Gareth Naylor

Atmospheric paintings of Japan

Tag: festival

  • Painting of a Japanese festival in the rain

    Painting of a Japanese festival in the rain

    There is now a 3 day festival near where I live.

    It’s in an area called Nagahama.

    It’s famous for having the first festival in the prefecture. It’s also the worst timed one as it occurs in the middle of the rainy season. 

    And on the second day of this event it rained buckets.

    But I thought it might be a good idea to do a painting of the festival in the rain. In this year, I did a lot of paintings of rainy scenes and so I knew just how interesting they can look.

    So despite my wife’s advice, she’s a lot more sensible than me, I cycled there and took some photos and came back thoroughly soaked.

    My wife had a good laugh.

    But it was worth it. 

    The next day I painted a picture from one of the photos I took and was delighted with the results.

    For me this painting feels magical.

    Hopefully, some more images of the festival in the rain will be coming soon.

    Here are a few more paintings of this festival in the rain.

    Watercolor painting of a Japanese festival in the rain
    “Japanese festival in the rain”
    Watercolor painting of a Japanese festival in the rain
    “Japanese festival in the rain”

    And here is one more painting of this festival but this time without rain. I like this picture because it has a very relaxing feeling.

    Watercolor painting of men drinking at a Japanese festival
    “Men drinking at a festival”

    Bye for now, or as they say in Japanese, “mate ne”.

    Gareth.

    Postscript

    I originally wrote this story in July of 2014. I am editing it in April of 2021. I think this is the best picture I painted of a festival in the rain. 

    And when I showed this painting at an exhibition in Beppu in 2014, I clearly remember one man who kept looking at this painting. He would wander off but then come back and gaze at it. 

    It was fascinating to watch. There was something in him that really wanted that painting and yet equally there was something in him that didn’t want to buy it. 

    He finally said that he’d ask his wife and get her approval or disapproval. And in the end, he didn’t buy it. But the way he gazed so intensely at the painting for such a long time showed me that it was a great painting. 

    One of the most useful things about exhibiting your work is seeing how people react to your work – or don’t!

  • Watercolor painting of a Japanese festival at night

    Watercolor painting of a Japanese festival at night

    This is a very old painting. 

    I think I painted it in 2011. 

    I know it isn’t a particularly good painting. 

    But I like this painting because I think it captures the friendly and relaxed atmosphere of a Japanese festival. 

    This festival is held at Nagahama in Oita city.

    I used to pronounce it “Namahamu” not “Nagahama” because I have a little dyslexia when I use Japanese. 

    The result though, as in this case, can sometimes be quite funny because “Namahamu” means raw ham.

    And my family often laughs at my silly mispronunciations.

    Well, this place is famous for having the first festival of the year in Oita city. 

    It is also famous for holding the festival in the rainy season. 

    And yes it often rains on at least one day of this three day event. 

    A few years later in 2014 I did a series of paintings of this festival in the rain that turned out really well. 

    During this event there is a traditional Japanese performance at the shrine in Nagahama.

    Below is a painting of this performance.

    I think though that this was the New Year festival as the people watching are wearing coats.

    Watercolor painting of people watching a Shinto performance
    “Shinto performance”

    That’s all,

    Gareth.