So today I went to paint by the river. When you paint outdoors you never paint alone. There’s always something that happens. Often some kind of annoyance or discomfort. It could be a freezing cold wind or it could be an insect such as a mosquito or little flies that want to explore your nostrils. And of course there are always people.
The hot and humid weather forced me indoors. But this was not a bad thing. Because in my studio, also known as the kitchen table, I did some watercolor sketches on scrap paper. I did sketches of a wet beach with soft reflections. In the process I struck a creative vein and ended up painting a series of pictures upon this subject.
I wanted to paint the sky today because it was very dramatic. It was a very cloudy sky but now and then the sunshine would burst out. It was inspiring stuff for me. So, I went to the river as this is one of the best places for painting a sky picture.
I think that I painted this river scene around 2013. It could have been even earlier. This place is called Kitsuki. It’s a small Japanese town by the sea with an interesting history and a few interesting old buildings. And it has some nice scenes to paint such as this beautiful river.