【Studio Journal - September 2026】

September has been a busy month — exhibitions, painting, experimenting, and lots of time in the studio.

I had the pleasure of showing my work in two Melbourne group exhibitions this month:

 INSIDE 40 at MYNT Gallery and the Hawthorn Art Society Spring Salon.

One of my favourite parts of exhibiting is simply seeing the work leave my studio and exist somewhere completely different. It’s also lovely to meet other artists and reconnect with the local art community. So much of making art happens quietly and alone, so these moments always feel special.

But behind the exhibitions, something new has been taking shape in my studio.

Under the Same Sky

I’ve been working on a new floral series called Under the Same Sky, inspired by photographs my mum sends me from her garden in Japan.

They’re usually just casual photos exchanged through everyday messages — Look what’s flowering today.

But living in Australia, far away from my family, these little photographs have come to mean much more to me.

The paintings may begin with flowers, but I’m really exploring memory, distance, family and our connection to places we love.

There is something comforting about knowing that even when we are far apart, we are still under the same sky.

Experimenting and finding my way

This series has also taken me in a slightly new direction technically.

I’ve been starting with loose, messy layers of colour, ink and mixed media, and then using negative space to find the flowers within them. Some flowers remain almost like silhouettes, while others become more detailed.

Interestingly, I can see my early experience with sumi-e quietly returning — particularly in the asymmetry, simplicity and empty space around the subject.

I love colourful, messy mixed media, but I’m discovering that I also need areas of quietness.

Maybe the conversation between those two things is becoming part of my visual language.

I’m still figuring that out.

And actually, I think that’s the exciting part.

Rather than deciding exactly what my “style” should be, I want to keep painting, experimenting and noticing what naturally keeps returning to my work.

September has felt a little messy, busy and full of discovery — which probably describes my studio pretty accurately right now!

Thank you for following along. I’m hoping this Studio Journal can become a little place where I share not only finished paintings, but also the experiments, stories and thoughts behind them.

More from Under the Same Sky soon.

— Kaori