Thinking back 2012 〜大晦日によせて〜

2012 was a fuzzy year for me. I finished my MA and started my career as a freelancer. In someway it meant to become a non-person without any title. I didn't do any big works and I feel like I haven't progressed enough for the result to be shown.
But it was surely a wonderful year. I began to see who I am and where I should be heading for. And I needed this time and will need a little more to figure out where and how to start.



2012年、あんたは何をやっていたんだ、と言われると、答えに窮してしまいそうですが･･････みなさんのおかげで、なんとか日々生きています！　この秋はバードウォッチング旅行専門の(株）ワイバードのホームページデザインをやらせていただきました。
地道に一歩ずつ、やりたい事ができるように、精進していきたいと思います。本年はいろいろとお世話になりました。
This is something what I was working on this autumn, YBIRD travel agency's top page design!

Young探鳥会

久しぶりに一時帰国し、何もかもが新鮮に感じたのは束の間。気づけば日本の生活に慣れて、2年間のイギリス暮らしは、心地良い夢か何かだったような気がしていた。
そしてまたケンブリッジに戻ってきたいま、今度は日本滞在が夢だったような気がしている。ナルニア国とロンドンを行き来する子どもたちが味わっているのは、こんな気分だろうか。



15日に井の頭公園で行われたYoung探鳥会に参加した。本当に大勢の参加者にびっくり！　そしてキクイタダキやヒガラ、イカルと今年の冬鳥の多さにも、改めてびっくり！
オシドリが長いことポーズをとってくれたのでスケッチできた。



そして翌週のYoung探鳥会交流会では、2年間イギリスで体験したこと、学んだこと、留学について、絵本づくりについてのお話をわたしが発表させていただいた。見事に風邪を引いて声が出ず、お聞き苦しかったと思いますが、集まってくださったみなさま、ありがとうございました！
I made a presentation about my experience in Britain for young bird watchers in Japan. I talked about public footpath, a walk in fresh air with green wellies, rivers without fences or concrete bank, dark night and big sky, gardens performing as green corridors, tradition of field sketch, living in a hundred years old house...all those things that I love about being here.

Sketching

The Thai trip was very special to me because I could spent several days with Ajaan Kamol Komolphalin and sketch birds, animals, plants and scenery.



The second trip we had during my stay in Thailand was to Mae Wong Natinal Park and we spent two nights at Chong Yen.



Chong Yen



Large Indian Civet came out to feed on the leftover rice at night. I had no idea what kind of animal it was when I sketched this.



Every time it came out for a few minutes, I could only observe some part of it. But by watching it several times, I gradually understood its complete picture!

Merry Christmas!

Wish you a happy Christmas!



I am glad to be safely back in Cambridge just in time for Christmas. I will have a proper British Christmas thanks to my landlady and I am very much looking forward to it!

Street sellers

I love Thai streets full of people who have nothing yet are living day to day strongly.



A lady selling flowers under the BTS sky train in Bangkok.



The Sate restaurant that my friend recommended. We had a catfish!



Pa tong ko. The best way to start a morning in Thailand. All pa tong ko sellers have their own way of making the fried dough. This person made the metal cutting tool by himself.



A huge market exists behind a street.

Painted Stork

Aj Kamol spotted five painted storks during their migration journey along the road. We were lucky to be able to stop the car at the road side and draw them for a while.



インドトキコウ
When I saw this bird, I immediately thought that this is THE bird for printmaking. I still want to carve a rubber stamp of it but I did some monoprints for now using leftover inks.

Oil inks

I couldn't help buying some oil ink tubes for printmaking. Although I found it ok to use water soluble ones, oil inks are actually much nicer. The biggest difference is, I think, the time that inks remain wet without drying up. With the water soluble inks I have to clean stamps several times.





A girl from a sketch that I made while I was waiting at the Suvarnabhumi airport.

アオバトのなる木

On the way to the nature reserve, we found a group of green pigeons on a tree. Nine of them were orange-breasted green pigeons and a male pompadour pigeon was mixed in as well as a white-throated kingfisher. What a popular tree it was! Aj Kamol was quite surprised to see the orange-breasted pigeons here.
ムネアカアオバトの群れとハイビタイアオバト



Pompadour pigeon has red coverts.



We spent hours drawing pigeons and ended up not going to the nature reserve.



Vinous-breasted Starling （シロガシラムクドリ）
山の上より、むしろ低地のほうがたくさんの鳥が見られる気がした。



White-throated Kingfisher （アオショウビン）

Kaeng Krachan

I spent a week or so in Thailand. This trip was very special to me. I went on two birdwatching trips with Aj Kamol Komolphalin and lovely birdwatching friends of mine. More than ten years have passed since I first joined Aj Kamol's birdwatching tour and was so impressed by him as a bird leader and as an artist. This time I could sketch birds all the time next to him! Slowly, I am getting a little bit closer to him.



Red-beareded Bee-eater （ムネアカハチクイ）



Dark-sided Flycatcher （サメビタキ）



I was drawing this and missed the great hornbill. But these days I prefer to observe a bird long enough to draw than to have a brief look at a rare bird. So I pretended that I didn't mind...



Flavescent Bulbul was bathing with morning dew on a fern. （カオジロヒヨドリ）



Vernal Hanging Parrot　（ミドリサトウチョウ）

クリスマスはカワウと一緒に・・・？

昨日ははじめて日本野鳥の会東京支部のYoung探鳥会の交流会に参加してきた。
今回は農工の後輩たちがCCC（クリスマス・コーモラント・カウント）をテーマに発表してくれた。CCCとは毎年、行徳野鳥観察舎をメイン会場として行われる、カワウのカウント調査イベントだ。今年の参加者募集案内もできているので、ご興味のある方はぜひご参加ください。



I made this logo for an annual event called CCC. It stands for Christmas Cormorant Count mimicking Christmas Bird Count. But we only concentrate on cormorants. We spend a whole day researching, learning, talking and thinking about them.
Cormorant is one of the biggest water birds in urban areas in Japan which helps circulating nitrogen and phosphorus from the sea to the land, renewing forests. But these days the number of cormorants has been increasing more than dead environment in cities can accommodate, resulting in conflicts between cormorants and fishermen. So students collaborating with researchers and local people started this event to lean and understand about them. We are celebrating its tenth anniversary this year!

以下宣伝！
◇◆◇ CCC2012　～クリスマス・コーモラント・カウント～ ◇◆◇

　漁業被害や糞害によって、人との間に深い軋轢が生じている鳥、カワウ。マイナスのイメージばかりが先行し、かつて私たちが彼らから受けていた恩恵や、彼らが生態系の中で果たしている役割については、あまり知られていません。そんな彼らのことをもっとよく理解してもらうために、学生を中心に立ち上げられた調査イベントが“CCC”です。毎年12月に開催され、今年で10周年を迎えます。専門家ばかりではなく、調査は初めてという方も数多く参加され、毎回活発な交流が行われています。本イベントへの参加を通じて一人でも多くの方に、人と動物との共生のあり方について考えて頂けると幸いです。

日程：2012年12月16日（日）
場所：千葉県立行徳野鳥観察舎（メイン会場）、行徳駅前公園研修室（クリスマス会会場）
内容：早朝調査（6:00～）、ミニシンポジウム、 ねぐら入り調査、 クリスマス会 など
参加費：無料（クリスマス会に参加される方は参加費1000円が必要となります）
お申し込み・お問い合わせ先：ccc2012_tuatyadoken@yahoo.co.jp
主催：東京農工大学有志、NPO法人行徳野鳥観察舎友の会、NPO法人バードリサーチ

◆ 当日はどの時間帯にも自由に参加できます。
◆ 早朝調査に参加される方のために、前日の宿泊場所も用意しております（寝袋等をお持ちの方はご用意して頂けると便利です）。下記アドレスまでお問い合わせ下さい。また当日の朝食は各自持参となりますのでご了承下さい。
◆ 調査時はかなりの冷え込みが予想されます。防寒着やカイロなどを必ずご用意下さい。
◆ 双眼鏡やカウンターをお持ちの方はご持参下さい。
◆ クリスマス会ではプレゼント交換を実施致します。交換用のプレゼント(500円相当)を各自でご用意ください。
◆ 早朝調査、クリスマス会への参加をご希望される方は、下記の情報ををご記入の上、件名「CCC参加申し込み」で上記のアドレスにお申し込み下さい。ミニシンポジウムなど昼のイベントへの参加の方は、申し込み不要です。なお全ての個人情報はCCCの運営以外の用途には一切使用致しません。

1.氏名
2.性別
3.所属
4.パソコンのアドレス
5.携帯電話のアドレス
6.携帯電話の番号
7.住所
8.参加したい時間帯
9.行徳野鳥観察舎友の会の会員であるかどうか
10.過去にCCCに参加したこと、あるいは鳥類のカウント調査を経験したことがあるかどうか
11.調査当日の移動手段(車、自転車、徒歩など)

皆様のご参加を心よりお待ちしております！

working times

I've been having lovely time meeting my friends and catching up all the news happened in Japan. I was lucky enough to make new friends and have some chats which showed me good prospect. I was glad and relieved to find that even after an absence of two years, I am still very much connected to all the groups I used to belong to.
But some part of me is looking forward to going back in my own little corner in Cambridge, all alone in my own little chair. I feel that I need more time to work on my own project.



Monoprint lawing



Buzzard
Many people asked me when I will come back to Japan for good and start job hunting.
"You can not be hanging around without any proper job for any longer," they said.
But I want to be a freelance illustrator and make children's books! And it needs a lot of works and takes loooong time to start! It is scary not to follow the normal railway track of life. But if I don't try right now, when am I going to do it? After retirement?

お祭り

Last weekend was my uni's school festival. I don't know if this is Japan's unique culture or not but most of schools in Japan (from elementary schools to universities) have a school festival in autumn. Students run food stalls, exhibition, haunted house and music concert. For the university clubs, this is the best time for fund raising for their activities.
I don't think there was anything similar at Anglia Ruskin University...



農工祭の名物、耕地の会の芋きんつば。ついつい並んでしまった。そして暇だったのでスケッチ。

JBF報告

二日とも晴天だったジャパン・バード・フェスティバル。無事に終わってほっとしている。
絵の展示やブースを見に来てくださった方、わたしの鳥グッズを買ってくださった方、どうもありがとうございました。そして展示の搬出入、グッズの販売をしてくださった日本ワイルドライフアート協会の会員のみなさま、ワイバードのみなさま、本当にお世話になりました。



The wildlife art exhibition during the Japan Bird Festival. I exhibited three rubber stamp prints and the bird mobiles. I was too busy to take any decent photos.



水の館前のワイバードブース。おかげさまで、キビくん、メジくんリュックサックは、両方とも売れてしまった！　毎年一羽ずつ、世の中に飛び立っている模様だ。



日本ワイルドライフアート協会のブース。
I was so pleased that my bird mobiles sold very well!



While I was watching the booth, kids chorus started.

Happy Halloween

We carved our pumpkins!
While we were working on them, we talked about various things. The first topic was "are we wasting time and food by carving pumpkins?" I guess we are very unsure about our situation and worrying too much.
But I am so happy that we did this. I don't want to regret about not enjoying my life. And you never know if we will have nice company to do these things again next year!



As you guess, the barn owl one is mine and the beautiful cat design is by Rosemary Shojaie! Since barn owl seems to be called ghost owl or death owl, I thought it would suit Halloween.

I remember in the first autumn I had here, I also made an owl jack-o'-lantern. It seems like ages ago.

Nyponsoppa

We made an amazing dessert soup, nyponsoppa out of the rose hips that we picked around our house. It is a Swedish dish and literally means rosehip soup. We have been enjoying this harvest season!



Rose hips from a cultivated rose (big round one) and from the dog rose (small oval one, Rosa canina).
スウェーデンのデザートスープ、ニューポン・ソッパを作ろうと、栽培種のバラや、公園や共有地の垣根になっているヨーロッパノイバラの実を集めてきた。



鍋にローズヒップと水を入れて火にかけ、少量の砂糖を加えて煮詰める。煮立ってきたら、実をつぶしてピューレ状にし、水で溶いた片栗粉でとろみをつける。裏ごしをすればできあがり。



It tasted so nice with a drop of yogurt and almond slices!

Twitching

A few days ago we went to Norfolk coast for birdwatching and ended up twitchering. Northeasterly wind on Monday brought many migrants to the Norfolk coast and the foggy, dump weather for the next few days seemed to force the birds to stay on the coast. Lots of twitchers were there to watch the rarities. But funnily enough, the two rare species that we saw were fairly common birds in Japan!



In The Sense of Wonder, Rachel Carson wrote about her memory of watching beautiful stars at night all alone with her friend on a flat headland. She said "if this were a sight that could be seen only once in a century or even once in a human generation, this little headland would be thronged with spectators."
The migrant bird which happen to land on an unusual land and to be found by enthusiastic birders is exactly the case. But the same bird at their original site will not get much attention because...
"But it can be seen many scores of nights in any year, and so the lights burned in the cottages and the inhabitants probably gave not a thought to the beauty overhead; and because they could see it almost any night perhaps they will never see it."
知人に連れられて、イギリスではじめて、珍鳥追っかけの人で賑わう地を訪ねた。どこの国にも珍鳥情報のネットワークがあり、特別な種が「出た」となると人が集まる。でも、何となくイギリスのトゥイッチャーの雰囲気が許せてしまうのは、大砲のようなレンズを抱えたカメラマンはまずいなくて、純粋に双眼鏡や望遠鏡で鳥を観察しに来ているバードウォッチャーが多いからかもしれない。

Autumn Sale

Autumn jewelry are now on sale!



I want to hang those berries from my ears!

Sweet chestnut

Leaves are turning yellow, berries and mushrooms are everywhere.
Yesterday, I picked several sweet chestnuts. I will try steaming them or candy them!



オウシュウグリ（Castanea sativa）

Japan Bird Festival 2012

秋のお祭りの季節。今年は絵の展示、グッズ販売、（そして本人も）いろいろ参加します。



◇◆◇ ジャパン・バードフェスティバル2012◇◆◇
日にち: 2012年11月3日(土) 9:30-16:00、4日(日) 9:30-15:00
場所：千葉県我孫子市手賀沼湖畔

◆ ワイルドライフアート展
リノリウム版、消しゴム判子で刷った版画を3点出展します。
会場: 我孫子市生涯学習センター「アビスタ」 １Ｆロビー壁面、１Ｆ工芸工作室。
千葉県我孫子市若松26-4。我孫子駅南口より徒歩10分。JBF巡回バスまたは路線バスで「アビスタ前」下車。

◆例年通り、ブックカバーや「きびだんご」シリーズ、アオバトやカワウのモビールなどの物品も販売予定です。わたしが関わらせていただいているのは、
・水の館前　ワイバードのブース
・水の館前　Hobby's Worldのブース
・アビスタ　エントランス　日本ワイルドライフ協会のブース



今年はワイバードのFacebookページへの投稿用に作成した、ポストカードサイズの版画をそれぞれ限定10枚（@1500円）、販売します！　リノリウム版、消しゴム判子、ステンシルを併用したオリジナル版画で、どれも微妙に色や模様が異なるので、選びたい方はお早めに。



◇◆◇ 第19回　大磯宿場まつり ◇◆◇
今年も、こまたんの『あおばとや』に鳥グッズを置かせていただきます。
日にち：2012年11月11日(日) 10:00 - 15:00。
場所：大磯町大磯　山王町旧東海道松並木

Heather pattern

A pattern of heather inspired from my recent trip. Heathland has such an atmosphere. It is interesting that by changing the background colour, I can get very different image.