Happy New Year! It has been a week since I ended My Daily Giveaway, and although it was a relief to finish the project, I also really miss it! In this short time period, I have learned two things. 1) I want to continue giving things away – and have since given away a few items including a vest-like sweater and my purple suede boots! and 2) I want to continue blogging.

This time my blog will focus primarily on the visual arts of Asia. For the last 20 years of my life, I have devoted my career to exploring the artistic cultures of world’s largest continent, one rich with diverse influences, styles and flavors and one which is constantly evolving and influencing the global art world. I have written books and articles, curated exhibitions and given lectures at museums about a variety of Asian art forms, from Buddhist symbolism to Japanese woodblock prints to Korean ceramics, and recently my work has also focused on the works of artists outside Asia who have been impacted and influenced by Asian art, either because of their ethnic roots or their creative curiosity. For years, I have used my exhibitions, writings and lectures to share my enthusiasm for the arts of Asia with others. I am hoping this blog can help me reach more people who might not otherwise pay attention to the gifts Asian artists past and present have offered the world.

This will not be a daily blog, and it currently has no name. It is very much a work in progress. Its content will not be of interest to many of you who chose to follow My Daily Giveaway, so I will understand if many of my followers fall away. But perhaps, I will be able to entice some of you to take a closer look at some of the artistic traditions that I have fallen in love with over the years and at the works of contemporary artists who are preserving and evolving these traditions. Here is an example of the type of work I hope to share with any of you who are generous enough to follow me on this new journey:

This painting is the work of Kaoru Mansour, a Japanese artist and jazz singer based in Los Angeles. A few days ago my article about her was published on the Southern California arts and culture website KCET Artbound:

http://www.kcet.org/arts/artbound/counties/los-angeles/kaoru-mansour-paintings.html

I hope you take a peek and are as captivated as I was by her exquisite work. Thank you – and a Very Happy Year of the Monkey to you all!

Meher McArthur