The Mumsnet book of Animal Stories

I finally received a copy of the Mumsnet book of Animal Stories, an anthology of ten prize-winning short stories, which has some of my illustrations from earlier this year! 



The Mumsnet book of Animal Stories
will be published by Walker Books on the 2nd October.
The cover illustration is by Briony May Smith.

わたしがイラストを6点描かせてもらった本の見本が届いた！　
イギリスのお母さんたちが書いた子どものための動物の短編集で、コンペティションに入選した10作品をまとめたものだ。10人の新人イラストレーターがそれぞれの作品に絵を添えている。わたしがイラストを描いたのは、Alison Webb氏によるハリネズミの子どものお話。彼はお母さんが冬眠してしまったあとも、まだ眠る気になれず、森へと冬を探しに出かけていく。
10月２日にWalker Booksから出版される。日本のアマゾンでも取り扱っているようです。簡単なお話なので、英語の勉強にいかがですか？！



The book includes different type of stories about many kinds of animals from a lion and elephants to meerkats and bats. The story I made illustrations for is "The Hedgehog Who Wouldn't Sleep" by Alison Webb.  It is based in nature and all the animals in the story are wild ones.  So it was really a story for me!      



A sneak preview of one of the spreads!

In the story, there is a scene of Little Spike, the hedgehog boy, rolls down a hill and be covered with snow and hits the tree trunk.  I couldn't imagine how it would look like...
So I found my hedgehog, a spiky bur of Japanese chestnut!  Luckily, it snowed heavily while I was working on the project in February.  I made a snow ball with the bur in it and throw it to hit a wall.



And here you are, poor Little Spike covered with snow!!



I only had a month to make all the illustrations and since mine was in printmaking method, it was very hard. Worrying about me working until very late at night, my sweet mother made these cute hedgehogs to encourage me!  One went to my grandma's place but the left one is with me still:) 
イラストを描くためにハリネズミのことを調べていたら出てきた手芸サイトの型紙を使って、母がこんなのを作ってくれた。

Autumn in the Air

ノウタケ
まだ若く皺のない脳。割った中が白いうちは食べられるらしい。持って帰ればよかった！



アキノギンリョウソウ（Indian Pipes）
"Tis whiter than an Indian Pipe"
by Emily Dickinson 

I have just learned from my friend that Indian Pipe was "the preferred flower of life" for Emily Dickinson, an American poet from 19th century. The book cover of her "poems" has a beautiful watercolour painting of this flower by her neighbor, Mabel Todd.



カヤキリ　(Pseudorhynchus japonicus)
鳴く虫の声は気にしていないかぎり聞こえてこないけれど、耳がなれてくると、すてきなオーケストラ。

カゴカキダイ（左）とオヤビッチャ（右）
波が岩にぶつかり水中に泡を送り込んでいる部分にオヤビッチャがたくさんいた。



カワハギ

Fish Watching at Miyakejima

The last day at Mikurajima Island was a beautiful sunny day. We sailed to Miyakejima, the volcanic island about an hour away by ferry.



三宅島へ。



Although Miyakejima is a famous island for birdwatching because of its endemic species, we spent most of the time in the sea. Early September is not a good time for watching birds.

I tried to sketch a lot with a snorkel and learn about beautiful fishes.  Everything under water was new to me!  

富賀浜のテーブルサンゴとツノダシ。このテーブル状になる造礁サンゴはミドリイシ属らしい。
Moorish idols at Togahama beach, where table corals grow.   

　




チョウチョウウオ、タカハノダイ（左）。ゴイシウミヘビとオヤビッチャ（右）。
タカハノダイの尾びれの水玉模様がすてきだ。
The YUPO paper I use for sketching underwater is really great but it has one big problem.  I can not use watercolour with it while the scenery in the water is such a perfect subject for painting with brush and lots of water.

But I came up with a brilliant idea!  I simply copied the drawing onto a piece of watercolour paper.  I only have a inkjet printer so I had to trace a few lines with a pencil.  But it seems to be working well so far.  It was actually what Ruchi was doing when she had to practice colouring for several times for one perfect piece.  

By copying the original sketches instead of drawing them again on white paper, I feel that I can keep the freshness of the sketches.  The beauty and the importance of sketching in the field is, I think, capturing the scene and movement fresh.  A work from the field somehow has the atmosphere and character that often disappears when we make a fine final work in the studio.     

　

三宅島２日目は、１、２年前から島に住んでいる友達が土方海岸に連れて行ってくれて、いろいろ教えてくれた。わたしの見たままに描いたスケッチを見て、上のチョウチョウウオは成魚で、下のは幼魚だね、と彼女。背びれの後ろの端に黒い斑があるのが幼魚らしい。タカラガイの仲間も見つけてくれた（右の絵の下）。シュノーケリングでのスケッチは、波に少しずつ流されて自分の位置が変わってしまうので難しい！

水面すれすれのところをオキザヨリが泳いでいた。下ではアオヤガラがじっとしている。

最後はおしゃれなミサキカフェでお昼ご飯。11時半の開店を待つ間、沖原海岸から海を眺めた。アオウミガメがときおり顔を出す。バックには珍しく雲のかかっていない御蔵島。 すてきな時間をありがとう！

カツオドリの降る島

At night from Mikurajima Island, you can see hundreds of shooting stars...no shooting shearwaters. Streaked Shearwaters come back to the island, where they breed, after dark and they fly above the island underneath the real stars.



御蔵島のカツオドリとはオオミズナギドリのことだ。夜になると巣のある島に戻ってくる。海上でダイナミックソアリングをしている優雅な姿からは想像できないほど、地上ではどんくさくて、ときには集落の道路にも文字通り「降って」くる。真っ暗闇でお腹の白が目立つ。



A few hours before dawn, we set off to see the shearwaters taking off for the day's feeding. It seemed that they were everywhere on the island. Some were even sitting on the road in the village. 
We knew we were getting closer to their colony area because the forest was full of their calls and wing flapping sounds and occasional thump!  They were very clumsy on land and quite often fell on the road.  



真っ暗闇で雨が降る中、夢中でスケッチしたのでノートの上下もよくわからず。彼らは暗い森から開けた海へと飛び立つために、明るいところに向かおうとするのか、手持ちのライトをめがけて突っ込んでくることも！



After feeding their incubating partners or chicks in the nest hole or switching the parent duty, they take off from the island before the daybreak.



With their long and narrow wings, they can not start flying easily from the land.  So they were trying to gain some height to jump off and pick the air.  With the webbed feet and beak and a bit of wing flapping, they really can climb steep slopes and trees!



They seemed to be just flying blindly to the sky and the sea, which look slightly lighter than where trees grow. Quite often they were caught by branches and struggling to get out from there. Many of them were also trotting down the steep road, using it as a runway. I wonder what they were doing before people built the road.



本当に木登りをして飛び立っていった！

After five o'clock, I suddenly realised that the sky was getting lighter and the forest became quiet and empty.  There was no sign of the clumsy birds any more.  They were all gone to the sea.  
Morning had come.  



昼になって森を歩き、オオミズナギドリの卵の殻を見つけた。鶏の卵と同じくらいの大きさだった。

World Shorebirds' Day Sketching Project

Last weekend was the World Shorebirds' Day. I heard from Eriko Kobayashi, a Japanese wildlife illustrator and artist, that there was also a sketching project for artists on these two days. So I went to my local coast on Saturday and Yatsuhigata mudflat (Ramsar site near Tokyo) on Sunday to sketch some waders!
世界各地でシギ・チドリのカウント調査をしようという日、World Shorebirds' Day（９月６日、７日）に合わせて、シギ・チドリのスケッチをしてきた。この二日間に、世界中のアーティストが各地でシギ・チドリをスケッチし、その絵をweb上共有するというプロジェクトがあり、ぜひ参加してみたいと思ったのだ。



チュウシャクシギ
A whimbrel at a rocky shore. He or she was the only wader around there...



横浜市唯一の自然海岸、平潟湾のキアシシギ。ほんの一区画しかない干潟に鳥よりも潮干狩りの人のほうが何倍も多くいる。
Grey-tailed Tattlers



谷津干潟のセイタカシギ。頭が茶色っぽい幼鳥だった。
Black-winger Stilts
On Sunday, even though it was rather a wet day, I visited Yatsuhigata mudflat in Tokyo Bay.  It turned out to be very good because I observed quite a lot of waders such as Red-necked Stints, Long-toed Stints, a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, a Red-necked Phalarope, Grey Plovers, Ruffs, March Sandpipers, Terek Sandpipers, Grey-tailed Tattlers, Lesser Sand Plovers and a Ringed Plover.



ソリハシシギ（上）とアカエリヒレアシシギ（下）
Terek Sandpiper (above) and Red-necked Phalarope (below)!  I was very pleased to be able to watch the phalarope for a long time.



ちょっとアカエリヒレアシシギを大きく描きすぎたかも！



ヒバリシギ（Long-toed Stint）
ヒヨ吉さんにヒバリシギ、ウズラシギの見分けをいろいろ教えていただいた。なんとなくトウネンでないのはわかっても、この手のシギの識別はどうしても自信が持てない。
下はエリマキシギ。幼鳥はこんなに黄色っぽい茶色なんだ！

久しぶりにシギ・チドリをじっくり観察し、よい勉強になった。こういう機会を与えてくださった主催者のGyörgy Szimuly氏、ハンガリーのワイルドライフアーティストSzabolcs Kokay氏とプロジェクトを紹介してくださった小林絵里子氏に大感謝！
世界各地から、どんなシギ・チドリの絵が集まっているのか楽しみだ。

Trying to Sketch Dolphins

At Mikurajima Island, I swam with wild dolphins!
There are population of Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins living around the island throughout the year. Quite a few individuals are identified and named since 1994.  So people now know who is staying in the area and who is whose son or daughter.



When they are in playful mood, they really come close to you.  One came to see me floating at the surface.   I could have touched him/her.



I know that it is a bit crazy but I tried sketching them in the water.  I used YUPO paper made of polypropylene, which I can write and draw with pencil in the water.



ユポ紙のノートを使って水中スケッチにチャレンジ。水の中では屈折率が違うせいか、波に揺れているせいか､頭で描いた線がなかなか紙の上に引けない。でもその分、もうちょっと練習すれば味のある線が描けるような気もする。ユポ紙のノートは丸ごと水中に持ち込んでも全く破れず使いやすかった。シュノーケルの基本とともに、もっともっとトレーニングが必要だけれど・・・。



Rainfall on Mikurajima gets together as a rapid stream and goes into the sea as a waterfall. Since we had very wet days, we could see a good volume of waterfalls.



After loosing sight of a pod of dolphins, I found a Green Turtle!  
海と陸とをつないできた はるかな命よ！

Mikurajima Island

I spent my summer holiday in Mikurajima Island and Miyakejima Island.
Mikurajima is located 200 kilometres south of Tokyo and has characteristic Melonpan (sweet bun) shape with steep coastal cliffs around it.  It is an island of dolphins and streaked shearwaters.



眺望のよい所ならどこからでも、山が海を斜めに区切る景色が見られる。港ははるか坂の下。




ずいぶん雨に降られたけれど、「あいにく」とは言いたくない気がした。御蔵は雨が似合っている。靴の中までずぶ濡れになっての村道、都道歩き。



ナンバンギセルが群生していた。
Aeginetia indica, a parasite herb.



御蔵の固有亜種ミクラクロヒカゲ
本土のクロヒカゲに比べて色が黒く、羽の斑が目立たないのが特徴のようだ。
島に渡ると固有亜種がいるから、なんとなく普通種もしっかり観察する。コゲラはミヤケコゲラ、メジロはシチトウメジロ、ヤマガラはオーストンヤマガラ。オーストンヤマガラくらい色味が違うと別亜種を見たという気がするけれど、他はちょっと黒いかな･･････と首をかしげる程度。普段、本土でよく見ていない限り、離島に来ていきなり一所懸命に普通種を観察しだしたところで、「違い」が分かるようにはまずならないのだった。



あまりに雨脚が強くなったので、ツゲの育苗ハウスで少しだけ雨宿りをさせてもらった。
小説「海暗」のオオヨン婆が孫、ひ孫に1000本ずつ植えているツゲもこんな感じだったのだろうか。「御蔵の御山は宝の山だ」



タンテイロの森の巨木。
The entire island is covered with primary evergreen broadleaf forest and design as a national park so hiking on the mountain paths without a guide is restricted.  Forest of Tanteiro near the village is one of a few places where we could walk freely.