The Orchid and Patience

At the end of its blooming cycle, the orchid is less appealing without its stunning flowers.  However, with continuous nurturing of the orchid, one day it will unexpectedly bloom again.  Your patience is rewarded.

My Impatience

Although I’m a Canadian artist, 90% of my customers used to be Americans buying art to furnish new homes and buildings.  By early 2008, I could feel the economic crisis begin to sneak up on my business.  However, in September 2008, it hit me right in the wallet.  I lost about 80% of those customers within a few months, and my struggle as a self-representing artist began.

Now, in this dump of an economy, I’m in survival mode to pay bills.  I’m always in a rush.  Nothing in my work can be done fast enough, except for when I paint.  If I even try to rush through a painting, I just create a catastrophe.

These days, I’m impatient more often.  I think it stems from feeling like there’s never enough time in a day to do everything that needs to be done.  Thankfully, I work alone so I rarely get the chance to annoy anyone.

The day I created the Nintai (Patience) painting was a day I particularly had to remind myself to be patient with the circumstances of my business and this economy.  Like the orchid, with patience and constant nurturing, I believe that someday my art career will bloom once again.

Painting to the Left

Despite aesthetics, I didn’t want the flowers of the orchid at the center of the painting.  I simply didn’t want the reward, the flowers of the orchid, to be the focal point.  I wanted the patience required to wait for the reward to be the focus of the artwork as well.

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

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

Bamboo, plum blossoms and orchids are very popular subjects in Japanese art. In addition to their obvious beauty, each plant symbolizes particular human characteristics.

Bamboo – The bamboo is symbolic of what the Japanese believe to be ‘masculine qualities’. It represents great flexibility, integrity, vitality and enduring strength.

Orchid – The orchid is symbolic of what the Japanese believe to be ‘feminine qualities’. It represents elegance, gentleness, vulnerability and beauty.

Plum Blossom – Blooming after surviving the winter weather, the plum blossom symbolizes hope and endurance. The plum blossom is also popular because of the contrast between its gnarled trunk and its fragile blossoms.

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

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

Rōmaji is Japanese for Roman letter and it’s a way of writing Japanese using the Roman alphabet. Hiragana, katakana and kanji are another three ways of writing more traditional Japanese. Rōmaji is particularly useful for beginners because you don’t have to know Hiragana, Katakana or Kanji when first trying to speak Japanese.

Examples of Rōmaji:

oishii (I say oishii when I want to say delicious in Japanese).

sugoi (I use sugoi when I want to say awesome in Japanese).

Andoria (Andria)

makudonarudo (McDonalds)

tamashii (soul)

chikara (power)

Kanji characters are ideographs, so each kanji represents a word or idea.

魂 tamashii

力 chikara

Hiragana and Katakana symbols are called kana (Japanese syllabary) because they are used to spell words. They do not represent a word on their own like kanji.

Hiragana is used for Japanese words.

おいしい oishii (o-i-shi-i)

すごい sugoi (su-go-i)

Katakana is used for foreign words and non-Japanese names. These symbols are more angular and straight when compared to hiragana.

アンドリア Andria (A-n-do-ri-a )

マクドナルド makudonarudo (ma-ku-do-na-ru-do)

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.