It's in my private collection.
I still remember painting it,
in our first apt/home in Japan:
Setting up the still life;
using an old indigo striped yukata
as a background, with a pumpkin,
and a green and yellow squash.
The lovely ceramic vase,
I found in a nearby market,
and then added the colorful flowers
of November,
3 chrysanthemums...
This painting sits in a double mat,
in a heavy metal frame with glass...
December's tapping at my window...
Timeless
(R. Ambercrombie)
Jan Hammer, org, pf, synth
John Abercrombie, g
Jack DeJohnette, ds
The links above detail the history part of this painting,
but the memory is what I've never talked about.
My late husband Akio was with me,
and our (at that time) young son, Michio.
We decided to take a walk in the cool
October night, all three of us...
That was rare, as I often had singing gigs at night,
and Akio was mostly away teaching his music students.
I remember how Halloween was only an inkling
of a notion in Tokyo, then.
The wide-open rice field held recently
harvested and neatly arranged and hung bundles-
I still remember the earth-y scent of it.
In time that would be replaced with apartment buildings, etc...
But that night in late October, 1995,
we 3 walked and laughed together,
and that as well as
the moon and beautiful scenery,
is what inspired me to paint this,
the next day, from memory-
To capture that wondrous night and time together,
as a family, through this work.
Photo: Michio Yves Ueda
