Shop Launch: 6 New Prints!

I’m excited to announce that the shop is LIVE and I’m launching with 6 new prints!

6 new pieces I painted this year are now ready to order as giclee prints through Monday, August 17, 2020.

I painted these imagining them living side by side in sets of 3 like this above, but they stand strong by themselves too!

FIRST, the process and behind-the-scenes stories:

The animal paintings started in my sketchbook with just a few sea creatures and moved to the final draft.

I don’t use pencil for underdrawing, but paint directly onto blank paper so I use sticky notes for placement - they have the shape and name of the creatures on them.

JAPANESE BIRDS

These all live in Japan - some native, some not - all recorded on a document if you’d like to know the names!

This project began with my daughter’s (2 years old) interest in birds. We started visiting ducks and geese close to our house. On walks by one neighbor’s home, she would stop, sit, and watch the birds. That was good indication that it was time to get a bird feeder at home.

We got one for finches and one for hummingbirds. Part of daily life now during quarantine is admiring birds, observing the local varieties, and shooing squirrels away from stealing the bird food.

Fun fact: the bottom right bird unintentionally is an exact portrait of my daughter’s expression when she furrows her brows.

JAPANESE SEA CREATURES

These all live in Japan - some native, some not - all recorded on a document if you’d like to know the names!

If I could pick one animal I’m always drawn to in print or paintings, it would be sea creatures - mostly fish. That includes the Japanese fish scale pattern that I want to add on everything I own.

This painting was the first of my series of 3. I wondered which are around Japan, and sketched how they’d look together. Once I painted a few in my sketchbook, I had to keep going. I could have covered a wall with my list of Japanese sea creatures I wanted to paint, but I narrowed it down to a variety of distinct shapes in an 11x14” painting. I’m sure I’ll revisit painting fish in the future.

JAPANESE REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS

These all live in Japan - some native, some not - all recorded on a document if you’d like to know the names!

This was the final painting in my series of 3. I’ve been working a project called the 100 Day Project, painting animals that express pandemic-related feelings/experiences, and the first of the 100 was a turtle. A few days later I painted a frog. That piqued my interest to learn more, and it was time to start this piece dedicated to reptiles and amphibians in Japan.

Much like the birds and fish, there were far more than I could possibly include in one painting so I chose a variety that stood out while researching.

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OUT OF WORDS 1, 2, 3

My other series came from thinking about news and the range of responses to the deep issues of prejudice this year that we faced in a more direct way. The responses include learning, thinking, protesting, speaking, conversing, giving, questioning, grieving, dismissing…only to name a few.

This year has been surprising, to say the least. Sometimes when I can’t put my experiences or thoughts into words, I paint. I’m mourning and longing, but always with hope. The flowers as center points of the compositions point to new life and to hope.

1 Camellias (far left): one of the meanings (varies by color) is longing in Japanese “hanakotoba” (“flower words” = language of flowers). I, just like almost everyone else, am longing for peace and justice, even if I don’t immediately know how to respond or where to change.

2 Dahlias (center): one of the meanings (also varies by color) is dignity. In a time I didn’t know what action to take, one thing I knew without a doubt was the dignity of every human being regardless of ability, experience, or appearance.

3 Morning glories (right): one of the meanings is united. There are divisions everywhere we look, and some of those have become more apparent this year. This is another thing I long for, to be united to stand for the God-given dignity of every person.

OUT OF WORDS 1

If you look closely by the expressions, you’ll see little bodies attached. These are the body language of a variety of responses that I observed and some that I felt, but couldn’t necessarily put into words.

OUT OF WORDS 2

OUT OF WORDS 3

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ABOUT THE PRINTS: 

All prints are the highest quality giclee reproductions, professionally printed in the Bay Area. They are on archival, matte, acid-free 340gsm 100% cotton fiber material with a watercolor paper texture. The paper is exactly like the original cold press watercolor paper I painted them on!

Dimensions: 11x14”

The measurements include the white edge so they can be framed with or without a mat/mount. The prints are standard sizes (11x14”) so framing options are plentiful. Feel free to contact me with framing questions, but I included some suggestions at the end. I will post separately with more detail about framing options and ideas! 

Side-by-side with original:

In a previous print release of Japanese tea bowls, I placed the original and the print side-by-side and was astonished at the perfect capture and print quality. It’s hard to tell which is the original painting except for the deckled edge on the original watercolor paper.

FREE SHIPPING (domestic): To celebrate the shop launch, I’m offering free shipping!

The print will be packaged in a clear sleeve and will be sealed, laying flat with hard backing in a rigid mailer to ensure it reaches you in perfect condition. Please contact me for a quote for international shipping!

ORDERING: The SHOP is LIVE and the print orders will close on Monday, August 17, 2020 11:59pm. Once orders are received, they will be shipped within 7-10 days.
*Please contact me if you'd prefer to pick up.

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FRAMING TIPS:

Option 1: Professional

Since this is a standard size, you could purchase a pre-made frame and have the framer assemble it. Standard size pre-made frames are significantly less expensive than custom orders.

Framers have specific tools and this option will ensure the framing is done safely, correctly, and with good alignment. You can select different glass options and mat colors (I recommend white that matches the paper white).

Option 2: Semi-DIY with mat

If framing it myself, I would include a mat because I like that space between the painting and the frame.

A good rule of thumb is for the mat to be around 3” wider/taller than the painting. For 11x14” you would need:

• 1 mat (16x20”) with 11x14” opening

• 1 acid-free backing board (16x20”)

• 1 frame (16x20”)

Option 3: Semi-DIY without mat

If space doesn’t allow, I’d go for a simple 11x14” frame. I paint these with this option in mind so there is space between the edge of the painting and the animals. Without a mat, since the frame will be close to the painting, I like the soft look of natural wood close to black ink to keep the painting as the focal point rather than the frame, but it depends on your space!

I call 2 and 3 Semi-DIY because complete DIY would start with cutting the mat yourself using a mat cutter that most don’t have lying around.

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Thank you for browsing! If you enjoyed these paintings, please share with anyone else who may also like to see them.

To get studio updates in your inbox, subscribe at the footer of this page. You’ll be the first to know about more print releases coming this year!

New Prints Available through Tuesday!

Print reproductions of recent work are ready and the pre-orders are in! I'm printing a limited number so email subscribers got the first updates. BUT if you didn’t get a chance to subscribe before the email went out and would still like to order, I’m opening up orders for 2 more days.

ABOUT THE PRINTS: All prints are the highest quality giclee reproductions, professionally printed in the Bay Area. They are on archival, matte, acid-free 340gsm 100% cotton fiber material with a watercolor paper texture. The paper is exactly like the original cold press watercolor paper I painted them on!
The measurements include the white edge so they can be framed with or without a mat/mount. The prints are standard sizes (11x14 or 16x20) so framing options are plentiful. Feel free to contact me with framing questions! 
 

FREE SHIPPING (domestic): The print will be packaged in a cellophane slip for protection. For shipping, the prints will be packaged and sealed between flat multilayered boards to ensure it reaches you in perfect condition. Please contact me for a quote for international shipping!

ORDERING: Here's what I need from you by email or the contact form on the site by end of day Tuesday, October 8!

• Title of the piece you'd like (or titles)

• Shipping name & address*

• Email & phone number for tracking

• Payment via Venmo @emakubo or Paypal to ema.k.roberson@gmail.com

Once I get this info from you (by 10/8/19), the print will be secured for you and ship out shortly!

*Contact me if you'd prefer to pick up.

I painted these imagining them living side by side in sets of 2-3 like this:
 

JAPANESE FOOD

35 each of some favorite things: Nigiri, Wagashi, and Yasai - all recorded on a document if you’d like to know the names! 11x14”

COLLECTIONS

Left: 70 Japanese traditional tea bowls // Right: Japanese characters starting from the top right, corresponding to animal names. 16x20”

BACKYARD BLOOMS

Each one painted looking at real flowers from my parents’ garden. 16x20”

HYDRANGEA PATTERNS

Visited Japan this year during hydrangea season and these were some of my favorites from a hydrangea festival at a local shrine. 11x14”

Here are the 11 available prints including dimensions, prices, and brief descriptions:

• Ochawan [16x20" - $95] giclee print of an original 16x20" watercolor painting of 70 types of Japanese tea bowls of various regions.

Ochawan [16x20" - $95] giclee print of an original 16x20" watercolor painting of 70 types of Japanese tea bowls of various regions.

• Nigiri [11x14" - $80] giclee print of an original 11x14" watercolor painting of 35 types of nigiri sushi.

Nigiri [11x14" - $80] giclee print of an original 11x14" watercolor painting of 35 types of nigiri sushi.

• Wagashi [11x14" - $80] giclee print of an original 11x14" watercolor painting of 35 types of traditional Japanese confections.

Wagashi [11x14" - $80] giclee print of an original 11x14" watercolor painting of 35 types of traditional Japanese confections.

• Yasai [11x14" - $80] giclee print of an original 11x14" watercolor painting of 35 types of Japanese vegetables.

Yasai [11x14" - $80] giclee print of an original 11x14" watercolor painting of 35 types of Japanese vegetables.

• Hiragana Animals [16x20" - $95] giclee print of an original 16x20" Japanese sumi ink painting of animals that correspond with Japanese letters (hiragana).

Hiragana Animals [16x20" - $95] giclee print of an original 16x20" Japanese sumi ink painting of animals that correspond with Japanese letters (hiragana).

• Hydrangea 1 [11x14" - $80] giclee print of an original 12x16" sumi ink and watercolor painting of hydrangeas in late spring in Tokyo.

Hydrangea 1 [11x14" - $80] giclee print of an original 12x16" sumi ink and watercolor painting of hydrangeas in late spring in Tokyo.

• Hydrangea 2 [11x14" - $80] giclee print of an original 12x16" sumi ink and watercolor painting of hydrangeas in late spring in Tokyo.

Hydrangea 2 [11x14" - $80] giclee print of an original 12x16" sumi ink and watercolor painting of hydrangeas in late spring in Tokyo.

• Hydrangea 3 [11x14" - $80] giclee print of an original 12x16" sumi ink and watercolor painting of hydrangeas in late spring in Tokyo.

Hydrangea 3 [11x14" - $80] giclee print of an original 12x16" sumi ink and watercolor painting of hydrangeas in late spring in Tokyo.

• Peony [16x20" - $95] giclee print of an original 16x20" sumi ink and watercolor painting of a backyard peony.

Peony [16x20" - $95] giclee print of an original 16x20" sumi ink and watercolor painting of a backyard peony.

• Blush Peony [16x20" - $95] giclee print of an original 16x20" sumi ink and watercolor painting of a backyard peony.

Blush Peony [16x20" - $95] giclee print of an original 16x20" sumi ink and watercolor painting of a backyard peony.

• Rhododendron [16x20" - $95] giclee print of an original 16x20" sumi ink and watercolor painting featuring a front yard peony.

Rhododendron [16x20" - $95] giclee print of an original 16x20" sumi ink and watercolor painting featuring a front yard peony.

Thank you for your time if you made it through this far! If you enjoyed browsing these paintings, share with anyone else who may also like to see them.

To get studio updates in your inbox, you can subscribe at the footer of this page! Coming soon will be a brief (and long overdue) studio/life recap and upcoming show news!

{Making Monday} Creativity Without a Brush

After a few years of painting here and there, I started painting again most regularly in 2015. I had lofty plans to complete several paintings by this time in 2016, but this year has felt extra busy...and they still are in pencil-only form without a single splotch of paint on them. My creativity has been channeled in other ways out of necessity, but it's enjoyable nonetheless. For example, my most recent project was a bridal shower and bachelorette. These are part of the decorations I made for the shower.

It was a Pinterest idea on the bride's wedding board (for seating chart placecards ). Though I give credit to Pinterest, it was NOT a "best chicken in 15 minutes" (which is never the best), nor "easiest chocolate cake ever" (that takes 2 hours + cleanup). It actually was REALLY simple. I can't take credit for the idea but it was fun to do something with paint that didn't involve careful detail. It's also great for when you have colors for an event/party that may be hard to find...unless you want to drop $200 at Paper Source for the right hue of chartreuse green. 

The process was delightfully simple.

Here are the steps: 

1. Cut the paper to desired size.
2. Mix the color and water in a plate. (I mixed a few watercolors to get the right shade)
3. Dip edge of paper in different angles to get a jagged colored edge. Let it dry.
4. Repeat 2 more times, each time dipping a little less of the paper in so you get that 3-tiered effect. 
5. Write with a calligraphy pen. (I typed it on Microsoft word first to look at and then loosely followed that font.)

two ways to avoid the handwritten part:

1. Make it a shared project: do steps 1-4 and pass off step 5 to a friend with good penmanship. 
2. It's the 21st century and printers work wonders. Find a cute font, type it and print it on card stock, and then do steps 1-4.

It was a tea party theme (I'm sure that's obvious by now) so the favors were lavender earl grey cookies & tea. I added some lemon extract in the batter to freshen up the heavier flavor of lavender and earl grey. The center sign was on the door to welcome guests. The pen on the right is my favorite for cheater calligraphy style writing!

27/50 : Learning to Teach

This painting is from my last etegami workshop in November. It has taken that long to get back to writing! Since my translation and copywriting work is in the retail business, Christmas is the busiest season and it has felt like I'm just barely hanging on. In the middle of that, I got selected on a jury for jury duty! It was surprisingly very interesting, and for short cases I'd say it's a worthwhile experience (even though I was grumbling the whole time).

I daydream about painting these days as I walk to and from the stations on my commute. Since I'm explaining how I paint when I do workshops or demonstrations, I think more step-by-step. There's a lot that's just second nature now- when to apply more pressure, when to lift the brush, where to leave space white, where to add pops of color. I'm now having to trace my steps back to how I decide. 

"Autumn is the season for pumpkin pie"

Some things I've learned that I can now explain:

• To get better at composition, look at good photographs. 
• Practice your writing style and perfect your signature. 
• Boldly mess up. Those confident mistakes often turn into something great.
• No more than 2 layers of watercolor...let the paper breathe!
• Variety of strokes, color intensity and values is key to get eyes glued on the piece.

Things I'm trying to teach myself, talking to myself:

• Stop comparing. (You'll never paint like them, and no one paints like you.)
• Keep painting. (It's getting better.)
• Be patient. (You've already passed the Michelangelo/Mozart prodigy age.)

I'm glued in the psalms during this busy season. I particularly connected with:

And I say, "Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest;
yes, I would wander far away; I would lodge in the wilderness; I would hurry to find a shelter from the raging wind and tempest." (Psalm 55:6-8)

How comforting to know that there are others that want to fly away and become a hermit sometimes. BUT right after in the same psalm:

"Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved." (Psalm 55:22)

25/50 : What to do with"28 Thousand Days"

 Our days are numbered. Alicia Keys reminded me the other day--"28 Thousand Days"? Maybe. Maybe not. Often not.

 Some changes at work make me more grateful for and mindful of the people I see daily. It's not guaranteed to continue.

 I painted this stack of pants for my boss as a goodbye and thank you gift to him- he reminded us of the right perspective, that we are after all "just selling pants."(written in Japanese in the painting since my job is exactly this translation process)

"Just Selling Pants" 

Psalm 39:4-7

Show me, Lord, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is.

You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you.

Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure.

Surely everyone goes around like a mere phantom; in vain they rush about, heaping up wealth without knowing whose it will finally be.

But now, Lord, what do I look for?

My hope is in you.

By hoping and trusting in God, who is eternal, it puts my petty daily troubles (which wouldn't even make a visible dot on a timeline of eternity) into perspective. They will pass, but how I respond and treat people in the meantime- those things last longer. While my boss (who is on to other adventures) was incredible at his job, his love for people and care for coworkers as family set him apart and impacted everyone.

"Let all that you do be done in love."

1 Corinthians 16:14

ALL? Yup. God can work miracles even in a hard heart like mine, so he can make the impossible a reality.

21/50 : Careful what you Google! [Lessons from a new job, part 2]

I was working on a quick one-line translation at work. I looked up a name for a shade of pink in Japanese to see if it was a transliterated color name (like "pee-chi" for peach, etc) or a Japanese word. No photos came up, just text. That should've been clue number 1, but I wasn't aware that apparently Google doesn't show photos for graphic content. The summaries I skimmed in the first 5 hits that came up were unexpected! There I was, week 1 at work, already looking up...what? Porn. Noted, I am definitely NOT using this word in Japanese!

Lesson 1: Careful what you Google.

For my sanity, I must stop comparing this work commute to my previous Tokyo commute. Where could I begin? Why do people on the platform stand directly in front of the doors and block passengers getting off the trains? Why is there enough space to do yoga in the aisles between the seats while people are packed like sardines in the space between the doors on each train? Why is the escalator line far down the platform blocking traffic while the stairs are empty? Why are both sides of the escalator standing sides during rush hour? I suppose these questions answers my last question: Why is the train late 90% of the time?

As scary as it was to face a herd of morning commuting robots in Tokyo, I appreciated the unspoken systematic approach once I got the hang of it and became one of the robots.

Lesson 2: I've a feeling we're not in Tokyo anymore.

This etegami ("letter painting") below was for work also, included in a thank-you note. We talked about going to Humphry Slocombe for an ice cream break after a busy week so that part of the conversation went into the painting.

This weekend I realized (again) that my hopes and prayers are small. But time and time again I'm shown that the "impossible" is possible, and I should hope for great things. I should expect God to work miracles. I'm a pessimist. So, I need extra time spent focusing on the truth, like:

God's voice thunders in marvelous ways, He does great things beyond our understanding. [Job 37:5]

and my favorite that I forget too often:

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be the glory..." [Ephesians 3:20]

It's "risky" for a pessimistic-planner-type to expect great things and pray for miracles but here we go! Maybe changing this "pessimistic-planner-type" description of myself will be miracle #1.