Hana Kashima X Naoko Miura Talking About Colors

Judging personality from the works she made.

— When you first met with Naoko, there was a huge gap between her works and what she is in actuality?

(Hana) Yes, there was. Looking at paintings she has made, I thought I could tell her character. But I know, on the other hand, creators like her have many different personal characters within and can pick one color which does not belong to her own personality and can draw a wonderful picture at the end of the day.

— So what’s your first impression out of her works?

(Hana) I thought she is “colorful spring” or “elegant summer.” Observing this cute mascot character or that illustration is to tell me she belongs to either in these two seasons’

— This is so called “Naoko’s world” and so many audiences would like to see it.

(Hana) Then I was surprised to discover that her real color personality is opposite to what I first had thought. She has a strong back born within wearing many different cloths in various color. This is different from younger generation whose one-self is void, always change one’s own color adjusting to their environment.

(Naoko) Hana san told me my personal color is “wild winter”

(Hana) Heavens, no ! I can usually detect which personal color one belongs to in a seconds but this time I kept in silence because I had not tested draping method to make a final analysis.

(Naoko) A few days later, she made PCA of my case in detail.

(Hana) There are three groups in “wild winter” and hers is very middle of that seasons’ grouping “pure winter.”

(Naoko) On that day when I was told I belong to “pure winter,” I drew a painting titled “reconciliation between black and white” right after I went back home.

— Is there any new discovery after PCA?

(Naoko) I stay clear of using the color of black till then. I felt fears in it. The image of black was darkness, shadow or something negative. So I never used that color mainly on my paintings and if I have to use it, not as the primary color but as a secondary or third one.

(Hana) Very Black is the right color of “winter” season. There are, of course, many other color matches “winter” season.

“Wild winter” goes well with Black

(Naoko) The color of black, to tell the truth, one of my favorite in private use but not on canvas. But after Hana san told me black is my color, something significant occurred within my mind. And that change, a big change, bears fruit as the latest work “reconciliation between black and white.”

— There could be some restriction in drawing illustration?

(Naoko) Yes I have. I am always aware of audience and trying to live up to their expectation. There are also requests by my clients as for color image and so on…there is so far no space for black to fill in in my paintings.

— Then some sort of changes occurred within once you discover your personal color which is black.

(Naoko) Yes, it is correct. I have been trying to live up to the expectation of customers …and come to realize that I close my mind’s eyes deep within. When I discover black is my color, my inner voice tells me “ Use your color of black boldly with passion. That’s fine. It will never kill many other color you have been using in the past. Your own world will never be crumbled when using your personal color which is black.” I feel a kind of being liberated. Or perhaps, I do not want others to know the fact that I love black very much.

— So soft image of Naoko san could be changed!

(Naoko) Now I can say that I got courage after discovering my personal color. I mean I can try more active, passionate expression that I had never tried before. Some may not like it but I am fine with it. Frankly speaking, I have been trying to make a new painting style advertently for years. PCA is telling me that this is the way it goes and move ahead. I feel this is the beginning of my new style.

Style of Wild Winter

— Hana san, can you tell us the best painting that expresses Naoko san’s color?

(Hana) “Doronko chan.”

(Naoko) You do think so?

— This is a different from Naoko san’s past paintings. Some may not like it by saying “ What is it?”

(Hana) This is the style of wild winter, naoko san.
Do you know the Hungarian-born designer Marcel Lajos Breuer who all-tubular steel chair called “Wassily” ?

(Naoko) Wassily chair is steel chair with leather in black?

(Hana) Yes. Marcel Breuer’s seasons’ color is also “wild winter” like Naoko san. Before Wassily chair had won world-wide attentions, Marcel Breuer was in deadlock by making designs of furniture made of wood. When he was attending at the Bauhaus School of Art and Architecture in Germany, there was a teacher who told him his personal color as “inorganic color (wild winter)” Then he rose up to the stardom.

(Naoko) Really?

(Hana) His talent bloomed at his early twenties after discovering his own personality.

— The success of Wassily chair was brought by his teacher telling him his true personal color. That’s great story.

(Hana) Johannes Itten, the principal of the Bauhaus School of Art and Architecture, who was also specialist of PCA, had advised Wassily Kandinsky, famous Russian painter and art theorist, and the teacher of young Marcel Breuer, to tell him some hints of his successful personal color which was “inorganic color (winter season).”

— It is amazing PCA can be applied to the field of education. Whoa! Nobody knows when one’s talent bloom and how. It is a gift that there is the method to analyze one’s own personal color tendency. It is good for both educators and students.

(Naoko) That’s right. If you know your own personal color, you won’t lose your ways. I myself have just started to draw new paintings for the next exhibition.

(Hana) This is exactly your color, “wild winter” ! It is excellent. My personal color is also that of “Winter” so I love this taste so much, either.

— I can’t wait for the next exhibition!
Hana san, Naoko san, thank you for your wonderful talk.

Naoko Miura Exhibition “FAMILY”

Date: August 13~16
Place: “Nitouhei” 2-3-14 Ashahi-machi, Hitachi in Ibaraki.4
Hours:11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
phone 0294-24-0958

Profile

Hana Kashima
“Beautiful life adviser” which was coined for Ms.Kashima, she has been teaching science of color at several universities, other educational institutions and holds seminars for the general public. Also Hana has titles as color designer, coloring method of psychological analyst, nail specialist, flower designer…etc. When she began to study PCA, there was no high quality institution of PCA in Japan. So she went abroad to study PCA (Four seasons) in the U.S. When returned to Japan, she started researching and studying further color of science, 12 seasons PCA then has discovered her original method of PCA. Those who have lessons from Hana say“ I can learn profound psychology, the change of appearance closer to my personal color, the way how to make a positive life from her. It is not just the study of outside appearance, but inner space of my mind! ” Her lectures gain a great popularity in Japan.

Profile

Illustrator Naoko Miura
Born in Ibaraki, Japan.And she currently resides in Tokyo. Studying illustration in New York in 1984 – 1985. Her design is simple, warm and intimate with “healing power” as she gains popularity especially among female audience. Her works have been seen through the numerous books, magazines or companies in medical, nursing, child care, and educational industries. The whole wall of obstetrics and gynecology floor at Anjyo Kosei hospital in Aichi Prefecture is now painted with her illustration, which provide a healing spot for mothers and their babies. A mother, who look at the illustration of sun from nursing room, says “ I was so unstable when my child was being treated at ICU but looking at the Naoko’s illustration, I could come to my senses.” Her strong messages through illustrations are as follow : “ I would like to illustrate invisible into visible which has important meaning in it, and directly serve for everyone’s heart and mind with my paintings.”; “ I wish everyone liberate oneself by looking at my works.”; “ I love to make illustrations so that everyone can say ‘ I love myself ! positively” ; “I would like to communicate with people around the world through my illustration which is the world language.”

Kashima Hana’s latest book “Look at You” (Kindle version) now on sale.

Look at You! (Kindle Version) Hana Kashima
You are always being stared at by someone else with or without knowing.
Interviewers of examination for employment, a secretary who always pays special attentions on others, or a housewife who has been observing others keenly……they all say “once look at one’s face, her or his personality can be discovered.” This is because how you look is coming from what you think in mind. Human face tells everything in one’s own mind. The new “ Personal Color Analysis” is grouped into four categories to tell your character in atmosphere and the way you behave. What’s important is his or her personality. There are some who “love themselves so much in a positive manner.” His or her faces are, regardless of how they look, telling us that they love themselves because they know their characteristics in a deep sense. Those who always regard humility as a virtue without confidence might be able to speak “I love myself very much” after reading this book. The author stresses out that “ it is so important to discover how other people look at or think of you.”

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