work on the textures on Monday.

...sprayed a layer of white airbrush over them, then added the next ground-layer of the next trees.

One day later, I worked on the textures and again sprayed a layer of airbrush over then.

And today, I finally finished the painting.

Size is about B4... original available...

And HAPPY OHINA MATSURI ^_____^

Gallery 809 exhibition opening and our weekend

2011-02-28T12:40:00.002+09:00

On Saturday was the great day, the exhibition "Asian art: Tradition and Innovation" in LaGrange, Georgia opened.

I could not be there, but Chris, the gallery owner, took some great photos of the event.

Here are my works, which will be displayed there until March 26xt.

We spent Saturday evening at downtown Fukuoka again and checked out some nice restaurants. In the end, we had dinner at "cafe Jaques Monod", which is located in a historic building...

Delicious food, very children friendly and a fantastic atmosphere.

On Sunday, we took a walk at Aburayama to see Tsubaki (Camelia) there.

There are still only the Camelia Sasanqua, but the Tsubaki will open in a few weeks.

Anyway, we really enjoyed our walk there and the weather was nice and warm...

At home, we cut our Jamon and had a great Tapa-meal ^^

Ume and WiP

2011-02-24T13:16:00.000+09:00

Our bonsai Plum-tree (Ume) started to blossom. I'm really happy, that we bought it at Dazaifu. It's my first bonsai and I always wanted to have one.

And yesterday was a big adventure for me., after cleaing and sorting my little "artistic corner" I took the train to Nishijin and went by bus to Karaki, where I had a painting-session with my wonderful newfound art-friends. I just brought my sketch-pad and some dyes and started to paint, what came into my mind. Here is the result...

We had so much fun, that time flew and I went home and today I continued to work on the sketch...

I'm already curious, how it will look, when it's done... I never really use references, I just do, what comes to my head. Looking forward to our next meeting in 2 weeks. But first, I will finish this painting in the next few days.

Cherry Blossom 13

2011-02-18T09:44:00.000+09:00

After an exciting beginning of the week, I needed to let off some creative steam and painted this brand new cherry-blossom pic... done with acrylics, pen and airbrush on paper, size is about B4, original available.

Dazaifu, ume and snow

2011-02-12T20:12:00.000+09:00

After our Spring weekend, winter is back, but only for a short time, so we took the opportunity to see something very rare: Snow and Ume (Plum-blossom) together. We drove to Dazaifu and visited the ancient and famous Shrine "Tenmangu" (天満宮).

The streets there are a lot like Kyoto... unfortunatelly it snowed so much and it was so cold, that it was difficult to make any photos of it (I will do that next time). So we went to a Soba-restaurant and had lunch first. It was very delicious and the anmosphere relaxing.

After the snow and storm got a little bit better, we went to the shrine. There were so many old trees there. Just beautiful !!! I could spent a whole day there, painting the shapes and patterns of them.

Here you see the shrine. The old plum tree infront of it is famous and very old.

Today, the shrine was very crowded. The god, who resides there, represents knowledge and studies and soon there will be the entrance exams for university. So there were a lot of students, who prayed for passing the exams and other tests.

Here you see some of the plum blossoms...

And we were able to see a wedding in shinto style.

After we came home, we decided to cook tomato-nabe (nabe means pot). It was my first time to cook it and it really tasted delicious. I want to make it again, maybe with fresh bamboo-sprouts.

First Spring days

2011-02-06T13:19:00.000+09:00

Yesterday we did, what we wanted to do for so long... ride the boat across to the island "Nokonoshima" again. We came there last Summer and it really was awfully hot... now we visited to enjoy the first warm Spring days here.

The island is just 10 minutes away by ship, but there, no cars are allowed (exept for the people, who live there)... so it feels like time stands still... you feel like 50 years back in time and it's very quiet, typical japanese country life.

here, you see the fitst plum blossoms this year.

we walked this about 3,5km to reach the island park there. We could have taken a bus, too. But this path through the nature was so much more scenic and beautiful.

There was some mist on the sea and the colors looked very soft...

Here you see some Orange plantings... Oranges from here are very famous and really delicious.

After we reached the park on the other side. We could see the other peninsula "Shikanoshima" on the other side.

In the park there are many restaurants and also places, where you can learn crafts, like making your own ceramic bowls and painting on them. Now it's still off season, so there was hardly anybody there, but it looked so much more scenic that way.

Here you see narcissus, Suisen (水仙) in Japanese. There was a whole field of them and the smell was like perfume. The sun was shining and we layed down in the grass beside the field, while the kids played on the playground there.

Later we fed the rabbits.

There was a little pet-zoo with chicken, rabbits and other animanls.

We took the bus on the way back and I took a picture of Fukuoka skyline across...

In the evening, we discovered a new Italian restaurant in Tenjin "Hickory".

Very delicious, excelent service and children friendly...

OMG !!! I WON !!!!

2011-02-04T14:02:00.004+09:00

When I got up this morning I had a wonderful surprise waiting for me in the internet:

I won the first and the third prize in an art contest of one of my fave webcomics, Wendy Pini's "Masque of the red death"

http://www.masque-of-the-red-death.com/

A dark, beautiful, gothic Comic-tale created after Edgar Allan Poe's short-story, which Wendy set up in a Sci-Fi world.

Now what most of you don't know... before I did landscape-art, I was (and still am) also illustrator and do art for some small Sci-Fi and Fantasy fanzines and Wendy was the one, who encouraged me with her beautiful Comic "Elfquest" to start my whole artistic career... Without the magic of Elfquest, I would have never ever started painting at all and so this price is especially a very big honor for me !!! I could embrace the whole world now after I pinched myself long enough to actually believe it ^_^

Yuki, my youngest daughter, became a big Elfquest fan herself and asked me to take part in the contest. I'm glad I did and she will get one of the prizes, a pillow with her hero "Skywise" on it.

Here are my two entries:

"Bunchh", a vivid character of the comic, who inspired so many readers of the web-comic, by his/her lovely way to embrace life, even in sad times...

And here you see Steffan... I often was angry at him during the story, but I really loved him, because he was so hopelessly romantic ^^ AND I loved to draw his hair :)

And here is the link to the contest, with a lots of entries of wonderful and talented people, who took part:

http://www.masque-of-the-red-death.com/social/index.php?do=%2Fforum%2Ffantabulous-fanart-fiction-17%2Fmasque-of-the-red-death-triple-threat-contest%2Fpage_1%2F

Another Butterfly

2011-02-02T12:12:00.000+09:00

Another butterfly painting I finished today... done with acrylics, watercolor, pens and airbrush on paper. Size is B4, original available

Group-exhibition in the USA - Announcement

2011-01-28T10:09:00.001+09:00

From Feb 26 until March 26 I will take part in the group-exhibition "Asian Art: Tradition and Innovation" in the "809 Gallery of art" in LaGrange, Georgia.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/809-Gallery/315785978688

I'm so excited and happy, that my wonderful friend and fellow artist Chris Hagebak, who owns the gallery, gave me the chance to take part in an exhibition again.

He did a wonderful job matting and framing my paintings, which will be for sale there:

Unfortunatelly it's too far away for me to travel there, but I'm already looking forward to hear all the news about the opening.

Our weekend and 150 Jahre japanisch-deutsche Freundschaft

2011-01-24T12:05:00.000+09:00

Well first of all, I want to say, that today is the 150 years anniversary of Japanese/German friendship.

Bought some anniversary stamps today and will keep them for my children.

And now, onto our weekend:

Since we all felt very tired and worn-out and the weather is still too cold to find Fukunoto or Morels, we decided to rest, Tsuyoshi did some work and later we went to our fave Thai-restaurant "Jammin Kah"

I took some pics of the course...

...it's really delicious, because you can really taste the fresh herbs and spices used in there.

Yuki loved the fried rice and the spring rolls... the service there is excellent, too and very children-friendly.

One day later we drove up to Iwara yama, just to check how the weather is there. There was a lot of snow there and we could not drive further, but we stopped and the children could play a little bit in the snow.

In the late afternoon, we took a walk on the beach. It was sunny and there was no wind, so we decided to catch us some sun.

Here, you see the islands across... we always get in a good mood taking a walk here, seeing this beautiful panorama ^^

Some signs of Spring near our appartement...

...but it's still freezing cold. Especially, when we have no sun and strong and icy winds...

Oh and this is "made in Ito-shima" ^^ We had it in the evening with some German bread and salad.

*yummy*

Karatsu

2011-01-19T12:53:00.000+09:00

After a long break I'm finally back to painting again. This is my first painting in 2011. It's the pinegrove of Nijinomatsubara (虹ノ松原) in Karatsu (唐津).

Done with acrylics, airbrush, watercolor and pens on paper. Size is about B4, original is available.

Back in Japan

2011-01-08T20:53:00.001+09:00

Today, after we tried to get rid of our jet-lag, we decided to drive to Karatsu again. The weather was perfect... no wind, blue sky and I wanted to greet the new year at Kagami-shrine up at Kagami-yama (鏡神社・鏡山).

Afterwards, we went on a little walk on the mountain. It felt almost like Spring... we even saw the first Narcissus there.

...and we had a breathtaking view over Karatsu and all those adorable islands.

We waved the shrine good-bye and...

went to Tatekami-iwa (立神岩), which means "standing god rock".

And we went to Yobuko (呼子), which is famous for "Ika" (Squid), which was very delicious !!!

Here you see the big bridge of Yobuko...

And some other beautiful islands ^_^

In Spring we plan to stay here for a couple of days and explore more...

Happy new year

2011-01-03T21:00:00.000+09:00

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR to everybody !!!

We had a great time celebrating with sparkling wine, Racelette and other delicious stuff... I really need to go back on my diet, when we come home ^^"

But first of all, let me tell you about another great restaurant, we try to visit every year. It's Italian, in the center of my hometown Hofheim-Wallau and it's called "Da Nico"

They have a lot of delicious Italian food... not only pasta and pizza. I really like that you can also have meats and fish prepared Italian-style.

Here is my fave... Gorgonzola Schnitzel. The service there is great and it's very children friendly. They have also a nice variety of draft-beers and good wine and grappa.

Yesterday, the battery of my father's car killed itself, but at least it was friendly enough to stop working at a gas station, just 1km from our house. It could have been worse... I hope it can be fixed today, so hopefully we will do another sightseeing tour, before we go home to Fukuoka.

Heidelberg in the snow

2010-12-31T17:59:00.000+09:00

Yesterday we went to Heidelberg. It was the first time for me to see it with snow and it was very beautiful.

Not so many tourists were there...

We went to Vetter brewery. It has famous beer with the highes "Stammwürze" 33% !!!

And it tasted very rich and delicious.

Leberknödelsuppe (liverdumpling-soup)

And here a funny phrase on the wall... meaing "don't spend all your money for drinking, rather buy beer for it!"

Schweinehaxe with beer-sauce ^^

And here are some scenic spots of Heidelberg...

later we went up to the castle...

the big barrel in the castle.

The kids and me infront of the big barrel.

After X-mas

2010-12-29T14:43:00.002+09:00

After X-mas we took a little walk though my old village, where I spent most of my childhood days.

You see the historical city center and the church there.

And here a remake of the village "Pranger", where people, who comitted a minor crime had to stand for a day or two.

This is near my old Kindergarten. I always feel weird passing there. My teacher was very strict and I was a very active child, who rather wanted to explore the world than sitting still... so I really did not like to go there, when I was small. Sometimes I even dream of walking this street... but now I enjoy the view of old Fachwerk houses and decos, which I did not really see and apprechiate as a child. It's really interesting... the memories stay, but with the view of an adult, it becomes different.

Back at home, the kids did cosplay ^^

And... like every year we go to the Rührborn... our fave German restaurant with the fantastic Kloster Weltenburg beer !!! I never want to miss this. Here you see my Dad and the kids.

Kloster Weltenburg Hefeweizen... *yummy*

...and my fave food there "Rumpsteak with Kräuterbutter"^^ I will definetelly come there in 2011 again !!!

Merry X-mas

2010-12-25T17:39:00.000+09:00

First of all, sorry for not updating here so long, but before the holidays, my life was so busy. We all caught a cold, I had a water damage in my appartement and this time I needed to write about 120 X-mas cards and I still did not manage to write everybody. What a year !!! It was busy, exciting and full of new experiences for us all... we went to Singapore, moved from north to south of Japan and so much more... Looking back, it feels that it was 5 years instead of just one...

O.k but enough of this... right now we enjoy a wonderful X-mas at my father's place... so let me tell you all about our stay.

When we started from Fukuoka and took the plane to Tokyo we had a wonderful view of Mt.Fuji.

At home at my father's place the beautiful X-mas decoration, my Mom made in my childhood's days welcomed us. I will never forget when she made those pics and hang them up every December. Without them I can never get in the X-mas feeling.

One day later, after sleeping 10 hours like dead, we decorated the X-mas tree together.

DONE !!!

While I prepared the X-mas dinner... mostly salads with fish, eel, caviar and the crab-cocktailsalad, my Mom always made.

Here you see everybody checking their presents... afterwards we had Dinner, good wine and a wonderful chat with my Dad about all kinds of philosophical and funny stuff, we thought about during the last year. Oh, I really treasure this precious evenings.

and YES !!! We really have a white X-mas this year !!!

Yoshinogari Historical Park

2010-12-11T12:29:00.002+09:00

Last weekend we drove to Saga and visited the famous Yoshinogari historical park there.

In this area one of the most ancient cities in Japan was found and the village from ancient times was rebuilt by the goverment, showing everybody how people 2000 years ago lived there.

One of the really special things there is, that tourists are invited to learn old crafts from those ancient times. Yumi and Yuki tried to make fire.

It was a good thing for them to learn how hard it is to start a fire... things which are taken for granted today were hard jobs 2000 years ago. But in the end they made it and we were really proud of them.

Here you see a panorama of the ancient village. The park is really huge and you really feel like back in time.

Here is the ancient shrine in the main-house. Women are in charge of the spiritual things...

...while the men make politics and defend the village. Despite all the prejudices, you might hear about Japan, I can tell, that women here have ALWAYS played a more important role in society, than in the Western world, even today.

...well, here are my two girls !!! BEWARE ^^ They would have been rather warriors, I think ^^

At the end, they wanted to dress up like ancient villagers...

to learn how the people danced back then.

It was fun and they did really well.

2011 Year of the rabbit

2010-12-02T12:01:00.000+09:00

Due to the Chinese Zodiac, 2011 is the year of the rabbit. Right now there are NewYear cards on sale everywhere over here and I love all those colorful and playful designs. In the last days I tried my own version of rabbits and it was a lot of fun.

These here are not for sale, but I can do further commissions. Please contact me, if you are interested to have your own year of the rabbit painting.

The size of those 3 is about B-5.

Shichi go san

2010-11-28T13:39:00.000+09:00

This Saturday we went to the Imori Shrine to celebrate Yuki-Chan's Shichi-go-san.

It's a day in November of prayer for the healthy growth of young children. Shichi-go-san literally means seven, five, three; in most regions around the country, boys and girls aged three, boys aged five, and girls aged seven visit a Shinto shrine with their parents.

Actually, we wanted to dress Yuki-chan in her Kimono, but she had a cold and it was freezing...

...but she totally enjoyed the ceremony. I also bought a shrine talisman for my knee...my knee-cap jumped out last week and it still hurts. Hope it heals quickly !!!

Today we went to an Oyster-grill. It's a very popular dining at the shores of Itoshima.

The Oysters are freshly harvested in the morning and you can buy a basket full, along with other clamps, vegetables, shrimps, etc and grill everything by yourself.

It was very delicious and we want to come again. We also had a beautiful view on the beach. Really a great way to spend cold Autumn-days in Fukuoka.

Exhibition in Ginza 23-28 Nov.

2010-11-21T18:24:00.001+09:00

This is my final group-exhibition in 2010, in the gallery "Noah" in Ginza. Unfortunatelly, I can not come, but I want to invite everybody, who lives in Tokyo area to come and see it. Here are my works, which will be for sale there.

More Koi

2010-11-17T14:40:00.001+09:00

Had some time to paint today, so I could finally finish another painting. Done with acrylics, watercolor and airbrush on paper.

**** SOLD ****

Kuju part 2

2010-11-11T08:50:00.000+09:00

The next morning already began with an exciting thing. The keeper of the inn gave us some raw eggs and we drove to an onsen to boil them there.

The area is full of small spa's and there is steam and sulfur-smell everywhere...

...there is even a power-plant there, transforming the energy of the earth into electricity.

Later, we went to a typical farm near by and the kids did horseback-riding for the very first time. Yuki loved it, but Yumi was a little bit scared.

I was very surprised, because the landscape there looked a lot like central-Hokkaido.

Close by there is the largest hanging-bridge in Japan.

We went over it to enjoy the beautiful red-leaf scenery.

The view was awesome !!! There are different waterfalls there and with the red Japanese maple and the pines it looked totally magic.

Back home, we finished the day enjoying one of the beautiful sunsets at "our beach" ^_^

Weekend at Kuju-part 1

2010-11-09T11:57:00.002+09:00

After so many busy weeks, we decided once again to "flee" to Kuju mountians... The drive was smooth, it took about 2 hours by car and I drove half of the way, which was really fun. I hate driving in the cities, but going by highway is nice.

Kuju is just breathtaking beautiful at this time of the year... you see reeds swaying in the wind everywhere and this white-soft colors combined by dots of red maple-trees and oddly shaped pines and elm-trees together with the Autumn sun is like a dream...

I tried to catch the view several times with my camera, but it's difficult, because you will never geht the whole panorama and the soft light with it totally...

Gentian ^^

and the "black dots" are cows.

since the weather was great we hiked up to misokobushi-yama.

and enjoyed the breathtaking view there.

During our Summer-vacation we were on two of those mountains you see here. The steam between are the hot-spas there.

Here we are at the little Onsen-village close by.

Here is the Utaseiyu-onsen. Water falls down from 3m and you can sit under that waterfall and get a massage with hot onsen water. After our hike this was wonderfully relaxing. I felt very refreshed afterwards.

At the other side of the road, a shop sells cool and refreshing drinks. Just the right thing after a bath in the hot-spa.

Here is a shot from one of the beautiful decos of the inn, we stayed at. The inn was beautiful and very "traditional" and old...

...and the dinner was delicious !!! I definetelly want to stay there again.

Catching up...

2010-11-02T10:37:00.000+09:00

Here are finally some photos from the group-exhibition in Fukuoka.

unfortunatelly, I could not be there very often, because I caught a cold and felt very tired and exhausted and I was also busy with the kids and my family. But I met wonderful new friends and other artists there and I hope we can all keep in touch.

My art was also featured in the Blog of Motomura-san. The director of an art and design community here in Kyushu. You can check out his blog here:

http://taigart.seesaa.net/

And the article about me is here:

http://taigart.seesaa.net/article/167351514.html

On Saturday, we hiked up to Takasu-yama.

The view and the ancient trees up there were beautiful. It gave me some rest and I finally felt relaxed again.

After such busy weeks and events, it was what I needed most... being in the nature with my family.

In the evening we went to Tenjin, stopped by at the exhibition once more (whcih was great fun again) and then we went to town and discovered the Kirin beer pub. The food was delicious and reminded me a lot of Hakodate beer hall.

We enjoyed the little snacks and smoked chicken there...

before we went on to another great place, the Spanish Tapa restaurant, "Bar Mar".

Anyway, it was a great weekend and exhibition and now I hope for a calm November, where I can finally catch up with letters, mail and painting.

Group exhibition in Fukuoka 26.-31 Oct 2010

2010-10-22T07:40:00.000+09:00

O.k, last but not least for this September-October comes my group-exhibition with Kuroneko-art in Fukuoka. It takes place from the 26-31Oct in the Gallrey "art-friends" in Tenjin.

I would like to invite all my friends, who live here to come and see it. I'm also excited, meeting new artists and people there. Unfortunatelly, I can not be there always, because of my kids, but will be at the gallery

from time to time.

I will also upload the paintings I will exhibit soon.

exhibition and ceremony

2010-10-19T14:40:00.001+09:00

Last Sunday I flew to Tokyo to recieve the SB-Award for my painting "Butterflies".

The Oomori-Bellport was a fantastic location for the exhibition and the exhibition was HUGE. Many entries from Japan, Korea, Germany and France were displayed in the show and I loved to see all the different works there. Here you see me, my Dad and a visitor of the exhibition, who wanted to be on the photo, too.

Here you see my great friend Riyo Satou, who is a brilliant artist. I love her paintings and the way she melds colors and forms together.

And here is Emiko Saito, whom I met first at this exhibition. She is such a lovely and cheerful person. Her painting is full of vibrance and life. We had so much fun, talking to each other :)

Here you see the ceremony... the leaders of the different art associations held speeches and gave the awards to the different artists.

Shirao-sensei, the leader of the "Salon Blanc" association gave the cerificates to the winners and gratulated them. I went up on stage, too, but I need to wait for somebody, who took a photo from me recieving the prize ^^"

So many friends of mine came to see the exhibition and talk with me. It was great to see them all again !!!!!!

Because I was mostly chatting and meeting new and old friends, I was not able to take more pictures, but I will add some more pictures or links later, when I get them :)

And here is my certificate of the award !!! I feel very honored and happy !!!

Now I'm back in Fukuoka. I miss my Dad, who will stay for a few more days in Tokyo, before he flies home to Germany. It was great to have him here. Tsuyoshi is on a businestrip now and I will be back painting to forget about the sudden silence arround me after such an exciting time.

Haven't touched a pen or a brush for about 4 weeks and now I want to get back at it...

Next week I will have a group-exhibition in Fukuoka. I will announce details soon.

Art award and group-exhibition in Tokyo

2010-10-14T22:11:00.000+09:00

After the sports fest last week I got a letter... my painting won an art-award at the annual international exhibition in Shinagawa, organized by "Salon Blanc"

http://www.salonblanc.jp/

I'm soooo happy and excited and I will fly to Tokyo to take part in the ceremony.

It is a big honor and I'm glad that my Dad can see this, too.

We will go together on the 17st of October.

The exhibition is from the 14st-19st of October in Shinagawa. I'm looking forward to see all the wonderful paintings from all over the world and see my friends from Germany and Japan, as well as meeting new people and artists there.

I will post more info about the show in my blog next week.

Undoukai

2010-10-13T09:13:00.000+09:00

Well, here are finally the fotos from the "Undoukai", the school's sports festival.

There were 4 teams competing with each other... Yuki was in the red one, Yumi in the blue one.

But it was not so much about who wins, but rather about having fun together. The kids performed several games, but also dances like Yosakoi and others. I think japanese Undoukai is so much better than German "Bundesjugendspiele", where everybody runs and fights for points and has no fun at all. >_<

Everybody had great fun and the weather was perfect. ^_^

And my father was happy to see that the kids settled in their new school very well.

Spider lillies...

2010-10-07T08:00:00.002+09:00

This is something, I never was able to see in Hokkaido... Higanbana or Spider lillies.

They grow everywhere here now and in contrast to the yellow hues of rice-fields, Autumn-sun and green grass, it's an amazing sight. Farmers plant them arround the fields as a natural protection agains moles and mice, because their roots are poisenous.

Would love to paint this someday !!! ^_^

...and I'm having some great news about the group-exhibition in Tokyo. I will announce more after I checked my schedule and talked with my Dad.

more photos from Kobe

2010-10-02T11:35:00.000+09:00

Here are some more fotos from Kobe... I was most of the time at the gallery, but before it opened every morning, I went for a walk to see a little bit of the town.

Here is the ropeway to the mountians and it reminded me a lot of Hakodate-yama.

For a few days I also stayed at my penfriend's house, the Yamaguchi-family.

It was so wonderful to see them and we had a lot of fun. Thank you so much for the great time and please visit me in Fukuoka someday !!!

Here is the gallery this time after the set up...

Right now I'm busy, because my father is here to visit us and we are having a great time together :D

Photos from the exhibition

2010-09-24T07:40:00.000+09:00

Before the opening yesterday, I took some photos of the exhibition.

It's always a great feeling to see the paintings, which are normally in a folder at home are hanging on a wall.

The opening day was wonderful... so many of my friends came and I also met some new people and had great fun talking with them. THANK YOU everybody for taking time to come and see my paintings there.

And I'm so happy, that I sold 3 paintings already...

And... I got such a wonderful surprise !!! Flowers from my great friends Erika and Udo !!!

I was deeply moved and happy beyond words about this great gift !!!

THANK YOU !!!

Already excited

2010-09-20T13:21:00.001+09:00

Yesterday we sent off the frames to the gallery, bought my ticket for the Shinkansen and I'm already overexcited to travel to Kobe, have my exhibition and meet all my wonderful friends there.

And today I got another wonderful surprise: I recieved my members card from Kuronekoyamato-art ^___^ I'm soooo happy that I'm a part in this association now as well !!!

For my upcoming exhibition in Kobe, please check my previous blog-entry at:
http://yuriatakagi.blogspot.com/2010/09/exhibition-in-kobe-23-28-september-2010.html

And here are some more paintings I will exhibit and sell there:

~SOLD~

Exhibition in Kobe 23-28 September 2010

2010-09-15T11:13:00.003+09:00

From the 23rd til 28st of September I will have a Solo-exhibition in the "Galerie le port" in Sannomiya, Kobe and I would like to invite everybody, who likes my art to see it.

I will be there, too and I'm already excited about this event.

For further information, please feel free to e-mail me martoo1973@yahoo.de

Here are some of the pieces, which will be for sale there:

****SOLD ****

~SOLD~

***SOLD***

~SOLD~

Hope to see you in Kobe ^__^

ICA 2010

2010-09-09T14:52:00.001+09:00

When I came home today I found the catalogue of the ICA 2010 in my mailbox.

The "International Contemporary Arts Exhibition" was in June in Seoul and Cheong Ju in Korea and it was a big event.

Many famous artists from Korea, China, Japan, France, Italy and Germany took part and I'm happy and excited, that my painting was there, too.

Now I can enjoy the catalogue with all those beautiful works... a pity, that I was not able to go, too... well, hopefully someday, when the kids are grown ;)

Here you see my painting "Butterflies", which took part in the exhibition.

In October it will again be exhibited in Tokyo. I will announce more details later.

News about my upcoming solo-exhibition in the galerie "le Port" in Kobe will follow soon...

Aso Mountains

2010-09-07T13:55:00.000+09:00

Another painting inspired by our hiking trip to Aso and Kuju...

done with acrylics, watercolor, pens and airbrush on paper. Size is B4, original available.

Karatsu

2010-09-02T09:46:00.000+09:00

Last weekend, we drove to Karatsu and visited a famous spot there, called "Nijinomatsubara" (虹の松原), which means "Rainbow out of a pine beach". The beach has the shape of a rainbow and along that beach is a pine-forest. It belongs to the most beautiful spots in Japan.

We went up to the castle there and enjoyed the view...

After a delicious menue in one of the restaurants there, we drove up to the mountains and went to see the waterfalls there... there are about 8 of them and you can hike all the way beside them. But it was too hot and so we just took a look at some of them.

We drove further up in the mountains and enjoyed the view. Here you can still see Nijinomatsubara in the distance.

Up in the mountains, there is a plateau with a shrine small lakes and beautiful nature.

We spotted a lot of mushrooms (those are not edible, but they look beautiful)...

...and enjoyed nature there. It was so much cooler than down at the sea. There were a lot of frogs, some snakes, Dragonflies and Butterflies there.

Someday I want to come here, when the Lotos is at full bloom.

on our way back the kids had fun playing in the river. :D

Imajuku and Bayern Fukuoka

2010-08-29T09:40:00.000+09:00

On Friday, Tsuyoshi had a day off from work and we went to Imajuku to a park in the mountains, where the kids could do some waterplay to cool off.

In the evening we wanted to go out and try the German restaurant in Nishijin.

They have 3 different draft beers (Hefeweizen, dunkles Hefeweizen and Krombacher), a German menue and typical German foods.

Brezel...

Schweinehaxe with Semmelkloss and Sauerkraut...

Schnitzel and more...

Yuki and Yumi were happy, to eat German food again and we

had a wonderful evening there. We will definetelly come again !!!

Penne a la Moni

2010-08-24T17:37:00.002+09:00

It's still very hot here and looking at the pines, the sea and the beach outside I always feel like on one of our mediterranian camping-vacations back in the 80s. One of my fave dishes on those trips were my Mom's "penne". She always cooked at the tent and the ingrediences and possibilities were limited.

Due to the climate over here, I wanted to cook them by myself.

The recipe is quite simple... you need some pancetta or bacon and eggs. You fry and mix both and add some salt, garlic, pepper and nutmeg. Then you add already cooked penne and fry everything, til the penne are getting a little bit brown and crispy.

The trick, my mom did, was frying some bread-crumbs in an additional pan and when they are brown and crispy you toss them over the penne, egg and bacon and mix everything.

Brought back a lot of great childhood memories, made me a little bit sad and melancholic, but it also made me very happy, that my kids loved the "Penne a la Moni" and told me I should cook it again soon.

And look, what a fantastic sunset we had today ^____^