Hokaido Snow Festival
I really did and do intend to blog — really, really, really I do — but I get distracted easily.
(Squirrel!)
I’ve been studying Photoshop through Lynda.com tutorials and when I found out about the Pen Tool, well, lets just say it opened up new possibilities. I can draw in Photoshop now and with my nifty new stylus and pressure pad I’m teaching myself how to paint. Consequently, I’ve been in the kitchen once since the new year to cook. It’s been all tofu, all the time in my kitchen. (Wanna a quick recipe? Take cotton style tofu [momen], wrap it in a towel and put a weight on in to press out the water. and fry it with some veggies, marinade it in some kind of flavorful liquid, or add a drizzle of soy sauce and a sprinkle of chopped green onion and some grated ginger. Voila!)
The Snow Festival is features very large sculptures created by the Japanese military. Because Star Wars Episode 7 will be released this year, they created this beautifully detailed version I took at sunset.
From February 3rd I went to Hokkaido for ten days to see the Sapporo Snow Festival; my new hobby is drinking (long story for another post) and so I also went to the Nikka Distillery; and if you’re in Hokkaido you have to ski and go to onsen — pics of all of that in time. I wanted to touch base before getting absorbed back into Lynda.com, so even though I want to keep a cooking blog you’re going to have to settle for pics for now. 😉
This is hand drawn and painted, not a photo. It’s my interpretation of the skyline from Sapporo merged with a non existent sea — I love technology.
The Snow Festival contains smaller ice sculptures paid for by sponsors, in the is case the forth coming Hokkaido Shinkansen (aka bullet train).
Individual groups or clubs can also contribute snow or ice sculptures. This is a bust of a Korean pop star.
And there are several entertainments, one of which is this snowboard and ski slop on which professionals show off their tricks all day long.
They also feature reliefs at the snow festival. In this case one paid for by the local horse racing association.
You may not smoke in Sapporo’s city streets, and especially in the parks housing the sculptures. To accommodate everyone they set up closed smoking rooms behind ice walls like this one.
Many of the larger statues have a stage on which performers sing and dance. After the sun sets a laser and/or light show projects onto the sculptures. My pictures of these after hours shows don’t do it justice, but know these all come alive at night with lighting and image projections.
Everyone loved this. I thought I’d show you another taken during the day.
Very cool! I’m jealous that you got to see the Star wars exhibit. Thanks for sharing! I also love the drawing you did of the city.
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Thanks.
Vader is very cool in white. I guess that means you’re psyched about episode seven, eh. 🙂
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I don’t know how I feel about the new ones. I guess it will depend what direction they decide to take it. The classics sometimes are better kept classics. 🙂
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That is amaze, I don’t think I have ever seen anything like that before. The sculptures are freakin awesome. Although, I much prefer visiting via your blog than experiencing the cold for myself, summer bunny I am. Great drawing, you are very clever. Thanks for allowing me to visit something from the comfort of my home. Happy week ahead to you.
Cheers, Anna 🙂
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Thank you much, Anna.
You know, it’s warming up. It was seldom below five degrees, a.k.a., a Canadian summer. 🙂
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Wow! Those sculptures are impressive and your drawing is brilliant I love it, so detailed
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Thank you much.
It’s good to be back inside. 🙂
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I thought about you last week and wondered how you were. It’s good to see you, by the way. Those sculptures are amazing to see; I would love to watch the process as people work. I am drawn to sand sculptures, too, but I know they are vastly different. Your drawing is really cool. Have you ever heard of Stephen Wiltshire? Google him and be prepared to be amazed. 🙂
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Thank you, Jackie.
The coolest thing, to me, about the sculptures is that they’re made by the Japanese military. Why shoot guns when you can wield chainsaws and carving tools? I think it’s a fantastic work from the military.
You know, I hadn’t heard of Stephan Wiltshire but I recognized his work straight away. Reading up on him, wow, that he can do all that from memory. I’m lucky if I can recall what I had for dinner yesterday. 😉
How’s all that ails you? You feeling better?
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I am doing well, Steven, still volunteering and my new endeavor is to get a parakeet so I’ll have company.
Wiltshire is incredible, a natural talent. ❤
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A parakeet! I love those little birds. They can be really affectionate. Are you going to color coordinate with them? You’ve got to love a pet that add a much needed splash of color to accent a room. 😉
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My living room is already yellow but it would not matter what color the bird is – I just want one that is young. My last parakeet stayed glued to me, he went everywhere inside our house with me. We talked back and forth and each time I returned home we whistled a hello greeting. Pete stayed on my shoulder while I worked and volunteered and when he wanted attention he would nibble on my ear. Pete was funny, cheerful and even interacted with the poodle we had at the time.
I’ve heard about people getting a pet to complete their color scheme but I don’t think that is a reason to get a pet.
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I’m kidding, of course. But how much easier would it be to get a cute little blue one to stand out against all that yellow. 😉
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Ms. Jackie, where did your site go? I go away for a little while and the best of the best has gone?
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I used to have the blog name as my entire name and I wanted something shorter so I used my e-mail address that I’ve had for years and changed it.
http://ParentRap.org/
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Wow, that Star Wars statue really got my intention! 🙂 What an amazing work! Lynda tutorials are great! In the comfort of your own home, at the pace that feels natural, you can learn so much. Thank you for reminding me to start them again. I love your painting of Sapporo’s skyline. Great work! How much time did that take? And the fact there is no smoking on the streets… mind blown! Wish we had that here…
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Thank you much.
The painting took a couple of days. I started with vector masks and added on the brushwork with the stylus. It was a good learning experience. I’m hoping to get better with the mixing of virtual paints. It’s a lot more forgiving but a bit of a learning curve. 🙂
What have you used Lynda.com for?
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Practice make things perfect, so just keep going! 🙂
I watched Deke McClelland’s tutorials for Photoshop, on different subjects. It was few years ago, so I could probably refresh my memory / knowledge 🙂
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I like Deke. I think he’s one of the best that Lynda.com has. He’s getting me interested in InDesign and Illustrator, so I’m destined to spend the next few years tethered to my computer. 🙂
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I know the feeling. Sometimes I feel this life is not long enough just to read and learn things I’m interested in 🙂 I haven’t done anything in InDesign, but I just finish designing a new logo for our blog in Illustrator. Countless hours spent! 🙂
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