Demonstration Art

Sketches

Here is a relatively simple sketch of ears of rice.

This sketch is of a kama, a small scythe used for cutting rice plants.

Demonstration Painting

My demonstration painting this week is a haiga, a painting that incorporates a haiku poem in the composition. The haiku in this painting is Red Spider Lily. It was written by Yamaguchi Seishi. Here it is again.

Because rice fields were often surrounded with red spider lilies to protect the rice crop from animals--red spider lilies are extremely toxic--the mere fact that the painting shows a rice harvest brings to mind red spider lilies without having to actually show them. That has been the traditional practice in haiga paintings, though some modern painters don't follow the tradition.