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Tag: Oita river
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Painting of golden winter grass by a Japanese river
It is February of 2022.
It is still winter and often cold, but there is the occasional warm day which cheers the spirit and brings with it the promise of spring.
And on one such day, I got my painting gear and took a walk along my local river.
I love my local river.
It’s my nearest source to fresh air and nature.
Anyway, I walked along the river bank until I came to the scene in the painting above.
I thought it was quite an engaging scene.
I especially liked the warm golden color of the winter grass against the cool blue mountains in the distance.
The river in the foreground is an interesting feature as are the distant and somewhat dramatic high rises in the mid-distance.
I was very happy with how this painting turned out.
Even after 15 or so years of painting, each painting is still a very hit or miss affair.
That’s all for now,
Gareth.
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Painting of construction work by a Japanese river
This painting is a little gem for me.
But let’s begin at the beginning.
So I walk by my local river everyday.
It’s something I love to do.
It’s also a place to get away from vehicles of which there are way too many in Japan.
But recently the vehicles have found their way to the river.
There is a lot of construction going on down at the river now.
And it has become quite a busy place where I see diggers, trucks, vans, cars and even an electric bus.
It worries me because they are building a permanent road there where before there used to be just a rough gravel track.
They’ve already got a road along one section which they recently built but it looks like they might extend this.
It also looks like they are building car parks too, in which case they really have spoiled this area.
It’s some more green space gone from the prefecture that says it loves forests.
To be honest, I think they only love forests because this is a very rural prefecture.
I have to admit though that the riverside can become very wild and overgrown.
There are areas with incredibly dense clusters of trees and bamboo trees covered in some kind of creeper.
It doesn’t look pretty.
But there were other areas where there were just a few trees and it looked quite nice.
In a lot of areas though they removed everything and made it totally flat.
The Japanese don’t mess around when they do something.
One thing I’ve learnt as an artist though who lives in the city is to look for beauty wherever I can or failing that just look for what is visually interesting.
Normally I find the latter in Japan.
So anyways, I was walking by the river and I saw this scene of a digger and a work man and I thought it looked interesting.
I know it’s not your normal painting subject.
I think the soft cool blue background and the warm yellow foreground of the grass made the overall color and feel of the painting nice.
I got that soft background by first painting the objects, leaving them to dry, and then painting a warm wash over the top of them.
I used a watery mix of yellow ochre and alizarin crimson.
And the road with the digger, worker, cones and whatnot added an interesting element of objects and busyness.
Another interesting feature were the long shadows cast by elevated railway lines.
I really liked the effect of these shadows.
It may look a little strange but I like it.
Next time I might make those shadowy lines even stronger and have the worker partially disappearing into the shadows.
I could perhaps also do with another worker figure.
I now have a small collection of paintings of construction workers.
I might at some point make a mini-gallery of construction workers on my website.
That’s all for now,
Gareth.
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Watercolor paintings of my local Japanese river which I did in 2014
“Beautiful evening sky by the river” I often go to my local river. It is called Oita river. And it is only a few minutes from my house.
This river provides a wonderful choice of painting subjects as well as being a wonderful place for painting sunrises and sunsets.
And in 2014 I painted many pictures of this river.
My favorite viewpoint
The painting above shows my favorite view of the river. Here are two more paintings I did from the same viewpoint.
“Golden sunlight sparkles across the river” This viewpoint is particularly good for painting dramatic skies as well as sunrises and sunsets.
Also, from this viewpoint, the figures look very dark and dramatic as they contrast strongly with the bright sparkle of the river.
“Peaceful, evening walk by the river” In this painting, I love the soft wispy clouds and faint touches of rose in the evening sky. The sky imbues this scene with a feeling of beauty and peacefulness.
Below is a different viewpoint of the river that I often find more challenging to paint but on this occasion worked out very well.
“Morning fisherman walking home” I particularly like the bright colors of the trees in this painting and the delicate texture of the grass.
Bridges
There are many bridges across this river and although none of them are particularly beautiful I find them an interesting subject to paint.
“Friends fishing by the river” In this painting of a bridge, I like the fishermen in the foreground. I often see them by the bridge and they help to make this scene much more alive and interesting.
“Fishermen gathering by the bridge” I also like the dramatic shadows that the bridge casts and I do my best to emphasize that feature in this painting. And once again the fishermen help to make this scene more alive and interesting.
“Beautiful reflection of the sky upon the surface of the river” And this painting shows the view from the top of a bridge. On this occasion, there was a beautiful reflection of the sky upon the surface of the river.
Embankment
One of the things I least like about the river is the artificial embankment. Nearly all Japanese rivers have them.
I have done my best though to turn the embankment into something interesting and even beautiful.
I think I’ve done a pretty good job of that. And I think this challenging subject has turned me into a better artist and led to some very interesting paintings.
“Stroll by the river on a sunny and misty day” 
“Stroll by the river on a sunny and misty day” Anecdote
An extra attraction of the river other than as a painting subject is some of the joggers I see there and their unhealthy pursuit of health.
And here is something I wrote about them in July of 2014.
It was hot and humid and there were people jogging past me who were desperately gasping for air.
I felt like telling them to stop and just walk. It would probably be healthier for them.
Besides what if they suddenly collapse from a heart attack. Then I’d have to try and do CPR and this would be extremely stressful for me as I can never remember the ratio of breaths to chest presses.
However, the gaspers are not the strangest kind of jogger. This spot is reserved for the sweaters.
This kind of jogger puts on a lot of clothing despite the heat. And I saw one such person today. He was wearing a jacket in summer in Japan and he was soaked in sweat. I saw quite clearly drops of water running down his hands and hanging from his fingertips.
And there is one jogger I occasionally see who is the champion sweater because he wears a full tracksuit – all black of course – and a hood up so that you can’t even see his face.
I have to add that these people are not fat either.
Of course, being an artist and hoping to become successful from it is perhaps one of the maddest pursuits of all.
That’s all, Gareth.
Postscript
I originally wrote this anecdotal story in July of 2014, I am editing it in 2022.
Sadly it has no painting to go with it. But when I saw how many paintings I’d painted of my local river during that year then I had the idea of showing those paintings as a series and adding on this story at the end.
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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.
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A terrible watercolor painting of a Japanese river
I would have thrown this painting away long ago but there was a good painting on the other side.
So this terrible painting got preserved by accident.
I came across this painting when I was organizing my large collection of artwork.
But I was happy to discover this painting because despite being a terrible painting it is a very old painting and it is interesting to see my old work as much of it I have thrown away and forgotten.
I’m not sure when I painted this picture but I think it was around 2010.
It is now 2021.
The style and feeling of this painting is very different to my later paintings of this river.
This river is called Oita river.
It is one of my favorite painting spots.
I can see beginner mistakes in this painting such as trying to add too much detail to the background mountains.
This painting reminds me that I tried so many times to paint a good picture of this river.
And so many times, I painted a bad painting such as this one.
The first ten years of learning watercolor painting, which is when this picture was painted, were difficult and full of frustration.
One other thing I like about this painting is the Japanese boat.
These long, flat bottomed Japanese boats are very beautiful.
This boat is no longer there.
When I first came to Japan you could often see these boats.
They were often in a bad condition but I found them interesting.
And seeing this boat in the painting reminds me of an older Japan.
And I feel a little sad because it feels like that older Japan has gone.
Gareth.
