JMJ

I really enjoyed Nadia Sablin’s photography of her Aunties in Russia. She really captured the charm and sacredness which each moment a quiet domestic life has to offer. There is an overwhelming sense of peace captured in each photograph. The photographs seem so natural; nothing seems staged or out of place. I get the sense that everything is exactly where it belongs. The photographs really gave me the impression that she loved and admired her Aunties. I particularly loved the photograph below of her Aunties working on a puzzle. The lighting is so beautiful.

Nadia Sablin’s photography gave me the desire to capture the beauty of the wonderful women whom God has placed in my life just as she captured the beauty of her Aunties in the midst of their everyday life. The first women who come to mind are my Mom, Grammy and Mama Mary in Heaven. Really, I would love to do portraitures of all the women in my life in thanksgiving for the ways they have softly touched my life.

Her photography also makes me ponder the hidden years of Jesus. The thirty years He spent living a quiet, domestic life with Mary. Looking through these pictures, I can’t help but picture the Holy Family living together, doing laundry, preparing food, learning a craft all bathed in a light of peace. I love the idea of a sacramental approach–seeing how the little chores in our lives reveal to us some of how the Holy Family would have lived.

The second artist I was looking into is Kazuo Oga, one of the artists of Studio Ghibli films. I’ve always loved the artwork in the Studio Ghibli films. Every scene in those films such as My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, and Castle in the sky is beautiful–down to the detail. Once again, there is a deep sense of peace surrounding these scenes. I watched a video of Kazuo Oga painting a scene to better understand his process (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTZhMGMe3SU). He started off with a light sketch he made from the foot of the mountains. He wet his paper completely on both sides and let it soak into the paper. Then he started laying down the ground and building up from there, eventually adding detail. He said he tried to do as much as he could at the beginning while the paper was still wet because that is when he has the most momentum and he can still achieve a misty look in the painting. He explained that sometimes the painting was not what he had in mind but he would still go with it. This approach opens him up to a level of chance in the creative process.

Other resources I’ve looked into:

https://mymodernmet.com/watercolor-painting-qian-shi/

https://www.iamag.co/the-art-of-samuel-smith/

(I am the rose of Sharon. The lily of the Valley.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaO2HEkC_qQ

Here are some of my brainstorming/sketches: