The dragon’s blood trees are one of the trees I’ve been yearning to see in real life for a very long time.
I wanted to see baobabs too, and I was able to realise this dream about 10 years ago when I visited Madgascar.
But as to the dragon’s blood trees, it looks too hard, probably impossible to actually go to the place where I can see them. i.e. Socotra, part of Yemen, where the Ministry of Foreign Affairs forbids us to go.
So, I’ve been checking a lot of photos of this tree, admiring the unique shape and structure.
Then, once I came up with the idea of a tree drawings show, I immediately decided to include a drawing of this tree.
This piece really shows how seriously cat-obsessed I am…more specifically, black-cat-obsessed.
I’ve often seen photos of black cats hiding in dark places with their eyes open and people usually caption these photos as “voids” or " When you look into the void, the void looks back."
Having been influenced by these images for quite a while, how can I not think of adding black cats’ eyes in each one of these “voids” included in this tree?
I’d love to reign as caretaker of all these black cats living in the dragon’s blood tree. Well, collocation-wise, “caretaker” and “reign” may sound pretty odd, but I believe that cats’ caretaker is a very respectable position.
Pardon my lengthy and absurd story, but this is the concept of this drawing.
As always, an inspiring and intriguing piece of artwork as well as backdrop. I really appreciate the history and stories to all of your pieces. This one is no exception.
I hope that you also submitted this one to Matt for a critique.
I look forward to more of your artwork and stories. How is the preparation for your tree drawing show. (I think that you made up for the ones where there are no cats!!)
As Patricia said, thanks for sharing all of your wonderful artwork.
Hello Patricia, thank you so much for your kind and encouraging words. Really glad you like this piece and more importantly you consider cat caretaker as a noble mission. I did not come up with this word…“mission”. It definitely is!!!
Hi Teri, thank you so much for your kind words.
As to the show preparation, I am going to talk to the owner of the café in a couple of days where I am planning to have this show. I discussed with my gallery manager first and she and I have agreed that we want to do this show at two venues in parallel, i.e. some works exhibited at the café and the rest shown at the gallery, and do a stamp rally as a show-associated fun event. Do you understand what “a stamp rally” is??? Well, I prepare two different kinds of stamps and a stamp rally form, guests see the show at the café and get the first stamp, and then visit the gallery to see other artworks and get the second stamp. We provide the guests with a small gift in exchange for the completed stamp rally form.
The gallery is full with other shows from spring to the end of summer so I am hoping to have my show sometime in September. Hopefully the café is not yet booked for September as this café is quite popular with local artists!
I am so glad that your artwork and shows are getting so much exposure. The stamp rally seems like a wise way to do exhibitions and business. I look forward to hearing how all goes for you in September.
Hi Teri, thank you for your response.
I went to the café yesterday, with three of my recent tree drawings.
As it turned out, the café will be available in September, so I can do the show as planned. The café owner showed me an epic reaction to my tree drawings. She squeaked a bit and was speechless for a while. She loved the drawings I brought and told me that she would be very much looking forward to the September show.
I was really glad to see her being so happy with my idea. Because she is the one who prompted me to do the intensive tree drawings in the first place. When I saw her last December, she said she liked tree drawings, which somehow reminded me of one phrase I read in Jean Christophe by Romain Rolland a long time ago. I don’t know if you have ever read that book, but Jean Christophe is a composer and pianist, and the story is about his life as an artist. The phrase I remembered is something like “Is there anything meaningful for me in the music that you provide? If there is nothing, just quit it!” I think this phrase appeared in the context where Jean Christophe faced a conflict between “art for the sake of art” vs “art for somebody”. He was leaning toward the former idea in the beginning, but gradually shifted to art for somebody. And I remember that the author, Romain Rolland, concluded that the shift actually helped Jean’s music become richer and more mature.
I myself basically do not work on my own art thinking about other people. I draw because I find it interesting for myself. But when I heard the café owner say “well I love tree drawings”, somehow I thought it might be fun to hold a show exhibiting a tons of tree drawings for her. And I was curious to see how true Romain Rolland’s words would be in my case, i.e. I wanted to see if any positive changes would occur to my drawings if I have someone particular in mind.
So, basically the tree drawings I’ve been sharing here are all created to make one particular person happy. As far as I’ve completed about half of my planned drawings, I think it has actually affected my drawings in a positive way. I’ve become to pay a lot more attention to the variety of the drawings, what kind of aspects of art would work effectively for a person’s well-being, which considerations have made me draw something I’d never thought of drawing before. This experiment goes on until September, and I am going to see what else would occur to my drawings in the process.
Hi June, thank you so much for your kind words!
Now I am wondering if a cat tree manufacturer can make something like this for all black-cats lovers across the globe.
I’d be happy to license this drawing as the product design!
Hi Maki - OMG I just saw this and it’s delightful. I love cats too, even if they aren’t black. So glad you keep posting your drawings. I LOVE ALL OF THEM!!!
Wow Maki! I had a feeling when I opened the forum page that a CAT theme would include you. I looked up both the Dragon’s Blood Tree and Jean Christophe as you mentioned them. I am wondering what drew you to Rolland’s work.
Regardless, I love the saucy attitude in your cats always. Isn’t this medium perfect for you subject? Thank you for posting, and Keep us posted about your journey to the show. margaret
Hello Margaret, thank you so much for your kind words. Well, I read JC as part of my efforts when I was still a student to learn about the world’s great literature. Other than Rolland, I particularly loved reading Dostoevsky and Hesse. My old diaries in those days are filled with the excepts from these literature. I guess I remember some parts of these books so well thank to the excerpts-making I did intensively back then.
margaret