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Tag: evening
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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.
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Watercolor painting of a giant column of clouds
These spectacular cloud formations are one of the positive side-effects of the heat and humidity in a Japanese summer.
During this season I wake up in the morning feeling 90 rather than 43. I have a dry throat and I feel weak, tired and too hot. I start feeling better about six or seven in the evening.
And that’s not so bad. Some years I have felt like I’m dying during this season.
But let’s talk about these spectacular cloud formations. They are called nyuudougumo in Japanese. I know, it’s a bit of a mouthful.
I’ve wanted to paint a nyuudougumo for a while. They are so beautiful. And eventually about a week or so ago I saw this spectacularly colorful one by the river.
It was a real challenge to paint this though, especially the beautiful bright edge of the clouds. I tended to paint too many cloud shadows and thus not leave enough light areas. Trying to paint less rather than more is surprisingly difficult.
And this painting was preceded by many that did not make it!
But these attempts helped me, through trial and error, to finally achieve a good result. I say that just to let you know that these paintings don’t always magically appear from the first attempt.
And just in case you are interested these are the Chinese characters for nyuudougumo: 入道雲; the three characters respectively mean: enter/ join, road, cloud. So a ‘poetic’ description might be: “the road of joining clouds”.
That’s all for now except to say that if you are also hot then try, like me, to enjoy the wonderful cloud formations that the heat makes.
Oh, I forgot to ask, can you see the birdie? My oldest daughter always notices them.
And I will just add that I really enjoyed painting that river. It’s interesting to me how I have spent so many years struggling to paint sparkling seas and rivers and that now it comes fairly effortlessly.
That’s all,
Gareth.
Postscript
I originally wrote this story in August of 2014. I am editing it in 2022.
I should add that not long after I painted this picture, I sold it to a man in Germany.
Also, even after 8 years I am still very happy with this painting.
And finally, I don’t know why, but I haven’t painted any Nyuudogumo since. Hopefully I will do so again at some point in the near future.
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Painting the artificial river banks of Japan
“Evening walk along the river bank” Perhaps the first thing any landscape artist should learn is to take advantage of whatever is there even if it appears ugly.
For instance, because Japanese rivers are subject to flooding nearly all the main rivers here have an artificial bank on either side of them. Sometimes this is a grassy bank and sometimes it’s a concrete wall.
I was so upset when I first saw these artificial banks. Yes, I can understand their necessity, but they are so ugly, especially the concrete ones.
These banks also stop the viewer from seeing the exciting vista on the other side of the river. In other words, when you paint these river banks you might as well be painting a big stop sign.
Then about a year ago I realized that the grassy banks made for an interesting view when looked at from below. And sometimes the figures on the top of the bank could appear quite dramatic with the right kind of background sky.
I did a few paintings of scenes like that last year and today in my studio I just decided to do another one but this time with a very warm sky. The painting above is the result.
When I first painted that sky though I was a little alarmed because I thought it was too strong. I think I’m a bit of a heavy handed watercolor painter meaning that I paint a little on the thick side.
Yet when I added the foreground tree and bank then I thought that the sky was actually quite successful.
I’m happy to say that I sold this painting.
And here is another painting I did of the river bank at about this time but this one is a bit of a cooler version.
“Evening stroll along the river bank” That’s all,
Gareth.
Postscript
I originally wrote this story in July of 2014. I edited it in 2022. This story needed very little editing.
I would add though that I guess the message of this story is to not stop because of problems but instead to start looking at those problems from different angles and in such a way they can become new creative frontiers.
What an irony that an obstacle instead of stopping you can become a new path with a new horizon. I’m not sure such a concept translates to all fields, but it certainly does in art and I think it is well worth applying it in other fields too.
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Painting a hauntingly soft and beautiful seascape
Today it was very hot and humid.
When I think of Japan this is how I normally imagine the weather to be but there are actually 4 seasons.
Anyway, it was evening time and the sun was shining in a silvery grey sky. It was quite strange but beautiful and I regretted not having a camera with me.
I was determined, though, to paint that sky. So I rushed home, took a quick swig of juice, sorted out my art gear, and then I was off to the sea by bicycle in order to paint that sky.
Yet when I came out of the house that particular magic moment had gone and I was just looking at a dullish sky now as the sun had sunk behind the clouds.
But I was rolling so I decided to keep going and besides, I reflected, these sunsets can change if you hang around long enough.
In fact, quite amazing things can happen with an evening sky if you are patient.
So I got to my painting spot and I did the painting above. Although the sky was not quite so spectacular now I added some of that earlier magic that I had seen and produced a painting that I was very happy with.
Ironically, after I finished it the sky suddenly started becoming redder and redder until it lit up like an enormous flame.
It was glorious.
I took photo after photo intending to use them later in the studio.
I was so moved by this scene that I decided to do one more painting.
This was perhaps a bad idea as I had one very unhappy wife when I returned home. Well, there is the matter of my 2 year old daughter to consider!
I finished this second painting in the dark with a soft white moon above me. It was magical.
Postscript
This story was originally written in July of 2014. I am editing it in 2022.
I can’t quite recall this event now and I’m not sure if the painting shown here is the one that I first painted.
However, the reference to a beautiful silvery sky is what the painting here shows and I’m fairly sure that I painted it in 2014.
Moreover, it is such an amazing painting that I couldn’t help adding it.
I’m amazed that nobody ever bought this painting. I think it’s one of my best pieces.
Sadly, I couldn’t find the second painting of that glorious red evening sunset.
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Watercolor painting of figures walking beneath a very beautiful mellow, yellow evening sky
“A walk beneath a mellow evening sky” I love this painting.
Especially the mood.
The soft, warm yellowy-orange evening sky and the similarly soft but cool, light gray sweeping clouds give a feeling of beautiful mellowness.
And I feel carried away to a better place.
I like how the figures partially dissolve into the shadows.
This painting is not only beautiful for me but also mysterious.
Because I’m not sure where this place is.
Indeed, is it even an actual place?
It may be a scene made up by my imagination and the recollections of many countryside scenes that I had visited and painted over the years.
I think it might be a real place.
For I vaguely remember a place similar to the one in the painting.
I visited this place during a trip into the countryside with my family.
And I think the path led to a distant temple.
And I think that place was somewhere between Oita city and Fukuoka city.
But that is about all I can remember.
And this is only a hunch.
And I’m even less certain if when I went there it was evening time or not. I think it wasn’t.
So the sky and the mood of this painting was likely from my own imagination.
And by imagination I normally mean something like a visionary flash that is part idea, part image and part feeling all in one.
Or something like that.
And when I get these visionary flashes it’s normally a good sign of a great painting.
And so it proved to be in this case, as this visionary flash led to this great painting which expresses so well a magical moment of evening time softness, calmness and beauty.
And I think this painting inspired the one below.
Or vice versa.
For I have no idea which of these two paintings came first.
But I am pretty sure that both were done around the same time as they are so similar.
“A walk beneath a mellow yellow evening sky” If you look at the painting above and compare it to the previous one, you see a similar mellow yellow-orange sky and cool blue clouds.
And there are similar elements such as the background mountain, the clusters of trees, yellow fields and partially dissolved figures walking along a path.
There are a few variations.
The most noticeable one is the utility poles and power lines.
I think it’s a very interesting variation.
And I think the painting below has been inspired by these first two paintings.
“A walk at the end of a beautiful day” It has many similar elements to the other two.
Firstly, there is that worm’s eye view which gives a huge expanse of sky.
Next, it is once again a warm late evening sky. Although this time with a touch of red and no sweeping clouds.
And there is a countryside path. Although this time it doesn’t meander and lead into the painting.
And finally there are figures on the countryside path who are partially dissolved into the scene.
But there are some noticeable differences.
For me, the most important one is that the figures and the ground are much darker. The result is almost like a silhouette.
I’m very happy with this painting.
“Last glow of light on a hazy evening” And here is another painting which I think is inspired by those first two paintings.
I think that this painting was just meant to be a sketch but it ended up being a beautiful painting full of atmosphere.
So in this painting, I did a portrait format.
I think that the dominant vertical format was chosen to emphasize the dominant vertical shape of the utility pole.
And although I have a warm evening sky it is quite different from the previous paintings.
In this painting, I decided to have a heavy blue-gray cloud and below it the sun gleaming out.
The composition is very interesting.
Essentially, there is a band of dark color above and a band of dark color below and then a band of light in the middle.
And the focal point, which is the figures, are in front of this band of light. Well, almost. They are a little below it.
But they are close to the light and make a strong contrast.
In this painting, I have done much bigger figures than in the previous paintings.
But once again, these figures are partially dissolved in the evening gloom.
And like the first two paintings there is a strong evening mellowness created by the haziness of the picture.
Indeed, this painting is very hazy.
I think that haziness is the most beautiful element of this painting and something I want to explore more in future paintings.
I am not sure, though, when I painted these last two paintings.
I think they were spontaneous creations done at very different times from one another but all motivated from those two original paintings and that vision of a mellow, hazy evening scene in the countryside with a vast expanse of sky.
Clearly the utility pole has become a major part, dare I say motif, of these new creations.
And I did one more version.
“Peaceful countryside stroll on a hazy evening” What you see in these paintings is an artist hitting a creative seam and then following that seam.
I think that I still haven’t come to the end of that seam.
And I hope in the future to return to this creative seam and paint some new pictures.
It will also probably lead to new and interesting variations.
That’s all,
Gareth.
