Why I don’t paint flowers
Nowadays, I don’t paint flowers. I have nothing against them. In fact I like them. A real lot. And I got quite good at painting flowers. But you can read here why I prefer to paint landscapes.
2013
Watercolor paintings of a Japanese river
I live very near a river. It is called Oita river. And I love to paint this river. I have done many paintings of this river over the years but most of these paintings were not very good and I binned them. Here though is a small collection of early paintings of this river which I didn’t throw away because they are quite good. I think that I did these paintings around 2013.
Watercolor painting of figures walking beneath a very beautiful mellow, yellow evening sky
Here is a series of watercolor paintings of a beautiful countryside scene. This scene may be from a place I visited in 2013. Sadly, I no longer know the name of this place. But I think this place is somewhere between Oita city and Fukuoka city. However, the mellow evening mood of these paintings with the partially dissolved figures was from my imagination. I had a vision of just such a scene. You could call it a creative vision. And that vision inspired this series.
Pencil sketches of a very young child asleep
In 2012 I had one of the best experiences of my life. My daughter Anne was born. So during this year and the next few I had very little time to go outside and paint landscapes as I was very much house-bound looking after my baby. But I took advantage of this marvellous situation by doing a lot of sketches of my daughter. And here are a few of those sketches.
Watercolor painting of the interior of a traditional Japanese building
This painting is of a small restaurant in a region called Kusu. This region is a very rural and rugged part of Oita prefecture. And I visited this restaurant with my family. I was so impressed by the beauty of this traditional Japanese style interior of the restaurant. And I could see that it was an ideal subject for a painting.
Powerful watercolor paintings of the sea
During 2013, I would often get on my bicycle and cycle to the sea. It was just a 10 minute cycle ride. And at the sea, I had a spectacular view of Beppy bay. I would usually go at evening time and paint the sun setting over this bay. It was a wonderful experience. And when I was looking through my artwork I found 9 paintings of Beppu bay from that year.
Painting of a man and his dog taking a stroll along a countryside path
This is a painting of a country path in a region called Hiji. I have visited this region quite a few times and have found some very picturesque scenes here such as the one above. And as I look at this painting, I find myself thinking that this is a very good painting and I am surprised that I almost binned it.
Paintings of an old shed and barn in a small, rural Japanese town called Shonai
Around 2021, I began to organize all my artwork. This is a momentous task as I have over 1000 paintings. In the process, I found the painting above. It is an old painting which was done around 2013.
Picturesque Japanese village in Oita
For a long time, I didn’t used to like painting countryside scenes. And given the choice, I would prefer to paint an urban scene. Urban scenes are easier to paint and usually more interesting. One of the biggest challenges with a countryside scene is painting trees, bushes and grass.
A painting of two fishermen by a beautiful Japanese river
I think that I painted this river scene around 2013. It could have been even earlier. This place is called Kitsuki. It’s a small Japanese town by the sea with an interesting history and a few interesting old buildings. And it has some nice scenes to paint such as this beautiful river.