some arts

Ryan and I found a cool sounding concert to attend the other night- it was a duet performance with harp and violin players in the concert hall at Ueno Park. I'm so glad we went! The performance was really incredible, and the seats weren't assigned so we got right up to the front so we could see all the details of the harp really well. It's such a cool instrument! it was unbelievably beautiful to listen to, but there was something extra special about being able to see all the mechanics going into the sound- the kind of accuracy it takes to pluck out the right notes in all the strings, managing all the pedals around the bottom. I loved being able to watch her hand movements and identify all the sources of the complicated melodies.







The violinist was wicked good. I've played violin since I was five, so I have a pretty good idea of what takes skill and what is difficult or easy to play, and this guy! oh man. Sometimes it sounded like there were three violins playing when it was only him. He played a song where he could pluck a string, bow a string, and hit the string with the other side of a bow seamlessly all in one phrase. It was incredibly entertaining, and you could tell he really loved what he was doing.

The last song was a Saint-Saens piece, and he's one of my top, if not my favourite, composers, so that was awesome. It was a really beautiful night.



outfit
Shirt/skirt/shoes- thrifted/ vintage

I wish I had gotten a close up of this skirt's fabric, but photographing was really rushed since the sun had set already and we wanted to get a good seat.... but anyway, if you can't tell, it has little snippets of old style maps all over. It's a really charming print. I found it in a thrift store for one dollar, and it was totally enormous (like XXL at elast), so I hemmed it up and sewed in gathered pleats to make a more paper bag skirt shape. I like that it feels like an old traveling suitcase somehow.

Also, I've been meaning to share some of the paintings I've been working on- I found a really great dollar store here that sells acrylics and water colours, brushes, and even ink (all for a dollar!) so I decided to stock up and use some of me free time to practise drawing and painting...the paper I got was just normal drawing paper, so it got all curled and bumpy when I painted on it, but oh well. How could I expect to find a canvas for a dollar?