Buy the Satori (Awakening) Print

Mount Fuji

Climbing Mount Fuji in the middle of the night, I was on a journey to catch the sunrise from the summit.  The increase in altitude made it hard to catch my breath as I was pushing my aching body to its limits.

I felt grateful for the pain since I knew this hike was more than a physical challenge.  I was challenging my inner strength.  When it came down to it, I was the only person on that mountain that could keep pushing me to take another step, and then another step, until I reached the top.

Challenges

Challenges, big or small, are the perfect training and reminder that you can rely on yourself when the tough gets going.  You are your best coach.  If you think that you’re not a strong individual, than I dare you to prove yourself wrong by getting out of your comfort zone and doing something you’ve always wanted to do.  People are usually much stronger than they think they are. (more…)

Buy the Bushidō - Samurai Print

Bushidō means “The Way of the Warrior”, the unwritten code of conduct for the samurai warrior of ancient Japanese, and includes:

Gi – Justice

Yū – Bravery

Jin – Benevolence

Rei – Politeness

Makoto – Veracity

Meiyo – Honor

Chūgi – Loyalty

Buy the 7 Codes of Bushidō Print

To some extent, the Bushidō code is similar to the concept of chivalry.

I find this balance between violent behavior and honor fascinating. Even though we’re now in the 21^st century, the Bushidō Code can still guide us in managing conflicts and living an authentic life.

Too often, I’m quick to equate violence with revenge and protecting your own honor; which sounds ridiculous because how can anyone take your honor unless you hand it over to them yourself? When the words violence, conflict and war come to mind, I habitually think of violence originating from hatred, revenge and corruption. Running through my mind are thoughts of gangs, school bullies and abusive parents (just to name a few). (more…)

In the last three weeks, I’ve been trying to create two new collections of contemporary paintings. In the first collection, I want to focus on vivid colors and call it Iro (color in Japanese). In the second collection, I want to focus on the beauty of the planet and call it Chikyu (earth in Japanese). These collections are to be abstract only, which is something I’ve never done. I’ll keep some Japanese calligraphy influence in my paintings because it’s grown to be such a big part of my pieces. I’ll also incorporate more colors into my paintings, particularly the Iro Collection.

Both collections sounded simple enough… until I tried painting them and went to hell and back a dozen times. I’ve learned two things about myself over the past sleep deprived weeks. First, I’m an artist who fears bright colors (strange, I know). Second, I find abstract art to be one of the most difficult styles. Both these artistic flaws drove me to give up all other styles of painting for awhile, and focus on what I struggle with the most. There’s no better way to grow as an artist.

Here’s a video of me, Soniei, trying to explain the evolution of my art and the inspiration behind my contemporary paintings.

This video includes a brief explanation of how I left the 9-5 work world to live my dream as a full-time artist.

Buy the 'Butterfly Bliss' Print

This painting, titled Butterfly Bliss, was selected as Fine Art Registry’s (FAR) ARTWORK OF THE MONTH (April, 2008).  This art was first registered in FAR on March 11th, 2008.  The estimated Value went from $359 to $1299 on April 5th,2008.

ART PRINTS of the ‘Butterfly Bliss’ Painting ARE NOW AVAILABLE

ORIGINAL PAINTING SOLD