Gareth Naylor

Atmospheric paintings of Japan

Tag: Aso

  • Watercolor paintings of a beautiful national park called Aso

    Watercolor paintings of a beautiful national park called Aso

    Aso is an area in Kumamoto prefecture, Japan.

    It’s famous for its caldera.

    A caldera is a basin surrounded by a ring of mountains. 

    Aso mountain itself is an active volcano and around the time of painting these pictures (2014) it erupted. 

    Luckily, it was just a minor eruption and spewed out only a few small stones. These small stones smashed the windows of a nearby school. 

    There was also a lot of dust. And for miles around Aso volcano everything was covered in a thin layer of dust.

    The painting above is quite large.

    I think it was done in February 2014.

    I know this because that was the date given on the image file of this painting.

    It could possibly have been painted at an earlier date and then photographed at a later date. This often happened in the past as I used to be extremely unorganized.

    I’m happy to say I sold this painting.

    Watercolor painting of horses grazing on a mountain side in Aso
    “Horses grazing on a mountain side”

    And this next painting of Aso was a surprise even to me. 

    I painted this picture around 2013 or 2014.

    I originally intended to throw away this painting because I remember that I wasn’t very happy with it.

    But I kept it because there is another painting on the other side that I was quite happy with. 

    Ironically, my opinion of this painting has now changed. When I looked at it this year, 2021, I actually thought it was quite good and I’m quite happy about showing it on my website. 

    This painting brings back happy memories of a family trip to Aso. 

    I think my dad from England came so it was also a happy reunion. 

    And I remember looking at the horses with my daughter. We really enjoyed looking at them. 

    It was especially fun because you don’t see a lot of animals in the Japanese countryside. And animals in the landscape can really make the scene come to life. 

    That’s all,

    Gareth.

    That’s all for now,

    Gareth.

  • An old watercolor painting of mountains in Aso

    An old watercolor painting of mountains in Aso

    This area is called Aso.

    It is in Kumamoto prefecture.

    The view in the painting is from the top of a mountain. 

    The top of the mountain is a strange place because it has lots of little hills.

    And sometimes, there are even farmers’ fields.

    These fields look a little like the rolling fields in England.

    Aso is famous for its caldera which is a ring of mountains.

    And the mountains in the painting are part of this enormous ring.

    What I love about this place and which you can see in the painting are the many lines of mountain ridges one after the other receding into the distance.

    I’ve had this painting for a long time. 

    I think I painted it around 2005 but I can no longer remember the actual year or even the trip. 

    I have since been to this place quite a few times and every time I go there I feel refreshed by the spectacular view.

    Gareth.