Continuing on an etegami theme, Japanese blogger, Keiko, says:
"Kunio Koike, he is Etegami master, says “It is fine to be clumsy, clumsy one is the good one." This is the main point which etegami became popular in Japan. There are no rules exactly how to draw etegami, it's totally free and just drawing on a paper whatever you want." - Keiko, What is Etegami?, Hana ichirin blog
So an Etegami master himself (as of 2009 he was the president of Japanese Etegami Society, too) says that's the point it's perfectly fine to--
--be perfectly clumsy!
Go ahead and be free. Explore. Play. Can't do it wrong. There are no mistakes. Perfectionism is the only thing that gets in the way of perceiving the Perfection that is (nothing gets in the way, as all inclusive). Perfection already here, now, unborn, undying, eternal... not perfectionism. It's hard to believe that, I know. Find out for yourself.
I like how Dokushan Debbie (her artwork in yesterday's etegami post too) continues in the very same vein in her blog:
As I was in an experimental mood, I drew this etegami with a Pelikan-brand fountain pen filled with blue-black ink. I waited for the ink to dry completely before adding the gansai paint, but (as I feared it would) the fountain pen ink smeared as soon as it got wet. That's okay, though. Like I'm always saying, the best etegami is that which you don't have complete control over. - Deborah Davidson
Drop the two following questions from life--and see, it's perfect. From Lynda Barry's illustrated 'graphic' memoir, What It Is:
"TWO QUESTIONS
- Is this good?
- Does this suck?
I'm not sure when these two questions became the only two questions I had about my work, or when making pictures and stories turned into something called 'my work'---I just know I'd stopped enjoying it and instead began to dread it.
When I was little, I noticed that making lines on paper gave me a certain feeling. It made me feel like I was both there and not there. The lines made a picture and the picture made a story. I wasn't the only kid it happened to. Every kid I knew could do it.
Before the two questions, pictures and stories happened in a way that didn't involve much thinking. One line led to another until they somehow finished. I never felt like I was trying, and the drawing itself didn't matter too much to me afterward."
Okay, we're flexing from etegami in strictest sense: Try making another picture + text of your present moment, perhaps your surroundings, during your day, but start it by sketching/doodling whatever it is you are observing first to chill out (or child out, as I like to say). The sketching itself, like Lynda Barry relates, can loosen you up--one line after another... très Zen. If you have access to kid's watercolor paints--even better! (If you are in the private Salon, send both along, or just the text.)
Bonus: The Nihon Sun article on the Japanese folk art of etegami gives more of an overview, and says, "Etegami are meant to be sent, rather than hoarded or displayed in frames." So they are gifts....
ART CREDITS: Eleven arms. Five arms. Ten arms. Perfect. Nine, too--Debbie has her 9-armed sea star etegami on sale for $19.99.
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