For Scribbled Lives we were asked to get ahead of the game and create a simple New Year’s message. This past week I taught a Suminigashi workshop, so I utilized one of my prints to write ‘happy new year’ in Japanese. My kanji lettering is pretty awful, so I went for the western alphabet version of the Japanese phrase. Personally I like the red dot the best!
Suminigashi is an ancient print technique which involves dropping ink into a vat of water, creating concentric circles. It takes time and patience to get the ink to float with the aid of a surfactant (liquid dish washing soap), alternating between the surfactant and the ink. One print can take a long time to get just right. It is definitely an exercise in patience and quiet, utilizing both the create the design.
In this hurried world, with the hustle and bustle of getting the holidays done, we often forget that the simple message is the best message. Huge, expensive gifts may be fun to open or share on social media; however, the best gifts and messages I have ever gotten were the simple, heart felt ones.
So keeping that theme, I am going to wish us all a Happy New Year…a few weeks early. And I hope that you have the courage to face the new year with peace and joy, patience and quiet!
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