Your cart is currently empty!
Category: Paintings of sky scenes
-
Watercolor painting of a giant column of clouds
These spectacular cloud formations are one of the positive side-effects of the heat and humidity in a Japanese summer.
During this season I wake up in the morning feeling 90 rather than 43. I have a dry throat and I feel weak, tired and too hot. I start feeling better about six or seven in the evening.
And that’s not so bad. Some years I have felt like I’m dying during this season.
But let’s talk about these spectacular cloud formations. They are called nyuudougumo in Japanese. I know, it’s a bit of a mouthful.
I’ve wanted to paint a nyuudougumo for a while. They are so beautiful. And eventually about a week or so ago I saw this spectacularly colorful one by the river.
It was a real challenge to paint this though, especially the beautiful bright edge of the clouds. I tended to paint too many cloud shadows and thus not leave enough light areas. Trying to paint less rather than more is surprisingly difficult.
And this painting was preceded by many that did not make it!
But these attempts helped me, through trial and error, to finally achieve a good result. I say that just to let you know that these paintings don’t always magically appear from the first attempt.
And just in case you are interested these are the Chinese characters for nyuudougumo: 入道雲; the three characters respectively mean: enter/ join, road, cloud. So a ‘poetic’ description might be: “the road of joining clouds”.
That’s all for now except to say that if you are also hot then try, like me, to enjoy the wonderful cloud formations that the heat makes.
Oh, I forgot to ask, can you see the birdie? My oldest daughter always notices them.
And I will just add that I really enjoyed painting that river. It’s interesting to me how I have spent so many years struggling to paint sparkling seas and rivers and that now it comes fairly effortlessly.
That’s all,
Gareth.
Postscript
I originally wrote this story in August of 2014. I am editing it in 2022.
I should add that not long after I painted this picture, I sold it to a man in Germany.
Also, even after 8 years I am still very happy with this painting.
And finally, I don’t know why, but I haven’t painted any Nyuudogumo since. Hopefully I will do so again at some point in the near future.
-
Painting the artificial river banks of Japan
“Evening walk along the river bank” Perhaps the first thing any landscape artist should learn is to take advantage of whatever is there even if it appears ugly.
For instance, because Japanese rivers are subject to flooding nearly all the main rivers here have an artificial bank on either side of them. Sometimes this is a grassy bank and sometimes it’s a concrete wall.
I was so upset when I first saw these artificial banks. Yes, I can understand their necessity, but they are so ugly, especially the concrete ones.
These banks also stop the viewer from seeing the exciting vista on the other side of the river. In other words, when you paint these river banks you might as well be painting a big stop sign.
Then about a year ago I realized that the grassy banks made for an interesting view when looked at from below. And sometimes the figures on the top of the bank could appear quite dramatic with the right kind of background sky.
I did a few paintings of scenes like that last year and today in my studio I just decided to do another one but this time with a very warm sky. The painting above is the result.
When I first painted that sky though I was a little alarmed because I thought it was too strong. I think I’m a bit of a heavy handed watercolor painter meaning that I paint a little on the thick side.
Yet when I added the foreground tree and bank then I thought that the sky was actually quite successful.
I’m happy to say that I sold this painting.
And here is another painting I did of the river bank at about this time but this one is a bit of a cooler version.
“Evening stroll along the river bank” That’s all,
Gareth.
Postscript
I originally wrote this story in July of 2014. I edited it in 2022. This story needed very little editing.
I would add though that I guess the message of this story is to not stop because of problems but instead to start looking at those problems from different angles and in such a way they can become new creative frontiers.
What an irony that an obstacle instead of stopping you can become a new path with a new horizon. I’m not sure such a concept translates to all fields, but it certainly does in art and I think it is well worth applying it in other fields too.
-
Watercolor painting of two people walking beneath a vast sky
This painting is an enigma.
Firstly, I’m not sure when I painted it.
I’m guessing it was around 2011.
Secondly, I can’t remember doing this painting.
And thirdly, I have no idea where this place is.
Yet this painting intrigues me as it is unlike my other artwork.
For in this painting, I have given nearly all the space of the paper to the sky.
I have left just a tiny space for the ground.
As a result, there is a vast feeling of the sky in this painting.
I love that feeling.
I know this painting has flaws.
The trees are not bad but they could be improved.
And although I like the figures, I think the ground area needs to be more interesting.
But for me it is a huge success because of that wonderful feeling of spaciousness.
This is possibly one of those paintings that has something special about it and will lead to a series of paintings.
For as I look at this painting I feel inspired to paint more pictures of vast skies.
I realize that the important thing and also the challenging thing is to make the ground as small as possible.
Making the ground as small as possible will emphasize the vastness of the sky.
Thinking about this gets my creative juices flowing.
And I think that in a future version of this painting I’ll try different kinds of ground, such as coastlines, the tops of houses or a church, maybe even the top of a mountain.
There are many possibilities.
It will be so fun if I do that.
At the moment I am too busy.
And I will be busy for quite a while.
So it might never happen.
I’ll end though not with a full stop but with an ellipsis …
-
A delicately layered watercolor painting of an evening sky
This is one of my oldest paintings that I still have in my possession.
I’m not sure of the exact year that I painted it but I think that it must have been between 2005 and 2010.
I have thrown away nearly all of my old work from that period but this one I kept.
No doubt this is because I find it somewhat beautiful.
And I think the beauty comes from the use of layering one color over another.
The thin glazes of color creates a beautiful transparency and in my opinion conveys a feeling of pureness and vibrancy.
That alone wouldn’t make it such a beautiful painting.
If it was only that then it might be a rather weak watery watercolor.
That delicacy of layered colors is made beautiful and emphasized by the contrasting bold blue clouds.
And I think this painting shows that a good watercolor painting has a combination of delicacy and boldness.
Ironically, I rarely use that layering technique nowadays.
I confess that I tend to be a bit of a heavy handed watercolor artist and paint rather thickly.
I sometimes wonder if I should have painted in acrylics rather than watercolor.
But to return to this painting.
When I look at this painting, it is like receiving a message from the past that is urging me to do some paintings with this layering technique – and also to add some of my normal boldness with it.
So far, I haven’t but one day maybe I will.
My only regret when I look at this painting is my signature.
Why did I put it so high up!
It really spoils the painting.
I was almost tempted to remove it.
In the end, I decided not to as I thought the risk of spoiling the painting was too great,
So it remains.
That’s all for now,
Gareth.
