Today I went to help my friend Mark. He was clearing up his exhibition in a small tourist town called Yufuin.
It was a long one hour drive from Oita city, where I live, to Yufuin. And, ironically, when I got there my friend was leaving. He only had time to shake my hand, wish me well and then said goodbye.
But my trip had not been completely in vain because I also had two paintings in Mark’s exhibition. And I had partly come to collect these.
But then, at the exhibition, I met a gallery owner who offered to take my two paintings and put them in her gallery. Of course, I accepted her offer. This gallery owner already shows some of my work but I was delighted that she was going to show more of my work.
However, at the same time I realized that I hadn’t really needed to make that long one hour drive to Yufuin.
And now that I was there I felt reluctant to just go straight back home. So I hung around, feeling at a bit of a loss.
But this was how I got the chance to see another artist put up her work. And her work was amazing. It is called bingata in Japanese and it is essentially dyed fabrics.
But these fabrics can become all manner of things as I saw when looking at her work.
One of her works, for instance, was a painting of Yufuin. It was a vibrant, colorful picture of the place and it was beautiful. Another was a real kimono with a beautiful design.
And another was a koinobori. This one was very impressive. It must have been about 10 meters long and it looked stunning.
A Koinobori is a tube-like flag, a little like what you see at airports sometimes. They fly in Japan from the top of very high bamboo posts. And the design on this flag is of the carp fish. They always fly them around boy’s day. In Japan they have a day to celebrate boys and a day to celebrate girls.
I actually did a painting of some koinobori. I wasn’t pleased with it though so I threw it away. However, I think they are a great subject for a painting so one day I will try to paint them again.
Anyway, looking at these large, stunning and beautiful works of art, I felt some regret that I didn’t have my camera with me. I realized that I should carry my camera with me everywhere.
It was a long hour’s drive back home and it was raining. It was also a somewhat surreal experience. It was dark and wet and the mountains were mysterious apparitions only partially visible with almost black pine trees in front of them.
The road was a reflective mirror-like silvery gray and car lights and street lights reflecting brilliantly across its surface. In the rain, the light seemed to be almost scattered across the surface of the road.
My window kept misting up and I had to keep lowering it.
Despite it being late and very dark, I had to stop the car and do some sketches. The scene was so powerfully atmospheric and looking at it rejuvenated my spirit.
The next day, in my studio, otherwise known as the kitchen table, I did some paintings in which I tried to capture that amazing atmospheric scene.
They are really experiments. And although these experimental paintings are not quite right they are very interesting and I am hopeful.
As for the painting above, I’m not happy with it because the scenery was actually a lot darker, more dramatic and more misty so I still have to work upon this and try to capture those qualities.
Below is another one I did. I’m not happy with it either. But it’s fun to paint this kind of scene.
“Car lights in the rain”
Postscript
This story was originally written in June of 2014, I am editing it in 2022.
Since 2014, I have done many, many paintings of this atmospheric scene I saw on the way back from Yufuin. But I think all my results have failed.
One day I know that I will do a good painting of this scene. But sometimes it takes many attempts before I can make a good painting. Such a painting will convey the magical atmosphere that I experienced.
My wife hates these particular paintings. She thinks they are too dark. I, on the other hand, find them very interesting.
In the process of editing this story, and other stories from the year 2014, I saw that I did a lot of rainy road scenes in that year as well as some rainy scenes of a festival in a place called Nagahama.
And so here’s one more painting – just for the road (I love bad jokes). I quite like the surface of the road here but it’s still not quite right! I sigh but then I laugh and forget about it. One day, I tell myself, I’ll make an amazing painting of this incredibly atmospheric scene.
Recently, I met my friend Mark and we went to a restaurant for lunch. Mark and I both intended to have an exhibition at this restaurant. And we were checking out the place.
After lunch we went and looked at the exhibition area. And here we met a woman who was doing an exhibition. And we were both surprised to find out that she was a friend of Mark’s.
And then we were further surprised and intrigued to learn that the exhibition was of her late husband’s artwork.
She told us how every year she holds this exhibition around the time he died, which happened to be father’s day.
She had quite a story to tell.
I don’t know how people recover from such tragic events and how they can even seem to still be happy people. The human spirit is amazing.
She also happened to be fluent at speaking English and a very engaging person.
One thing she said really stuck with me which was how these exhibitions often bring people to her who used to know her husband. I think that connection is very important to her.
In a way, she gets to know her husband again through another person’s encounter with him.
And this was the case with us because it turns out that Mark, although not aware of the artist at first, after 10 or so minutes of looking at his work suddenly realized that he had bought two paintings from this artist about ten or so years ago.
And this happened with us. Because Mark, after 10 minutes of looking at this artist’s artwork, suddenly realized that he had bought two paintings from this artist about ten or so years ago.
This artist had produced a lot of beautiful artwork.
One of the things I particularly liked was a handmade map of Beppu. We could see and hold the original. It was beautiful.
He had also painted a starry night time picture of Beppu bay. I think that was my favorite landscape painting by him. It had a magical feeling to it.
It was quite a profound lunch.
After this I dropped Mark off and then I parked in the neighborhood and started walking around looking for places to paint.
It is an interesting neighborhood and I should perhaps mention that Beppu is famous for its natural spas. I was by the river and I could see natural steaming hot water pouring into the river. It was quite a sight.
The painting above is one of the scenes I did near Mark’s house.
I know this isn’t your typical beautiful scene. But I’ve had to learn to adapt to my environment and develop a less conventional idea of what’s beautiful.
What I liked about this scene was the irregular assortment of building shapes. I also liked the rice field in this urban environment.
That’s all for now.
See you again, or as they say in Japanese, Mata ne.
Gareth.
Postscript
I originally wrote this story in June of 2014. I am editing it 2022. This cafe has since closed. I don’t know if the owner retired or became sick.
I’m a little sad about that because it was one of those rare places that had a special place just for exhibiting paintings. It was a room added on to the cafe with a curved wall. It was perfect for showing artwork.
And I think I saw the lady that I talked about here again four or five years later. There was a big festival in Oita city. I think it was a cultural festival. The Japanese love their festivals. And in one of the city parks there was music and people dancing.
She was one of the people dancing. She was dancing alone. But she looked very happy. It made me think that we should enjoy every day the company of our loved ones because at some point they won’t be there any more.
And finally, I can’t believe I threw away the painting above. When I edited this story, I looked at the image and thought it was quite nice. But in the past I decided the actual painting was not so great and binned it.
All I have left now is a small image. I had to blow this image up and then sharpen it in a photo editing app. But I think it turned out quite nice.
And here’s one more painting I wanted to include. This picture is of a place in Beppu but I didn’t have a story to go with it. I forget the name of the port but I love the shape of these boats.
I am quite willing to try new things if it will improve my work and my latest thing is using tissue paper.
I have used tissue paper before. However, I soon stopped because I didn’t like the smudgy results I got.
But recently I used a tissue again when I painted the picture above. It was just an experiment. I used a tissue on the cliff face and it created this beautiful hazy effect. And just in case you are wondering, this place is called Itogahama beach.
Please ignore that green tree in the bottom right hand corner of the painting. This experiment was done on top of a previous painting which had failed and which I was reusing.
“Misty sea cliff”
And this is another attempt at using a tissue. As you can see it’s not as good as the previous painting.
However, I will keep trying and hopefully find the knack because I love the effect I got in the first painting.
That’s all,
Gareth
Postscript
I originally wrote this story in June of 2014. I am editing it in 2022.
I still use a tissue in my artwork for various effects such as rim lighting on clouds.
However, I am still unable to get the amazing misty effect that I achieved in the first painting here. I’ll have to try again at some point and hopefully figure out the knack of getting a hazy effect.
A few days ago I cycled to the sea and painted the sunset.
It was very cloudy and I didn’t know whether it would be a spectacularly colorful sunset or a dull one. It ended up being a combination of both.
There was some warm orange sunlight but it was soft and understated and accompanied by a lot of dull gray clouds. It was, though, very beautiful.
I added the boat to give a focal point and to give a feeling of epic size. Yet in actuality, I saw no boats or ships on that particular day.
After finishing this painting and on my return journey home, via my bicycle, it was a relief to discover that there are still strange river folk around.
On this occasion, it was an old man with his wife. He was wearing a bright shiny white tracksuit with a fluorescent lime-green band positioned diagonally across his back.
He was facing the river in a very dramatic manner and holding out in front of him a device that was playing enka music (traditional Japanese music) and singing along to it with complete abandon.
He had a beautiful voice. But as I was passing he stopped then hawked very loudly and spat. This spoiled the romance of the moment for me.
And, yet, the whole thing was simultaneously comical and entertaining.
There is a great deal of public hawking and spitting in Japan. The hawking is so loud that you can hear them in their houses in the morning doing it.
It’s not something you’d expect from a culture that is supposed to be quite reserved. I only saw some young people behave like that in England. They thought it was impressive, but it wasn’t the thing most people did in England. So now I’m curious about what it’s like in other countries.
That’s all,
Gareth.
Postscript
This story was originally written in June of 2014. I am editing it in 2022.
For the last four or five days it has been raining but today the sun came out. It was like a blow torch on my back. And so I scuttled back into the house like a louse scuttling under a brick.
It’s getting humid in Japan. I call this the soggy season because it rains a lot. But you could also call it the sticky season because everything becomes sticky. It is quite unbearable.
However, I am having a great time being in the house because I have been messing around in my studio (also known as the kitchen table). I seem to be going through a creative period.
Perhaps it’s because I am painting over the top of failed paintings or scrap paper. And it has released all my inhibitions. I highly recommend it.
Presently, I am interested in a drawing I have of a beach called Itogahama. I have no idea what the name means.
Maybe it means “dumping ground” because this beach is covered with rubbish.
This is sad because this is a very beautiful beach. It has some lovely features such as a dramatically steep cliff face topped with trees and beautiful outcrops of rocks going into the sea.
Below are some of my experiments on scrap paper. If you look carefully you can see the pencil marks of previous drawings on most of them.
Watercolor sketch of Itogahama beach 1Watercolor sketch of Itogahama beach 2Watercolor sketch of Itogahama beach 3Watercolor sketch of Itogahama beach 4
These experiments led to the painting below. The thing I like most about this painting is the surface of the beach.
“Fisherman strolling across a wet beach”
There are a lot of layers in this painting. There is a distant mountain range. Then, there is a distant outcrop. And then in the final layer, there is a nearby outcrop of rocks with trees.
Painting this final layer was the most difficult. The reason is that after painting this final layer then I wet the whole beach area and waited for the best moment to paint the beach shadows.
Choosing the right moment to apply the paint is very tricky.
However, it is also fun.
And while this was still slightly wet, I created lines of light through those soft shadows on the surface of the beach with a damp brush. This gives a beautiful sheen effect.
After finishing the beach area, I did some dry brush marks for the sea using a very light grey-blue color mix. I was careful though to leave a white gap between these dry brush marks and the beach. This white patch is the sea foam.
I became so infatuated with this scene that I did another painting of it.
“Fisherman strolling across a silvery wet beach”
And then I did another and another. This must be called striking a creative vein!
“Fishermen meeting on a beach”“Fisherman walking across a golden beach on a sunny day”
Anecdote
I couldn’t help adding this extra and totally unrelated story.
I went to the library today with my toddler. She’s one year and nine months old and a handful.
Today, she was throwing books off the shelves, arranging them in a line on the floor and then walking over them. At least she didn’t rip a cover off today.
When I went to put the books back on the shelves, she would run off to another section and repeat the whole process.
She has this wicked little laugh, a rich chuckle, as she runs off to get up to more mischief. I love the way she sees it all as a game.
The librarians have a different attitude. And the security guard even came by at one point. However, he just smiled. Is that nice or what?
Postscript
I originally wrote this in June of 2014. I am editing it in 2021. I am very happy with these beach paintings.
When I woke up today it was overcast and I decided today was going to be a laid back time in the studio dabbling around with the paintbrush.
When my wife left the house, however, she remarked that it appeared to be getting brighter. I went outside and saw that one half of the sky was cloudy and the other half a light blue. 50: 50 I thought and went back to the studio.
But as I dabbled away with my paintbrush at the kitchen table (aka my studio) it gradually became brighter and brighter until with sunlight pouring through the window I was forced to admit that it was actually going to be a nice day after all.
I was, though, still in the sway of deciding it was going to be a laid back day in the studio and this had created a peculiar gravitational pull that held me back from jumping up and going out. Not until 10.30 did I manage to get myself out of the house and onto my bicycle.
I decided to cycle to Yusuhara shrine. It has been quite a while since I did a long bicycle ride. Although not too far away, it is on the top of a very high hill or should I say low mountain. I’m not sure. I wonder at what height a hill becomes a mountain.
Anyway, I have cycled to this shrine several times and done it without stopping but this time because of age or being in a very laid back state I walked on occasion which was probably good for my heart.
And I actually did my first painting before I ascended the hill. I came across a captivating scene of an entrance to another shrine. The tricky part was the background. There were houses in the background that over complicated the scene so I decided to exclude them and to make it some simple greenery instead.
“Entrance to a shrine”
I almost didn’t show the painting above. I’m not very happy with it. But here it is.
Anyway, I continued on up the hill after painting this picture.
And I was pretty red in the face when I got to the top of the hill and the entrance of Yusuhara shrine which was about 50 steep steps. How welcoming!
This was the scene for my second painting. I really liked the dramatic shadows across the ground. And I think my attempt to paint these shadows in my picture is the most successful part of the picture.
“The climb to the shrine”
Overall I’m not happy with this painting. But since I am writing about this painting, I thought that I might as well show it.
After this, I ascended to the shrine. In other words, I climbed an endless number of steps. It was tiring but I quite enjoyed it.
The final painting was a small enclosure next to the shrine. I really like the space and in particular the corridor on the right which is a pillared walkway. This walkway gives a spectacular view of the forest.
Painting this beautiful scene though was a nightmare as I was surrounded by a cluster of tiny flies that desperately wanted to kamikaze into my eyes or explore my nostrils.
It doesn’t help that I have cavernous nostrils. I never really gave much thought to my nostrils but they amaze my wife. She often wants to put things up them, such as a 500 yen Japanese coin which is a very large coin.
But back to the story. I think that if I’d had a can of kerosene then I would have been tempted to douse and set light to myself.
Instead I resorted to squirting the flies with extreme viciousness. Sadly, it wasn’t very effective.
And I lost all decorum. I was swearing, blowing like an angry bull through my nostrils and erratically waving my arms in front of me.
I was without doubt quite a spectacle for the calm monk in the ticket booth.
These are the joys of outdoor painting that nobody tells you about.
I did though, in spite of Mother Nature, finish the painting and was even quite happy with it.
“Beautiful enclosure in a Japanese shrine”
Then it was time to go home. The return journey was very pleasant because half of the ride I didn’t even have to pedal. I just needed to keep breaking.
That night while I was sleeping I suddenly woke up with an urge to go to the toilet and as I was getting up my left calf muscle contracted into a solid ball of iron. It was excruciatingly painful and I had to rub frantically to relax it. It ached the rest of the next day.
If this was the result of the bike ride then I am glad that I walked on occasion and didn’t over strain myself.
That’s all,
Gareth.
Postscript
I originally wrote this in May of 2014. I am editing it in 2021.
I think I still have the final painting but the others I have thrown away. It was interesting for me to read this article again as I had forgotten nearly all of it except for the muscle spasm. That was excruciating.
I’m not happy with my paintings here but I included them as I think they are a necessary part of the story.
The painting at the very top was not painted on the day of this trip. Although it might have been painted in this year or sometime around this period.
I’m showing it though because it is one of my better paintings of the path to Yusuhara shrine.
It was a road going straight into a rice field and then suddenly ending. Clearly the road was still under construction. But it was a very bizarre sight.
Yabakei, I should tell you, is famous for some tunnels. They were carved out by a monk called Zenkan. He did it to help the local people.
According to the story, the monk saw people walking along a precarious path on the cliff face in order to get from one village to another. Or something like that. And he decided to make the tunnel in order to make it easier for them. This was no small decision. It took him 30 years to make the tunnel.
Sadly, in more recent times the tunnels were made bigger for cars and in the process a unique historical feature was destroyed.
And now a new bridge is being built.
By the river they have covered the grass with concrete. On top of the concrete they have put some flat stones.
It wasn’t a good idea.
The flat stones were sometimes loose. There were also big gaps here and there which tripped you over if you were not careful.
And there were many steep steps and big drops where you had small ponds or the edge of the river.
It was very stressful walking around here with my toddler. I had to keep an eye on her all the time.
In my opinion, it would have been better to have had a natural grassy bank. This would have looked more beautiful and it would have been a lot safer.
I wonder why they couldn’t leave it alone. It must have been so beautiful before. Anyway, that’s my rant over with for now.
So, as usual, I spent quite a while walking around and climbing over no entry barriers to try and find a good scene for a painting.
Because I was with the family I had no time to paint so I took some photos. Later, at home, I did some paintings from those photos.
The cliff face here is amazing. And it was wonderful to paint such a beautiful natural feature. I am really happy with the results of the two paintings I did. But, of course, there is always room for improvement.
Below is the second painting I did.
“A pleasant stroll by the beautiful cliffs of Yabakei”
We also happened to see a group of bikers who had a thing for revving their bikes without even going anywhere. Yes, true animal behavior on display here. I guess they are the Japanese version of Hell’s Angels.
Surprisingly, they were quite friendly or at least one of them. He made a peace sign when I took a photo of him.
The seats on the motor bikers were very high. I thought they looked silly. But I suppose on the positive side at least you’re not going to fall off.
Postscript
I originally wrote this story in 2014. I am now editing it in 2021.
My story about the monk called Zenkan was possibly wrong.
I learnt that there are many alternative stories about how the tunnel came about.
I think the main story is that in the 18th century a monk, called Zenkan, made the tunnel in order to make a safe route for people to go to a spectacular temple called Rakan-ji.
One version of this story says that he made the tunnel all by himself with a chisel and hammer. Another story is that he enlisted help.
And his motives are also subject to controversy. In one story, it said that his efforts were altruistic. In another, it is said that he charged people to use the tunnel and that this was the first toll road in Japan and that Zenkan became rich.
No, it’s not a joke but it sounds like one. In my case, stay at home.
However, some artists seem impervious to the weather. One such artist is David Bellamy.
On a youtube video, I saw him paint at sea in a small boat while it was raining and his wash was just sluicing down the paper. And I saw him on top of a mountain in winter painting and there was ice in his washes!
You can see this for yourself. On youtube just type in David Bellamy Learn to Paint Watercolour Adventures. This video is absolutely hilarious but also inspirational.
What makes them even more comical is that he carries on painting and speaking in a calm gentleman’s voice as if everything is fine while his painting is quickly destroyed by the elements.
After watching this I’m ashamed to confess that I get upset by a drop of rain on my paper.
I really admire this artist and his seemingly unconquerable spirit. And I love that mild manner. If only I could be so relaxed about it all and not so reactive. I aspire to be like this.
Anyway, last Monday I had planned to go to a place called Ogata and to paint the tulips there. This is my second attempt to go and for the second time I couldn’t. This time it was because of rain.
Being unable to paint outside is really frustrating for me. It is not simply that the outdoors inspires me more but that it is such a sheer pleasure to the senses and my whole being.
Outdoors I can feel the epic size of the world around me. Indoors I have a studio about the size of a big wardrobe. It makes a difference.
Outdoors I paint real things. There is a feeling of intimacy and immediacy. Indoors I paint from another painting or a digital image.
However, the one advantage of painting indoors is that you can really experiment. And one of the experiments I do in the studio is to paint over old paintings that are failures.
Because these paintings have no value, I don’t have to be careful and am free to try everything and anything.
The painting above is one such example.
Here I painted over another painting of a sea scene. In the original painting a big part of the picture was the sky. You can’t see the whole picture because I cut it off. But you can see the top of some cumulus clouds at the bottom of the paper.
I changed the background into a beach scene simply by adding a thin line of blue for the sea and, with a big dry brush, a band of green for some headland.
Then I added a few figures and gave them soft reflections.
I was delighted with the result.
This idea of turning a sky scene into a beach scene came by accident though on a previous occasion.
I was indoors and just doodling over old paintings.
Anyway, I was practicing painting figures over a failed painting and I was painting the figures over the sky part of the original painting. And I really liked how powerful the figures looked against this unintentional sky background.
And then I had the idea at some point that I could turn this into a beach scene with the sky being reflected in the beach.
And today, I tried out that idea and am very happy with the result.
I think this is a very powerful image because the figures are like crosshairs on a rifle with the beach creating a strong horizontal line and the figures with their shadows creating a strong vertical line.
These crosshair-like figures attract the attention of the eye and thus act as a focus point.
Then I had another go at painting this scene. But this time on a new pristine sheet of paper.
“Soft beach reflection”
I’m quite happy with the result.
I love the feeling of spaciousness in this painting, especially as this is something my paintings rarely have. That said, it might be a little too spacious.
However, I’m not completely happy with it.
I think that compared to the original painting the sky looks weak. In the original painting, the sky is very powerful. I probably needed to use more pigment. So I will have another go in the near future.
Postscript
This story was originally written in April of 2014. I’m editing this story in April of 2021.
Sadly, I didn’t have another attempt at making that sky stronger. I have no idea why.
However, during this year, I did do another painting of a beach with a sky reflection. It’s a very subtle piece but I like it a lot.
“Dramatic beach reflection”
I am still very interested in the surface of wet beaches. They are irresistibly intriguing and beautiful.
And at some point, I hope to make a small series upon this subject.
When I arrived, though, I discovered that most of the tulips had gone. That said, I quite liked the scattering of tulips I saw rather than the almost overpowering bright lines of tulips that look so unnatural.
And all was not lost as there were other interesting things to paint in this place. So I left the tulip fields and went to the river where there is a suspended footbridge.
“A View from Above”
The bridge is very elegant. In Japan, most bridges are not. They look like they are built for tanks to cross. They are probably made so sturdily because of earthquakes.
What was really exciting about this bridge in my painting was how the walkway, which looked like a white line across a dark background, acted as a directional line leading the viewer’s eye to the focal point which in this case was the people at the far end of the bridge.
And what a background. A dramatic gorge with beautiful spring foliage and rocks.
In this painting, the figures are a little too big and in a future attempt I will make them a little smaller or the bridge a little bigger depending on which works best.
Next, I went down the gorge to see the waterfall. I’ve done a few paintings from this spot in the past and I couldn’t resist doing another painting from this spot on this occasion. It is such a beautiful scene.
“Waterfall Mist”
I read that the waterfall is about 20 meters high and forms a perfect crescent shape.
Despite being a beautiful scene I spent quite a long time hopping over countless stones in order to find a good composition.
But I don’t mind because the composition is critical and the first thing to think about before doing a painting. I believe that even a beautiful scene will not necessarily become a beautiful painting if the composition is not good.
One of the magical things about this scene is the mist that wafts across the bottom of the waterfall. It was also nice when the mist wafted over me because it was a very hot day. Although at first I thought, in a sudden panic, that it was raining.
It was a very sunny day with a warm breeze. Ideal conditions for drying clothes and watercolor paintings. In fact, my paint was drying out so quickly that I had to keep spraying it with water.
I folded the cover of my watercolor pad above the paper so it acted as a little “parasol” over the paper blocking out the sunshine over half the paper.
Despite the “parasol” the paint still dried really quickly. Truth be told I am a little disappointed with the waterfall part of the painting but I will have another attempt at home.
I ate my lunch while my first wash was drying out completely. Then I did my second wash.
However, I started to feel bad. Especially my head. It felt like a baked potato. I had been out in the sunshine too long.
And it was a great relief to finish the painting and go to a restroom where it was shaded and cool.
Next to the restroom, there was a shop. And I wandered around this shop just to enjoy the cool shade.
But I had spent too long in the sunshine and even in the cool shade of the store I felt dizzy.
After recovering sufficiently, I painted the final picture. This scene is of the river just before the waterfall. When I painted this picture the waterfall was behind me.
“Japanese Torii in a Misty River”
Sadly there is a road across the very top of the waterfall. And there is also an artificial channel in the river. I find that the Japanese have a tendency to do an excessive amount of construction. I wish they could have left the waterfall and the river in its natural state.
Perhaps there is a good reason for such construction.
And despite such construction the river is still beautiful.
I think one of the reasons this river is so beautiful is because of the little grassy islands in it.
Another reason is the gate, or torii as they say in Japanese, which is in the middle of the river.
The whole scene was really inspiring especially as the river was set against a very dramatic sky that imparted a wonderful mood. I literally live for this.
A group of Japanese people even came by and showered me with smiles and compliments before they continued on with their sightseeing. I don’t know about you, but I very much enjoy compliments.
I’m not happy with the painting I did of the Japanese Torii on that day. So the painting that I’m showing here is another version I did. I’m not sure if I did it in the same year but it is inspired by the same scene.
After finishing the painting, I returned to the shop and bought some Japanese sweets called manju for my family. These are basically buns with a very heavy doughy texture and an adzuki bean paste filling. They are very tasty.
I bought these as a kind of peace offering to my wife as she had looked after our toddler all day while I had been out painting.
It was wonderful to return home and to hear my toddler’s excited feet coming to the door. Young children don’t walk, they skip.
She’s only one year and eight months old but she gave me a bow as I entered the house – adorable. Her sparkling eyes, wide smile and rich chuckle of a laugh touched my heart.
By the way, torii means bird abode, perhaps this is because birds perch on it, but that’s just my guess.
Postscript
I originally wrote this story in April of 2014. I’m editing it in April of 2021.
At some point, I threw away the painting of the bridge. I probably wasn’t very happy with it. What I am using here is an image of the painting that I had on my computer. Sadly it was a small image and I had to blow up the image a little and then sharpen it using a photo editing app. I think the final result is pretty okay but it is obviously not ideal.
Since this story was written, I’ve visited Ogata several times and I now have a small series of paintings of this place. However, I never did another painting of the bridge with smaller figures. Maybe one day.
It is cherry blossom time and people are gathering under the cherry trees, called Sakura in Japanese, and having picnics.
And that’s what I did today with my family. It’s all very festive and sociable.
My father-in-law, who loves Japanese history, was trying to tell me about cherry trees being gifted to America by the Japanese in 1912. They were first planted along the Potomac river and have become a symbol of friendship between Japan and America.
Although beautiful, cherry blossoms are difficult to paint in watercolor because of their lightness of color and it is necessary to leave white paper in order to achieve this lightness.
A few years ago when I attempted to paint cherry blossoms I was so disgusted with my results that I just gave up.
Last year, however, I had another go and was a little more pleased with the results. And so this year I had another go.
To be honest, I still feel that I haven’t captured that delicacy and beauty. However, I am happy with these results and look forward to doing more cherry blossom paintings in the near future.
Sadly, the first painting I did on this day wasn’t very good. So I’m not going to show it.
However, while I was painting this picture, a tourist from Honolulu stopped to talk to me and tell me about his life and travels.
He’d wanted to visit the city next to Oita which is called Beppu. It is famous for its natural hot spas and hot sand baths. But by mistake he’d ended up in a hotel in Oita.
It was really enjoyable to speak to a native English speaker as sometimes I go for weeks without talking to such a person except for family on the phone.
I am somewhat of a recluse.
Well, I can’t waste valuable time socializing that could be used for painting. And also there aren’t so many foreigners around in Oita.
Below is my final painting of the day. To be honest, I’m not very happy with this one either.
“Picnic under the Cherry blossom”
While I was painting this final one I got numerous compliments from people, especially old Japanese women
And two Chinese girls came and talked to me and even took a picture of my painting and a picture of me next to one of them.
This used to happen a lot when I first came to Japan but is now quite rare. Perhaps it is because I’m getting wrinkly.
I left with the sun going down and large groups of people coming with crates of beer and barbecue grills. It looked fun.
The next day
“Cherry blossom by a Japanese castle”
The sun shone again today so between housework, job and daughter I found a gap for painting. I’m an artist with clipped wings!
So, I cycled down to the castle again to paint the Cherry blossom. And I found the beautiful scene above right next to a bus stop.
I received quite a few compliments from passersby. The most memorable was by an old Japanese man with a warm smile who said: “I also paint but you are much more excellent than me”.
If these compliments stroked my ego, my wife soon remedied that at dinner time. About fifteen minutes after she had told me it was April Fool’s day she said that the raisin bread I was happily chewing on was two days old.
To be honest, I would have still eaten it even if it was two days old, but her remark did make me pause in mid-chew with a look of concern; and this really delighted my wife, her smile was almost glowing.
The day after next
“Walking beneath the falling Cherry blossom”
I could have painted the cherry blossom by the castle again today, but I felt the urge to move out of this comfort zone and try another place.
So I went to a place by the river.
I instantly regretted this urge when I felt the very cool breeze by the river blowing against me.
But I had decided so now I was following through come hell or cold breezes. Okay, maybe a tsunami would make me turn around.
And I found a beautiful scene to paint after all.
It took me a while, though, to find a good composition. I would say this is the most important element of a painting. You really are doomed if you don’t get the composition right and for this reason I don’t mind spending quite a long time looking around and making rectangular frames with my fingers.
If you want to learn about composition I recommend the Complete Guide to Watercolor Painting by Edgar A Whitney. This book helped me a lot.
When I did finally find a good composition I discovered that I had no easel! Is this senility slowly creeping up on me? Is this a portrait of the artist in decay? I chose a very down to earth solution and sat on the grass.
As I painted, the frail cherry blossom began to fall like snowflakes all over me: on my paper, on my palette and in my water bucket – where it subsequently got stuck on my brush.
I had to shake myself down when I got up. This is part of what it means to be a plein air painter; an intimacy with your subject that is a true oneness.
Painting the cherry blossom, as I said before, is a challenge and the best approach is to throw away carefulness by throwing paint onto the paper. And I literally did this: it is a technique called splattering but it could also be called fun.
Splattering is a good technique for a medium that doesn’t respect timidity and reveals it’s best through boldness.
Amazingly all this splattering and dashes of blue sky worked wonderfully well. It was nerve-wrecking and exciting at the same time, which is normally a good sign, and it felt the same as I was painting the greenery and getting those subtle variations.
After this dried I added shadows, tree forms and figures.
I returned home with numb fingers from a cold spring breeze. Although when I rode back home on my bicycle that same breeze was behind me and it was blowing me so strongly that I almost didn’t have to pedal.
“Enchanting walk beneath the Cherry blossom”
I am so delighted with these two paintings.
Sometimes before I start painting, I have a vision of what I am trying to paint and this happened here.
And the final image was very close to my vision.
What I didn’t express was the falling cherry blossom. I’m not yet ready for that challenge, perhaps next year.
Obsessed with the Changing Cherry Blossom
“Stroll by the Cherry blossom on a beautiful spring day”
Yes, I just can’t stop. It’s really amazing that I’ve lived here for seven years and not realized how beautiful the changing foliage of the cherry blossom tree is. It’s like suddenly seeing a gift on my doorstep that has been there for seven years.
Perhaps I never really noticed the beauty of the changing Cherry blossom because until last year it was beyond my painting abilities.
And now that I can paint it I’ve started to really fall in love with the changing foliage as the white Cherry blossom falls away and green leaves begin to appear. It is so beautiful.
So, I went again to the castle.
This time I met a group of drunken Japanese women. They were very friendly. And I wished that this was twenty years ago! Because these women now look like my older daughters!
They were trying to get me to eat some food which was very kind of them. The problem was that I was full and I was trying to paint a picture. It is not easy to paint with a rice ball in one hand. I took a little food just to please them.
And, then, they tried to convince me how handsome I was and I was trying to convince them that I was an old man. It doesn’t help that they are kneeling at your feet with a paper plate of food and dishing out lots of compliments.
And here is the painting I did.
“Barbecue smoke and Cherry blossoms”
So in this painting there are three friends having a barbecue together.
In reality, this is where the group of drunken women were.
They were in the foreground and I thought that having people in the foreground in the painting would make a good composition.
Of course, if I kept looking in their direction it might get taken in the wrong way and so instead of staring at them and copying them I replaced them with some figures from my imagination.
I thought three men next to a barbecue would look good. I often paint a lot of my figures from my imagination.
I also draw people all the time in my sketchbook so drawing figures has become quite easy.
I really enjoyed adding that barbecue smoke. I think it works really well.
The second painting was more difficult to do because it was getting quite cold and I was losing sensitivity in my hands.
“Family reunion in the long evening shadows of the Cherry blossom trees”
In this painting, you have a little story of a mother and son seeing father coming back from work. It’s a friendly scene of a family reunion after a busy day.
What I think both paintings have is a wonderful sense of atmosphere. I can really feel this when I look at them.
Sometimes I forget about the atmosphere when I paint because I’m so fixated on making a good looking painting.
However, when I look at these paintings I can see that atmosphere is the most essential thing because the viewer can feel something.
In other words, the viewer experiences an interaction with the painting.
But it is not just the Cherry blossom that is catching my eye. Everywhere the foliage is looking beautiful because you can see the refreshing green color of Spring.
And the countryside, as you’d expect, is especially beautiful looking in this season.
In fact, it is driving me a little crazy not being able to get out there and paint it. I have that awful missing out feeling but there are family responsibilities and work.
I console myself with the thought that I have the cherry blossom trees near the castle and just this has inspired me and developed my abilities so I have to learn gratitude for that.
That’s all for now,
Gareth.
Postscriptum
This story was originally about 4 or 5 stories. But I joined them together into one. They were written around April of 2014. I edited them in January of 2022.
