Country Lane
1930's sloop
This is the first blog entry I have done since I set up this site quite a while ago. I’ve thrown my energies into “Lady Nyo’s Weblog” (https://ladynyo.wordpress.com) because that site was all about my writing, publishing and some other issues of life.
So recently, a good friend (Bren) who knows me for many years, wrote and asked if I was still painting? Well, after 25 years of such, I had turned my energies to writing and belly dancing, and only recently went back to watercolors.
Why not? There is no “Chinese Wall” between disciplines and when you can and it pleases you (and others)….why not??
However, most of what I have attempted recently has been NOT birds….it’s landscapes and seascapes.
The jury is still out how long I will do so, but recently I have been enjoying the painting again. There is one that I am working on but it is too sketchy of paint to put up here.
A few months ago, I was drinking a green tea mixture….a can…and the can had a geisha (or a courtesan) as decoration, and the full sugar can had a beautiful cherry tree in full blossom. I decided to combine both cans (pretty good, actually!) and make a painting of that. My son watched the geisha come into being and mentioned that ‘she must be a courtesan because she tied the obi in front’.
LOL~! The perils of homeschooling children. What they pick up from their mothers!
But he was (mostly) right. We both learned that only courtesans tied their obis in front….never geishas or ‘decent’ women. Actually, I believe this is a myth. It’s very hard to tie an obi yourself, so why not wear it in front??
This spring I will try to continue to paint. Not much has come into excitement….exciting me enough to pick up brush and watercolor, but I am awaiting spring afterall….the tender buds, the delicate colors of the trees mounding one upon the other in the distance, all these various greens….
So we shall see what moves the heart and brush.
Jane Kohut-Bartels
Tags: Arizona Tea, geishas, landscapes, Painting, Ships, watercolors
Lady Nyo's Weblog 
March 12, 2010 at 5:45 pm
> learned that only courtesans tied their obis in front
I think you’re right about that being a myth; the difference seems to be one of evolution. According to Wikipedia, “Originally all obis were tied in the front. Later on fashion began to affect the position of the knot and obis could be tied to the side or to the back. As obis grew wider the knots grew bigger, and it was becoming cumbersome to tie the obi in the front.”
LikeLike
March 12, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Well…there are social reasons for things…..advertisement for one issue.
Courtesans could advertise by tying the obi in the front…there was no mistaking that she was a whore, then…and was approachable.
Actually, originally obis were just narrow sashes. Easy to tie in the front and why not?
I have read a lot of differing opinions on this…but if you look at the woodblock prints from the 16th century…of whores….they go out to ‘parade’ with the obi tied in the front. No mistaking this.
Also, it’s convenient….you don’t have to have a dresser to do your garments. And since I have worn full kimono with obi…it takes another to dress you properly.
Lady Nyo….and always…thanks for reading and your comments!
LikeLike
March 13, 2010 at 12:30 pm
I love your paintings! I wish I could do as well as you. I am still in the learning stages.
A Wonderful talent. You are truly gifted with many
shia
LikeLike
March 13, 2010 at 1:32 pm
Thank you, shia.
I am pretty impressed with your work, too. And as I know you are in the ‘learning stages’….(and by the way, that never ends!!!) you are light years ahead of me when I first started painting.
I guess I started drawing and painting in oils when I was 17, actually. Then I dropped it until I was about 32…and then dropped it again until around 1994. So, it was start and stop for me. I painted like a furie from then on until about 2006. Took up writing, but they aren’t exclusive to each other. I hope to get back into painting watercolors this spring, but my studio has turned into a cat room. My husband wants me to put the cats in the Cat Mahal outside, but I think they deserved to be ‘lived’ with. So I set up my art table in my library under a big window and it’s enough for this amateur.
Thanks again, shia, and keep drawing and painting yourself.
Lady Nyo
LikeLike