Gareth Naylor

Atmospheric paintings of Japan

Tag: 2015

  • Magical painting of Japanese islands in the moonlight

    Magical painting of Japanese islands in the moonlight

    I don’t know how it was for you when you were twenty but for me it was a very hard time.

    I lived alone. 

    There was no girlfriend, no friends, no drinking or nightclubbing.

    I could have been living the life of a monk except there was no God in my life either.

    I had a part-time dead-end job in a supermarket and was ‘studying’ at college.

    In reality, I was really like a piece of driftwood just floating around without any meaning or purpose.

    I lived in a silent room with no TV, radio or computer.

    My only company, was the thoughts in my head.

    I’ve never found those thoughts to be reassuring, quite the opposite. 

    Years later, I learnt to pay them no attention and that has served me well.

    You may think life could not be worse. 

    But it could. 

    For there was always the weekly walk to the laundrette.

    Abandon all hope ye that enter was how I felt about entering this place. 

    It was the “mundane” in full force and it seemed to suck all possible magic out of life – not that my life had much magic in it at this time either.

    It was probably for this reason that I would take a fantasy novel with me. 

    The book acted as a magical talisman protecting me against the mundanity of the laundrette.

    And my favorite writer was Jack Vance. 

    There was a kind of magic about his writing, a wonderful exoticness of far away places on other planets, that totally removed me from the laundrette.

    And I think the exoticness of far away places attracted me to Japan. 

    I had dreams of living in a traditional wooden Japanese house in the middle of a rice field.

    In reality I ended up living in a 3 storey concrete apartment. 

    And I found out that modern Japan was actually pretty ugly. 

    Tidy but ugly.

    It was only through trips into the countryside that I started to see the beautiful Japan that I had dreamed about.

    And one day I found the exotic and magical Japan that I’d hoped for. 

    It was a place that seemed to be quintessential Japan.

    It’s called Sasebo and it is in Nagasaki prefecture.

    When I first arrived at this place I almost drove the car off a bridge as I got mesmerized by the view of a huge American naval fleet. 

    It was the first time I’d ever seen such a sight.

    But even more mesmerizing was the boat trip I took later around some of  the 200 islands.

    The shape of some of these islands is strange and beautiful.

    And for me the scene in the painting above with those strangely shaped islands is the kind of thing that the romantic in me was looking for.

    There is something magical here and I keep returning to the photographs I took of these islands and painting another picture.

    In the painting above I wanted to emphasize that magicalness by attempting a moonlit scene.

    I think I succeeded somewhat.

    And that will do for now,

    Gareth.

    Postscript

    I tried to translate the title of this painting “Exotic Islands in the Moonlight” into Japanese and found that the word exotic in Japanese is batakusai (バタ臭い) which literally means smelly butter.

    And I further learnt that this phrase is what Japanese people used to call Westerners.

  • Painting the last glow of the day

    Painting the last glow of the day

    A few weeks ago, I suddenly found myself with some free time.

    It was late afternoon and cold.

    So I jumped on my bike with my watercolor gear and started roaming the streets looking for a scene to paint.

    At this time of the day, I’m looking for long dramatic shadows cast by the tall apartment buildings.

    Sadly, I had left it too late as the sun was so low in the sky that the whole ground was in shade.

    And then I saw a building, just the one, glowing like a warm orange candle in the last light of the day.

    It captured my interest but then the doubts crept in. I’d never painted anything like this before. I wondered if I could do a good painting. And then I wondered if it would be too uncomfortable as I would be painting in the shade and it was very cold.

    The doubts won. I cycled on looking for a more open space area where it might be warmer and there might still be some dramatic shadows on the ground.

    Yet after a short while of searching and finding nothing and feeling time slipping away very quickly I returned to the original spot that had caught my interest.

    I had perhaps 15 minutes to paint it before that final glow of the sun was gone.

    Quickly, I started painting. It was intense. I finished the painting in the dark. And to my surprise I loved the result.

    Gareth.

    Postscript

    I originally wrote this story in April of 2015, I am editing it in June of 2022. 

    The original title of this story was “Seizing the last light of the day” but I changed this to “Painting the last glow of the day”. 

    I am still happy with this painting because it was a totally new thing I did but I would like to paint it again at some point and do a better job of it. 

    Although, that said, I do think this painting captures very well the atmosphere of that moment and that can be something very difficult to reproduce so this thought makes me hesitant to paint it again.

  • Retreats towards success in painting a difficult subject

    Retreats towards success in painting a difficult subject

    Last year, 2014, I went to Sasebo, which is in Nagasaki, Japan. It is a wonderful place with many many islands. It’s called 99 islands though there are actually over 200.

    I was with the family and thus had no chance to paint on site as I like to do so I had to do my paintings from the photographs I took of this place.

    However, I soon encountered difficulties in trying to paint this scene well.

    And I became thoroughly disappointed with my results.

    I felt like I was trying to paint a scene that was beyond my ability to paint well.

    Finally, I became so disappointed by my repeated poor results that I had to retreat from this particular subject and forget about it. I did this by focusing on other painting subjects.

    After a week or so I returned and had another attempt. Again I got disappointing results and this led to another retreat.

    The third time I met with success. And I consider the painting above one of my successes.

    However, I still feel that even this successful result can be improved upon. And I’m now enjoying doing further paintings of the same scene with some variations.

    Gareth.

    Postscript

    I originally wrote this story in February of 2015.

  • Painting a beautiful countryside scene near a cafe where I will have an exhibition

    Painting a beautiful countryside scene near a cafe where I will have an exhibition

    So this is not really a story but just an attempt to add some context to this painting.

    In my story “Taking a wrong turn” you can learn about how I came to know the owner of a cafe with a gallery called Mizushi no Mori.

    This cafe is situated in Kuju which is a beautiful national park.

    And although my primary purpose in visiting this cafe was to get the chance to exhibit there, I couldn’t help appreciating the beautiful countryside around the cafe.

    The painting above is from a scene I saw near this cafe.

    It was February. At that time of the year, there are beautiful leafless trees and golden fields.

    Towards the end of this year, 2015, I reused the same scene and turned it into a snow scene. I then used this snow scene image on Christmas cards for my family.

    Watercolor painting of fields covered in snow
    “Snow-covered fields”

    That’s all,

    Gareth.

    Postscript

    This story was written in February of 2015.

  • Where I find some of my best paintings

    Where I find some of my best paintings

    I used to think that I had to travel quite far to find beautiful places to paint.

    However, after 16 years of painting, I have found that some of my best paintings have been done within a short distance of my house.

    One of my favorite paintings this year is of Oita castle. Well, maybe I should say Oita Castle wall because there is no actual castle. Anyway, this castle wall is only a 10 minute bicycle ride from my house.

    And the scene above is a temple gate about 300 meters from my house. 

    My wife and I pass this temple gate every morning when we take our daughter to nursery school.

    And on one particular morning it looked so beautiful that as soon as I got home I grabbed my watercolor gear and shot out to paint it.

    I love the trees. When I look at them, I imagine ballet dancers stretching out their limbs. 

    I also love the wonderful autumn colors that are still present despite it being December.

    But perhaps the thing that I love most are those powerful and dramatic shadows across the surface of the road.

    Truth be told, when I painted this scene I was feeling quite a lot of mental pain. Bad memories and thoughts, that kind of thing.

    Ironically this mental pain helped me paint well because it induced a certain indifference to the results of the painting. Watercolor responds very well to someone who paints in that state.

    It is when you care that it all goes wrong because the tendency to play safe creeps in and so your brushstrokes lack that boldness and expressiveness that are essential in a good watercolor painting.

    Basically, it loses the ‘swagger’ factor.

    I must admit, though, I was myself quite pleasantly surprised with how well it turned out. With watercolor it really is a very unpredictable hit and miss process.

    And that quality of swagger is so difficult to achieve because it’s so difficult to be indifferent by intention.

    However, you may be saying that this scene of traditional Japan is very beautiful and that there are no such subjects around your neighborhood.

    So I wanted to show you another scene that is far more ordinary. It is the elevated railway line next to my daughter’s nursery school. This is not a subject that is normally considered beautiful. But in the right light such a subject can be very beautiful.

    Watercolor painting of an elevated railway line in Japan
    “Elevated railway line in Japan”

    And here is one more scene that is even more ordinary.

    Watercolor painting of an ordinary Japanese street with an alleyway
    “Japanese alleyway”

    In this painting, the beautiful lighting and the interesting shapes and angles make this a good painting.

    So here are some pointers for finding beautiful scenes to paint in your neighborhood.

    Firstly, and most obviously, look for a beautiful subject. It could be a church, a tree or even a wall.

    Secondly, look for interesting shapes such as the metal framework you see on an elevated railway line or a utility pole with lots of wires.

    Thirdly, look for interesting angles. In the painting above there are lots of interesting angles that make this picture interesting. You can also exaggerate the perspective which gives interesting angles.

    Fourthly, lighting. Paint a subject on a sunny day when you have dramatic shadows. Also, it’s good to paint a subject in the morning or evening time as the shadows are even more dramatic then. Rainy scenes can also be good.

    So I hope this inspires you and helps you to find some beautiful scenes to paint around your own neighborhood.

    Gareth.

    Postscript

    I originally wrote this story in December of 2014, I am editing it in June of 2022. I’m still very happy with this painting of the temple gate and I can no longer remember the unhappy feelings I had while painting it.

    And, I thought I’d mention that we go to this temple in the dark early hours of New Year’s day to ring the big bell they have there. Afterwards, the monks give you amazake which is a traditional, sweet, low or non-alcohol drink made from fermented rice. It’s like a rice porridge or gruel that is sweet and watery. This temple makes the best amazake I’ve tasted; you get different kinds, some a little more watery and some like theirs almost creamy. It’s just the thing you need when you’re outside and it’s very cold.