In Honor of the Tokyo Olympics (and Storm King)

 Hi everyone. 

I'm here today with a page inspired by some Japanese typed text for Neet's challenge at Art Journal Journey. In case you aren't aware of this month's challenge, Neet's theme is type. 

Even though I made this page before the Olympics began and not even thinking about these games, I thought it was good timing to share it now, before the games are over.

I started my page with some red paint and a chrysanthemum mask. Before removing the mask, I also gave my page a spray with a couple of shades of red inks.

I  used the top of bottle and some green paint to make the circles over my red background. I love the organic forms each "circle" ended up with. After stamping with the paint, I ripped a page out of a reading book I brought home from Japan back in 2018 and used some matte media to attach it.  (I bought the book for art uses like this one, as I don't read Japanese.) Some of the red spray inks absorbed into the book page which helped this piece blend into the background. 

Since I was using typed Japanese text, I was curious how the Japanese typewriter was set up. Since the letters are different in Japanese from how they look in English and other Roman letter languages, I wondered if the typewriters were different  Here's a  few photos I found online of some different types of typewriters.

These are quite vintage, and I'm not exactly sure how they would work.

 This next one isn't all so different from the more familiar modern versions that you can find set up in different languages.

And  I also looked on line for Japanese computer keyboards. I found most keyboards that look like this.

I still wonder if the typewriters and keyboards type horizontally across the page or if they type vertically since that is how Japanese writing is. 

OK, back to my journal page.

Then it was time to add the finishing details to my journal page. I stamped a couple of Asian words, added the chipboard geisha, and also dug out a leaf I had picked up off the ground and embossed last autumn. The page still needed something so I added this black foam washer ring. Finally with a thin red marker I outlined my page with that wiggly line, which is not a very precise Japanese addition at all.  But it is me. Smile.

And since I snapped so many photos on my visit to Storm King last week, here's a few more photos. 

I really like this piece in the next picture. I don't know what the artist wanted it to be, but the balance  effect is very cool. Plus it has  great patina. 

These 2 people just happened to be standing there.

This photo (above) is how far I was from the actual sculpture when I took the photo. In the close up I used my zoom on my lens. 

These pieces were towards the end of our walking, and  by this point we were tired so we didn't walk up the hill to the red sculpture on the top.  This hill was a lot taller and steeper than this photo makes it look. (Or at least it seemed that way.)

Sometimes I think big sculptures are better from afar anyhow.

This painted mermaid swimming was along the side of a sailboat body.  The sign said this was a work in progress. I like the painting but not sure what it will become.

These next photos are of another red sculpture. I had decided to view the art for how it looked in the environment, never mind finding meaning. You could have put your phone over a bar code by the sign (giving the artist's name and date of creation) to read more, but there was so much to see we didn't do that.

To me, I see an abstract spider in this red piece below,  but I doubt that's what it is.

I actually like this photo of the 3 balls and the rusty designs nature has created on them.

And for those of you who like a little nature, I'll finish off my post with  some more meadow views from Storm King.

Hope your day is going well.