Painting of a strange but beautiful Japanese national park called Hiraodai

I think it was around 2013 that I discovered this beautiful national park in Fukuoka prefecture.

We were visiting my oldest daughter who was studying at Kitakyushu university.

On the way home, we took a different route from normal and went through this national park.

I was delighted because this is a very strange place with small mountains that are littered with numerous rocks.

I later did two paintings of this place and I am very happy with them.

I like the way I have painted the rocks in these paintings, the soft colors and those textural lines.

And in the painting above, the postures of the figures are very good, especially the two on the left with the slight slants within their postures that give a feeling of motion.

And finally the grass and shrubbery is well done.

It is subtle but at the same time full of colorful variety, and as I look I can see yellow greens, minty greens and a darker more musty green.

In the second painting, I’m particularly happy with my rendering of the distant hills in this painting with those soft tree shapes and the thin dry brush lines and blobs suggesting trees on the top of the hills.

And as I look at this painting, it all looks so pleasant that I feel the urge to get on my climbing boots (if I had any) and go rambling up those hills.

I hope one day that I’ll go back to this park and do a few more paintings. 

The next time I would take my drone. 

I can already imagine the interesting aerial angles I could get of those trees and rocks in the midground with some figures on the path walking past them.

I have to go again!

That’s all,

Gareth.