new boards for my scrolls

Met with my sumi-e artist, Hiroko and brought home some new pieces to work with. From left to right, cricket, nuthatch,spider, sunset, cricket. I'm learning that many of my subjects have one directional focus of the art and depending, I may need it facing the other way, hence my interest in two crickets, each facing differently.

each morning as I saunter out into the japanese garden, I'm forever running into new spider webs crossing the pathways. If only they could speak, bet my ears would burn, making them rebuild each day. I know what i have to say walking into them each day

comments on what you do or don't like appreciated...

I think the one I like the most is the nuthatch. What I like about it is that the shape at the top( moon/sun etc) is done with a light hand and the bird has some nice variation. I think the crickets are a nice subject but I would like to see them either on a blade of grass or some substrate, they feel like they're floating in space little too much. The spider is just too austere it would be nice to see maybe some pattern of the web or something like that to ground it in space.

thank-you Jim, your comments helpful

I've had this antique cricket cage for a long time, way prior to my interest in display. It's 6x5X4 inches. back in the day, a male cricket was purchased from the insect vendor so that he would sing his evening love song to the appreciative ears of the household.

Beautiful boards, very nice.

I like them all, the right hand cricket may be my favorite of the 2 crickets. As Jim suggested, the nuthatch has the most delicate and varied touch. Very nice.

The crickets are "in your face" a bit, but once the boards are mounted, and hung behind a larger bonsai, they may drop right into place as right size.

I just picked up W. Benz's book on display and kusamono. The subject of display seems deep, perhaps beyond me. So many 'rules', it is a bit intimidating. But I will keep reading, and eventually hope to get my head around some of it.

Of course, I realize the rules are only guidelines. Artistic intuition should be indulged, but where there is no inspiration, the rules can lead to an acceptable display. I need to learn the rules, because intuition and inspiration don't come often to me.  

dick benbow wrote:I've had this antique cricket cage for a long time, way prior to my interest in display. It's 6x5X4 inches. back in the day, a male cricket was purchased from the insect vendor so that he would sing his evening love song to the appreciative ears of the household.

Dick:
I am not trying to sound negative or come across as overly critical...because I really like your concept and your setup. So usually, Tana are not displayed with scrolls...Not to say that that is never done because I do not know...I have just not seen it done.
The selection of this color cloth for the Tansaku Kake is probably appropriate for bonsai/Suiseki/Sanyasou display... But if thinking about it from a scrollmaking perspective it does not seem to work with this display when compared to the background wall and the season (if you are trying to display for summer) and also if the Jikusaki were done in Rosewood or Ebony, it would not contrast so much with the cage, which you seem to place as the main piece of your display.

Just my two cents FWIW...

maples-san, thank-you for your input. It helps when your trying to learn.

before when you used japanese words, I'd fume and get frustrated. Now I go to the internet and TRY and translate them. Sometimes i get lucky. Of the three terms I looked up, I was not able to get a single translation. they were:
Tana
Tansaku kake
Jikusaki
So that I can learn what you so generously shared, would you take the time to clarify each term so I can continue to grasp details
that I'm really trying to absorb.
thank-you

dick benbow wrote:
Tana
Tansaku kake
Jikusaki

棚 Tana are shelves/Shelving which yours is displaying
丹作掛け Tansaku is a specific size, Long and narrow, of Shikishi which yours are painted on. Tansaku kake is a shortened word for Tansaku Kakejiku, or a wallscroll specifically made to hang Tansaku.
軸先 Jikusaki....http://www.customjapanesecalligraphy.com/ It is about 3rd Paragraph down on main page....

much appreciated, thanks again

Yo Dick!... 
That spider just kills me, almost jumped out of my skin at first site... 
Could totally feel my skin craw, goose bumps and the hair stand up on the back of my neck!... 
Even the shadow is spot on, right for the angle a spider would drop down in front of your face... 
Thing is I once hand a spider drop down between my collar and neck while pruning a large tree over head... 
Danced around like an idiot trying to brush it off of me, but it bit me anyways. real yakking feeling!... 
stonener
*Phobic*

As for your display! I like the scroll, cage and hut stone...   
good placement and easy to follow story line, even the empty area at bottom right,
feels wide open vast and airy like the night, can hear the cricket calls... 
Having said this, I find the large white ikebana vase and arrangement over powering,
The white and size pull my eye away from displayed story line "home on the range"?
IMHO a small simply kusamono, grass type would support the scene better over all...

I like it Dick, your Ikebana is stunning.

What if you swop the Ikebana with the antique cage.... then the cage sits under the cricket! ( Love the Cage!!)

To my eye it would be better balance. ( I dont know much about the rules of displaying the Eastern way, but I do have some taste! hihihihihi)

Love and light

thanks to both of you for sharing your views. really helps me learn. david de groot, curator for the Weyerhaeuser bonsai collection who has been my mentor for several seasons
also felt the ikebana was too over powering for the size and scale of what else was being presented.
In defense, I am trying to grasp the use of other forms of display which are not the typical or expected. To have some plant matter in the display seemed sage but now as I look back, I can see that the size/dominance should have been better thought thru.

I appreciate the viewers patience as I continue collecting my whits about the process thru doing, and fortunately have those willing to
take time to assist in my training or to simply share their views. From my learning stand point, I wish to understand the japanese way of presentation but there is value in having comments as to how the contents by the viewer are being received.

In other words, if no japanese masters come to my home to visit and see my efforts, I'd still like to be able to present to every day
friends and viewers, something; tho uneducated as to dos and don'ts, still seems to imply something cohesive. And thus can be enjoyed. especially so, when I'm present to explain why that this vision was presented.