12 Aliveness
On coming back after a pause
The past winter was the tail end of a very full year. It was fulfilling as a family season, but creatively, I could feel something in me withering.
Then April came, and I began again.
Now I’m slowly rebuilding my practice, one day at a time. And whenever I return to a practice after a pause, it feels as though I’ve forgotten everything.
The studio, the sketchbook, the paints — all of it feels distant and lifeless. There’s no temperature to it, like an abandoned house. I stand there, unsure, as if I’m facing something almost dead.
And in that moment, what feels most missing is aliveness.
So that becomes the thing I desperately look for. Aliveness in marks, in lines, anywhere I can feel something beyond me, something alive.
And once I find it, I protect it, tend to it, nurture it.




Akiko-san, Although this is my first time commenting here, I am a long time reader. You are one of the people who inspired me to write on this platform. I love your warm, cozy artwork. Glad to see you are back:)
yeah