Obon Festival

This weekend, I had the opportunity to go to the Higashi Honganji Buddhist Temple's Obon Festival. I loved that image they had hanging down in front of the temple. That's me by it. The festival was to honor the ancestors of members and friends of the temple. I had the opportunity to see taiko drumming, the Manto-e Service (gathering of 10,000 lanterns), and the Bon Odori dance. It was all very beautiful and moving. I have a number of photographs that may be reference materials for future paintings. Currently I'm working on a painting very loosely inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci's Leda and the Swan. I did the drawing for it a while back and then set it aside, I'm not sure what motivated me to put it on the easel, but on the easel it is!