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Tag: cliff
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Watercolor paintings of a wet beach with soft reflections
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 1 Watercolor sketch of Itogahama beach 2 Watercolor sketch of Itogahama beach 3 Watercolor 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.
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Watercolor paintings of a beautiful cliff by a river
Today, we went on a family trip to Yabakei.
On the way, we saw a very interesting sight.
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.
I like to think that he was an altruistic person.
That’s all,
Gareth.
