Day 30: SOKEN

SOKEN (Japanese) invention, creation, originality

創見

Tomorrow's word is coming to you this evening so you can get a good head start on our last day of the 30 in 30 Sgraffito Challenge... Tomorrow (Jan. 30) will be the last day you'll be able to add your photo links to the blog, as the links will expire.  If you made it all the way through, Congratulations!!  If not, keep working! There is no time limit for learning :)

Thank you for allowing me to clog up your minds with all of my word-nerdiness this month,  I bet your brains are totally overloaded with my curious nonsense by this time~
 (hee hee)  Here's the last of the Japanese for awhile.....

Here is an EYE. By itself it just looks pretty.

When an eye gets a pair of legs, it becomes
SEE.  Now it can make things happen!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

next to SEE

 'hand, gate, mouth, and river'

makes a new expression... 

SOKEN

Invention, Creation, Originality.

It takes all those things to make an eye gain a vision, opening the gate to let the originality, creation, and invention flow out like a river.

I hope my little challenge has given your eyes a pair of legs, and some good winter exercise for your hands and hearts and minds.  xx

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Day 29: Chūshin

Chūshin (Japanese)  Heart, core, mind, inside feeling.

CHUSHIN

Here we are with only one day to go in this challenge, and you have all done so well... To the participants who haven't 'officially' posted your drawings here on my blog, thank you for sending them to me. I love to see your interpretations! 

Today's word, chūshin, has a lot to do with emotion.  
In Japanese, I think its appropriate that words dealing with emotion often involve a kanji that represents the word 'HEART'.  Most of us would likely agree that the heart is the root of human emotion, and that 'expressions of the heart' are amongst the most difficult to understand...  How can you use black glass powder to express the most difficult things? 

Hopefully you'll get some insight on how to approach your abstract drawings after seeing how the Japanese language breaks down abstract ideas to make them more concrete...

This is 'kokoro', the kanji that expresses the english word 'heart'. 4 strokes.
I try to remember it by thinking about the 4 chambers of
the heart, and not 4 literal strokes.  Ha Ha.

,

When you add 'center' above the heart, you have 'Chūshin',
which is the core, center, or essence of the heart and inside mind.  
Beautiful, isn't it?

Remember how the kanji for man was a field with a sword?
If you add 'field' to 'heart' you end up with the expression
THINK.
'The field of your heart' = think.  I love this one too.

This heart has a 'double center' above it,
which expresses 'pierce'.
The combination of 'pierce' and 'heart' means...
ANXIOUS.
A pierced heart is exactly how 'anxious' feels to me.
How about you?

This 'kokoro' has the kanji for 'opposite' or 'opposing'
 above it.  Together they mean...
SAD. 
Opposite the heart.

Uh oh... up there in the upper left is that woman again.
This time she doesn't have a broom, but the kanji next to her makes her a slave.
Add a kokoro (heart) below, and you get 
RAGE.
The kanji guys weren't so dumb, were they?

Finally, I think it's a good thing to end on a positive feeling.  Here is the kanji that expresses the emotion of LOVE.  

It's complicated, of course.  This one can also mean 'affection', or 'favorite', just like the English word for love.

The top kanji means 'Hand'. under it is a 'roof', then our sweet 'kokoro'.  The final part of this kanji combination means 'progress'.  
'The hand puts a protective roof over the heart + progress' =

LOVE.   

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Day 28: KASHIMASHII

Kashimashii (Japanese) Noisy, Mischievous 

Kashimashii has more than one meaning, so today you can choose the definition you like best for your abstract drawing.  I chose this word for several reasons-
 First, kashimashii is just fun to say, 
and because it's a bit onomatopoeic, it's also fun to hear someone else say it!
 The kanji appears to be a wee bit more than slightly 'politically incorrect', too:)
and I think it fits its 'mischievous' definition well!

Let's start with a quick picture of the kanji meaning 'man' along with the kanji for 'woman'.

This is 'man'. Recognize the 'Chikara'?  The window shape means 'field'.
A man is a strong worker in the field.

And 'woman'. This always reminded me of crossed legs.

When 'woman' becomes 'wife' she gets a broom, unfortunately.

When 'man' becomes 'husband' he is no longer in a field and he gets a nice belt.

And here we have it... KASHIMASHII.
  Noisy. Mischievous. Women.
Something tells me that while the ancient women were busily sweeping up the house, the men were out in their fancy belts making up future politically incorrect kanji.  LOL.  I should also mention that the kanji for the word 'ridicule' is two women with a man in between.... Hmmm...

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Day 27: KOTOBA

Kotoba (Japanese):   Word.

This month's challenge has been all about words, and finding ways to express them abstractly and artistically.  The Japanese language is FULL of wonderful examples of expression with abstract ideas, and I'd love to share a few more kanji with you over the next few days.  Hopefully you'll enjoy them while you're working on your abstract sgraffito drawing of the word that means "Word".  

This character means 'mouth'

When you add the character that means
'Feeling' above the mouth, it makes the
expression "Kotoba".... Word. Feelings from the mouth.

Kotoba with 2 fires beside it?
Talking, conversation, discussion.

'Person' next to Kotoba...
Trust, believe.

Kotoba beside a sword and a heart?
Endure, acknowledge.  Can you see
Yesterday's word for "power" up there?
That extra stab makes it a sword.

And finally, Kotoba with a river beside it.
A river of words.... It means Teach, learn.
I love it!

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Day 26: CHIKARA

Chikara: (Japanese)  Power, strength, force.

I promised that we'd come back around to Japanese eventually, and here we are at Day 26 already! You're all doing a great job with your abstract sgraffito drawings, and I love seeing how you interpreted the words. It's definitely a challenge to think abstractly, and I'll bet your minds have had quite a workout aside from building your sgraffito skills!

Today I'd like to share a few easy Japanese kanji,  and also show you a little bit about how the simple kanji (characters) fit together like pictures to express a more complex ideas (word nerd alert, again...)

  This is what 'Chikara' looks like.  It's one of 80 kanji learned in the 1st grade in Japan. Only two strokes, and the horizontal one comes first (stroke order matters). Chikara is a root for many other words, and when it's put together with other kanji, it can express all kinds of things!  For example, when three "Chikara' kanji are put together along with the kanji meaning "Ten, or complete", you get "Ten Powers", "Ten-Strength" or "Ten-Force". 

This in turn becomes part of the kanji that make the words for 'cooperate, society, association, and compromise'.  Power in numbers- Pretty neat isn't it?  

I'd really like to thank everyone in the Fused Glass Sgraffito Facebook group for being so encouraging and kind toward each other during these drawing challenges. In the often negative realm of social media, I'd say we have a "Ten-Chikara" thing going on for sure! 

For today's abstract drawing, show us how YOU describe Chikara using black powdered glass. 

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Day 25: MAMIHLAPINATAPAI

Mamihlapinatapai

Noun. (Yaghan)

A silent acknowledgement and understanding between two people, who are both wishing or thinking the same thing (and are both unwilling to initiate).

My guess is that most people have experienced this, and although I cannot begin to pronounce it, I think it is a pretty cool looking word.  (Spellcheck has had it's way with me the last few days... Take that- Spellcheck!)

Examples I can come up with when mamihlapinatapai might happen... 

Looking into the eyes of a loved one when you both know hospice is the next step.

A leader's expression with his or her staff when it's time to declare war.

Spouses that cannot get along realizing that divorce is inevitable.

Capturing that acknowledgement for me is most easily seen watching from the outside, when I myself don't have to be participant in mamihlapinatapai, but as a witness to it in the expressions of others.

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Day 24: YA' ABURNEE

Ya' aburnee

Noun. (Arabic)

Literally, 'you bury me'.  A beautifully morbid declaration of one's hope that they will die before another person, as it would be too difficult living without them.

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Day 23: GOYA

Goya
Noun. (Urdu)

A transporting suspension of disbelief- An "as-if" that feels like reality- such as in good storytelling.

I love this word!  Anyone who has ever read a great story and allowed themselves to become part of that other life, world, time, and place will understand it well.  I'm sure there is also a word for the sadness you feel when the story ends and you realize you're 'back in your world' and you never really left.

I found this word in a book titled "Lost in Translation", by Ella Frances Sanders.  Here is what the author has to say about 'Goya'...

"Goya is the realm of make-believe, of amazing stories that make you forget what you're doing and where you are--- stories that give you wings and send you soaring across mountain ranges that you never knew existed, or voyaging across oceans even though you don't know how to sail."

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