Giovane Cedar Art
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  • PAINTINGS 1
    • I Heard a Loon Calling
    • Spring in Bloom
    • Hiding in the Tall Grass
    • Flower Moon in May
    • Enduring Pine
    • When the Wisteria Blooms
    • Snow on the Beach
    • It Only Takes One
    • Scattered Fans
    • White Circle of Silence
    • Northwest Rain Kosode
    • Weasel Mania
    • In the Spirit of Serizawa & Kubota
    • On Eagle's Wings Ema
  • Paintings 2
    • Down by the Stream on a Lazy Summer's Day
    • With Hope and Hard Work
    • Towhee & Currant in Spring
    • Sparrow's Hop Hideaway
    • Windswept Pine Near the Shore
    • Sparrow's Spring
    • Autumn Grasses (Oribe Tribute)
    • Life's Essence
    • A Tribute to Itchiku Kubota: Ozette Sunset
    • Cathedral of the Trees
    • Tree of Life II
    • Raven's Forest
    • Baillie Scott Trinity
    • Eagle Embraces Her
  • Paintings 3
    • Hydrangea's Final Bloom
    • Pine Island
    • Autumn Friends
    • Maple Leaves in the Stream
    • Plum & Full Moon in Spring
    • Chickadee in the Quince
    • The Four Guardians
    • Circle About the Moon
    • Eelgrass Nursery Rhyme
    • Bluebird & Bamboo
    • Capercaillies Under Scots Pines
    • Cedar Green Man
    • Cats United
    • Serizawa's Kimono
  • Paintings 4
    • Hummingbird & Fuchsia 4
    • Blood Moon in January
    • Yellow Flags by the Pond
    • Falling Leaves--Washed Away
    • Goldfinch Dream
    • Camellias in Bloom Woodblock Print
    • Autumn Carpet
    • An Eala Bahn (The White Swan)
    • Two Eagles Entwined
    • Horse Ema
    • Lucia's Maple
    • Eagles Spring Dance
    • Watts Chapel Tribute Memorial
    • Voysey's tree
    • Hot Otter Love
  • Blog Page
  • Other Work
    • Paintings 5 >
      • č’u•? is Seal
      • Loons & Horses
      • Elk Along the South Fork
      • Spirits of Ozette
      • Lingcod Guardian
      • Plum Blossoms in Spring
      • Hops & Butterflies
      • Journey Home From Ozette Island
      • Tsooes Sunset
    • Trays >
      • Dragonfly Tray
      • Kaiseki Tray
    • Boxes >
      • Rose Tree Box
      • Celtic Bread Box
      • Creature of the Box
      • Skagit Valley Chest
      • Kells Cats Chest
      • Miyamoto's Rice Box
    • Karakami Square Series >
      • Karakami Square #1: Cherry Tree
    • Screens >
      • Eagles 2-Panel Folding Screen
      • The Four Seasons Screen Series >
        • Fall Screen: Canada Geese & Maples
        • Winter Screen: Eagle & Pine
        • Spring Screen: Cherry Trees & Finches
        • Summer Screen: Swallows & Willow
      • Frog's House Screen
      • Waterfall Screen
    • Peacock Sconces
  • Resources List
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  • Ginkgos & Waxwings
  • Autumn Moon by the Sea
  • Eagle's Pride
  • Curious Crow
  • Goldfinch & Thistles
  • Nuthatches' Pine Home
  • The Frog Poet
  • Kingfisher on a Branch
  • Chickadee in Snow
Picture
THE FROG POET
ACRYLICS ON CEDAR W/RED OAK FRAME
FALL 2020
For such small creatures, frogs have figured prominently in myths and legends across cultures and time.  Maybe it is their ability to vocalize and to “sing” that has endeared them to humanity. While reading about Edo Period painting (Saunders, Rachel and Yukio Lippet, ©2020, Painting Edo: Selections from the Feinberg Collection of Art), I ran across a discussion about the frog poet, and it inspired this painting.  Since the Heian Period, frogs were symbols of spring as their mating calls evoked a song of love.  As haikai (and eventually haiku) developed as a poetic genre in the Edo Period, the theme of the frog poet carried over.  An early haikai by Yamazaki Sokan reads: 
                            

                       Hands to the floor          
                       Formally reciting a poem         
                       A frog

Yosa Buson’s later haikai continued this theme:

                       Jumping in                  
                       And washing off an old poem             
                       A Frog

Sakai Hoitsu’s seventh month painting from his Birds and Flowers of the Twelve Months shows a frog on a canna lily leaf alluding to the frog poet, and that inspired me and gave direction to my effort.  I placed my frog on the floating leaf of a yellow pond lily (Nuphar polysepalum).  Borrowing a common technique from the Japanese Rinpa School, I used a tarashikomi, or the “dripping in” effect for the lily leaves by allowing wet paint to diffuse over them.  I made the frame for this painting out of red oak using pegged, hand-joined, mortise-and-tenon construction methods.   I used the Japanese technique (shou-sugi-ban) of charring and oiling the oak to finish the frame. 

DIMENSIONS: 
                         HEIGHT: 15 inches   
                         WIDTH: 17 inches

                                                             PRICE $450
Picture
Sakai Hoitsu--7th month panel
Picture
detail showing frog
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