Kids Art in Japan

THE CHRISTMAS TREE

Kids love to paint. In fact they paint with everything they touch. Food, liquids, objects, anything that can be swooshed around. Painting is very primitive, just scratching on stone was an essential baptism anointing us to nature and affirming our individual creative stamp in the universe. Creativity in any form is a mark that we are here with our intelligence. Of course kids just do it, though the wonder is they are not doing it, that is the beauty and freedom of a child painting, they are not thinking about it. We should not teach them to say cheese but rather allow them to be authentic. So as caretakers we are entrusted to protect that grace for as long as they can keep it and they can keep it for the whole life. In Japan during cherry blossom season the trees are overflowing with luscious pink blossoms. There are young trees and very old ones with their gnarled, twisted and broken branches supported with wood crutches. Yet, clustered around the green stems springing out of those old gnarled branches are full blossoms as beautiful as in any young tree.  So here we are in Japan between 1996 and 2006 in Kamakura the ancient capital of Japan during the samurai period. I was teaching English and painting to adults and children in my tiny prewar, wood, tatami, sliding paper doors apt. during hot humid summers and freezing snow cold winters. But then here are the children, watch them, they are totally absorbed painting, can you see in their faces any multitasking. We could achieve the same with years of yoga and meditation. We always ask “how old are you” rather than “how young are you”. Ninad


        Painting the Christmas Tree

WE MADE THIS TREE WITH 3/16 PLYWOOD AND COATED IT WITH GESSO.

THE KIDS USED ACRYLICS TO PAINT ORNAMENTS OR ANYTHING THEY WANTED.

THE TREE WAS ABOUT 7' TALL WITH TRIANGLE BRANCHES FROM 4' ON THE BOTTOM TO 1' ON THE TOP.

THEY GET SO ABSORBED PAINTING THAT HOURS PASS UNNOTICED.

BEAUTY PAINTS AS BEAUTY IS, PURE AND INNOCENT.

JAPANESE KIDS ARE BY NATURE MEDITATIVE SO HAVE A NATURAL INTUITIVE SENSE OF DESIGN

THE INSIDE CORNERS WERE FUN TO PAINT, CREATING A 2 DIMENSIONAL REFLECTIVE SPACE.

THE KIDS LEARNED TO PAINT UP CLOSE AND STEP  BACK TO SENSE THE WHOLE COMPOSITION.

THE GOAL ISN'T ALWAYS THE PAINTING,  BUT WHAT YOU DISCOVER WHILE DOING IT.

WHO WANTS TO PAINT ONLY FINGERNAILS ?

THE TREE KEPT GROWING AND THROUGH ALL THE SEASONS.

EVERY STORY NEEDS A MONSTER

LillyBilly of Arabia

From the vast, stretching desert grasslands of Arabia fragments of a great wisdom have emerged from the soul of a child adept found by accident as she led her playmates through the shifting sands and wild grass lands to a high plateau where she spoke.

Follow me and I shall lead you out of the wilderness to the grasses that grow wild in your heart that spring from the earth and cleanse your spirit. LillyBilly

I smile on this land filled with flowers, birds and all the creatures, it is greater than the things men desire and fight to gain, for surely it is easier for an ant to carry a pound of sugar than a man give up his possessions. LillyBilly

My vision is manifold as the branches of a great tree to embrace all the birds of the sky,

deep as her roots to hold the earth for all creatures and sweet as the wind among her leaves to give us music to dance our love and joy. This covenant we the children of the earth bestow upon our elders to remember from where they came and return, their hand in ours.  LillyBilly

And I say unto you even a soft dog tail grass is worth more than all the riches of gold that you seek for all that you search for lies verily at your feet. LillyBilly

Do you think you know what love is, it is not a thought, it is in your eyes and spreads everywhere, into your belly and out on the grass, it climbs the trees and leaps up to the stars that shine out forever. LillyBilly

I have owned many toys and fought hard to keep them from others. But sitting here in the dried grasses, smelling the fragrance, touching the living flames of nature, I know I only want to posses the silence within me and the freedom to be here. LillyBilly

Sometimes I like to just sit alone and hold a flower, then a little shiver of joy leaps through me that everything is perfect. LillyBilly

Yes I understand, everything is not always rosy, things get complicated. Well, If you throw a stone in water you can’t see through the ripples but what is underneath, only still waters. We are always throwing stones into the perfection because we are to busy to see what is here. LillyBilly

Shall we go back, through the sands to our homes and carry with us these grasses.

Grasses as young and in love as we are. Is there any other grass so green that springs out of this earth and with all the flowers we shall take to our mothers and fathers. LillyBilly

When the Dancer Becomes the Dance

LillyBilly after resting from the Santa Monica fashion shoot still wearing the same full length Dolce&Gabbana gypsy peasant one piece over the shoulder straps splashed with wild strawberry, orange, blue and yellow flowers and embroidered chest band in a moment of inspiration while listening to “singing in the rain” leaps off the couch, her eyes rolled up in ecstasy and twirls into a mesmerizing dance of an exquisite almost Dervish like trance.

I feel little tingly shivers everywhere.

I wish I could spin forever.

It's amazing, I'm not doing it.

Who am I !

Oh my Tinkerbell, the whole world is spinning.

I'm right here.

That music was perfect.

Did you like it !

Watch me dance, this song is very tiny and delicate.

It's called, Peek-A-Boo, I see you.

Count to ten

And look inside.

What do you see.

I see a house.

With dancing people.