This article first appeared on March 28, 2016 in my Journal of Ravenseyrie blog . Ravenseyrie Sorraia Mustang Preserve Manitoulin Island - Ontario Where I dwell, the Sky is high and wide, the Wind Sings, Grasses dance and wild Horses toss their manes. It is all ONE, endlessly creative and I ache to have others feel this LOVE.                  --L. Gerard Flight  - Toko Shinoda I mage courtesy of The Tolman Collection Tokyo World renown Japanese artist,  Toko Shinoda   celebrates her 103rd birthday today. Her work and astonishingly long, productive life have touched beholders deeply for many years.    Toko Shinoda's calligraphy and paintings (a recent,  delightful  discovery for me) and their applied Abstract Expressionism have altered my perception in a meaningful way. Out of print book on Shinoda's work can be read online  here : Earlier this month, like a sudden illness, or a psychoactive drug, viewing Ms. Shinoda's work gave me an enervating fever.  This peculiar ailmen

  By email this morning I received word from the Tolman Collection gallery in Tokyo that the Abstract Expressionist, Toko Shinoda, (an amazing sorceress with sumi-e and huge influence on me) has departed the earthly realm.   Joy 1991 One would be expecting news such as this at some time, given that Toko Shinoda was 107 years old (she would have turned 108 on March 28th) --but still there is a certain sadness for, like Norman Tolman wrote, "I almost thought that she would always be with us" . New Dimension 1983 No doubt, throughout the coming days and weeks tributes and remembrances will coming in from all over the world.  Mine will be a re-visitation of an article I wrote that first appeared in my Journal of Ravenseyrie and I will repost here in the Ravenseyrie Studio & Art Gallery blog. I have numerous exhibition catalogues of Toko Shinoda's works that I purchased through the Tolman Collection and have held them close to me as treasures over the years - looking at t