Painting a week #37

Substratum

A naked temple (Kyoto CXXVIII)

July 7th. Tanabata festival. Kodaiji, Kyoto. It's so hot I get a strong headache. Feeling nausea, the colorful wish trees grin at me. And the laito appu of the normally beautiful temple and its garden make me disoriented and nervous. No natural light to be found, only the sad moon and stars behind the branches, somewhere. Strong spotlights buzzing, the temple is forced out from the shadows it was made to accompany. It's a naked temple. I guess the radiant colors and strong lights look inviting for many even in this heat. But it's like fireworks and after the people go "Ooh!" and "Aah!", it's time to go home and forget until it's time to go oo-aa for the next time.

Few days later while waiting for the traffic lights to change I close my eyes and a white landscape opens in front of me. Somebody turns down the volume until I lose my balance.

Kodaiji, Kyoto, July 7th: