A few days ago I cycled to the sea and painted the sunset.
It was very cloudy and I didn’t know whether it would be a spectacularly colorful sunset or a dull one. It ended up being a combination of both.
There was some warm orange sunlight but it was soft and understated and accompanied by a lot of dull gray clouds. It was, though, very beautiful.
I added the boat to give a focal point and to give a feeling of epic size. Yet in actuality, I saw no boats or ships on that particular day.
After finishing this painting and on my return journey home, via my bicycle, it was a relief to discover that there are still strange river folk around.
On this occasion, it was an old man with his wife. He was wearing a bright shiny white tracksuit with a fluorescent lime-green band positioned diagonally across his back.
He was facing the river in a very dramatic manner and holding out in front of him a device that was playing enka music (traditional Japanese music) and singing along to it with complete abandon.
He had a beautiful voice. But as I was passing he stopped then hawked very loudly and spat. This spoiled the romance of the moment for me.
And, yet, the whole thing was simultaneously comical and entertaining.
There is a great deal of public hawking and spitting in Japan. The hawking is so loud that you can hear them in their houses in the morning doing it.
It’s not something you’d expect from a culture that is supposed to be quite reserved. I only saw some young people behave like that in England. They thought it was impressive, but it wasn’t the thing most people did in England. So now I’m curious about what it’s like in other countries.
That’s all,
Gareth.
Postscript
This story was originally written in June of 2014. I am editing it in 2022.
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 1Watercolor sketch of Itogahama beach 2Watercolor sketch of Itogahama beach 3Watercolor 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.
When I woke up today it was overcast and I decided today was going to be a laid back time in the studio dabbling around with the paintbrush.
When my wife left the house, however, she remarked that it appeared to be getting brighter. I went outside and saw that one half of the sky was cloudy and the other half a light blue. 50: 50 I thought and went back to the studio.
But as I dabbled away with my paintbrush at the kitchen table (aka my studio) it gradually became brighter and brighter until with sunlight pouring through the window I was forced to admit that it was actually going to be a nice day after all.
I was, though, still in the sway of deciding it was going to be a laid back day in the studio and this had created a peculiar gravitational pull that held me back from jumping up and going out. Not until 10.30 did I manage to get myself out of the house and onto my bicycle.
I decided to cycle to Yusuhara shrine. It has been quite a while since I did a long bicycle ride. Although not too far away, it is on the top of a very high hill or should I say low mountain. I’m not sure. I wonder at what height a hill becomes a mountain.
Anyway, I have cycled to this shrine several times and done it without stopping but this time because of age or being in a very laid back state I walked on occasion which was probably good for my heart.
And I actually did my first painting before I ascended the hill. I came across a captivating scene of an entrance to another shrine. The tricky part was the background. There were houses in the background that over complicated the scene so I decided to exclude them and to make it some simple greenery instead.
“Entrance to a shrine”
I almost didn’t show the painting above. I’m not very happy with it. But here it is.
Anyway, I continued on up the hill after painting this picture.
And I was pretty red in the face when I got to the top of the hill and the entrance of Yusuhara shrine which was about 50 steep steps. How welcoming!
This was the scene for my second painting. I really liked the dramatic shadows across the ground. And I think my attempt to paint these shadows in my picture is the most successful part of the picture.
“The climb to the shrine”
Overall I’m not happy with this painting. But since I am writing about this painting, I thought that I might as well show it.
After this, I ascended to the shrine. In other words, I climbed an endless number of steps. It was tiring but I quite enjoyed it.
The final painting was a small enclosure next to the shrine. I really like the space and in particular the corridor on the right which is a pillared walkway. This walkway gives a spectacular view of the forest.
Painting this beautiful scene though was a nightmare as I was surrounded by a cluster of tiny flies that desperately wanted to kamikaze into my eyes or explore my nostrils.
It doesn’t help that I have cavernous nostrils. I never really gave much thought to my nostrils but they amaze my wife. She often wants to put things up them, such as a 500 yen Japanese coin which is a very large coin.
But back to the story. I think that if I’d had a can of kerosene then I would have been tempted to douse and set light to myself.
Instead I resorted to squirting the flies with extreme viciousness. Sadly, it wasn’t very effective.
And I lost all decorum. I was swearing, blowing like an angry bull through my nostrils and erratically waving my arms in front of me.
I was without doubt quite a spectacle for the calm monk in the ticket booth.
These are the joys of outdoor painting that nobody tells you about.
I did though, in spite of Mother Nature, finish the painting and was even quite happy with it.
“Beautiful enclosure in a Japanese shrine”
Then it was time to go home. The return journey was very pleasant because half of the ride I didn’t even have to pedal. I just needed to keep breaking.
That night while I was sleeping I suddenly woke up with an urge to go to the toilet and as I was getting up my left calf muscle contracted into a solid ball of iron. It was excruciatingly painful and I had to rub frantically to relax it. It ached the rest of the next day.
If this was the result of the bike ride then I am glad that I walked on occasion and didn’t over strain myself.
That’s all,
Gareth.
Postscript
I originally wrote this in May of 2014. I am editing it in 2021.
I think I still have the final painting but the others I have thrown away. It was interesting for me to read this article again as I had forgotten nearly all of it except for the muscle spasm. That was excruciating.
I’m not happy with my paintings here but I included them as I think they are a necessary part of the story.
The painting at the very top was not painted on the day of this trip. Although it might have been painted in this year or sometime around this period.
I’m showing it though because it is one of my better paintings of the path to Yusuhara shrine.
He will soon have an exhibition in a small Japanese town called Yufuin.
And he asked if I would show two of my paintings in his exhibition.
I eagerly said yes. It would be a great way to promote my work.
And I thought it would be a good idea to visit this town and do some paintings of this place for the exhibition.
So Yufuin is a very popular tourist town in Japan.
And the main feature of this area is the twin peaked mountain next to the town.
It used to be a beautiful, even idyllic, place. But then the tourist industry came and started building.
But it still has a few nice features left such as the building in the painting above.
I drove to Yufuin.
It took about one hour.
It was a very pleasant drive through some beautiful Japanese countryside.
However, driving through Yufuin town wasn’t so pleasant.
In fact, it was very stressful.
I took a wrong turn and had to navigate through a maze of very narrow streets that were crowded with tourists.
I drove very slowly down the narrow streets. But still the car was almost brushing up against people. And these people were giving me very pissed off looks.
I know how they feel because I’ve had the same experience.
First painting
It was hard to drive slowly though because I was desperate for the toilet.
And my first painting was done about ten meters from a toilet.
This is the painting above.
I’ve painted this building before but I couldn’t resist painting it again.
And I’m sure this won’t be the last time I do a painting of this building.
I love the design of traditional Japanese buildings.
And thatched roofs are a particularly beautiful feature.
After painting this building, I soon found another subject to paint.
I’ve learnt not to waste time looking for painting subjects but to quickly find something, even if it isn’t ideal.
After I’ve done one or two paintings then I can relax, look around more and explore.
Second painting
So my second painting was done only about a hundred meters from the first one.
It was a painting of a lake called Kinrinko. The name means “golden fish scales”.
And it’s a beautiful scene in spite of some modern changes such as a big white concrete restaurant on the very edge of the lake.
I had to walk around a little to avoid such eye sores and also to find a spot where there were few people and thus no fear of being accidentally pushed into the lake by over-enthusiastic tourists, And despite it being a weekday, there were many tourists.
A near entanglement
Having found just such a spot I set up and was about to make my first pencil mark when a fisherman, or should I say an angler, appeared out of the blue and stepped in front of me.
He threw his line behind him, in other words right at me, and started to fish. After a few minutes he would move over to the left of me and then return.
Perhaps I should have moved but I thought I was here first and so I just continued to paint.
If I had moved It would have taken away the anxiety about having an eyeball plucked out by a fishing hook.
An artist with an eye-patch certainly would be memorable. In fact, there’s just such an artist and he has been incredibly successful. However, I’d still prefer to have both eyes.
Luckily, I finished the painting with both eyeballs intact.
The angler unfortunately had a mishap.
He cast his line when he was to the side of me and I heard a sharp crack.
I don’t know if he snapped a branch or his fishing rod but I realised, somewhat later, why he was casting his line in front of me.
He wasn’t a territorial angler, antagonistic person or sociopath, he was trying to cast his line without getting it caught on any trees.
I just happened to be in the place with the fewest trees.
However, I just kept looking at my painting and the scene in front of me just in case he had broken his fishing rod and wanted to let out some of his frustration on me.
However, nothing happened except a few tourists coming and standing in front of me to take photos. They didn’t even ask. But then again it’s not my land.
I did though really enjoy painting this scene in spite of these distractions.
Sadly, I was very disappointed with my painting so I’m not going to show it here.
Gallery
With two paintings under my belt I felt that I could now relax a little and do some exploring.
Also, I wanted to visit a gallery that my friend had recommended.
There was the possibility that I could show my work in this gallery.
So, I returned to the car and got my portfolio and went looking.
After a 10 to 15 minute walk I found it and it was closed.
This was surprising because it was Monday and the gallery leaflet said it was closed on Wednesdays.
Walkabout
I left this place in a very despondent mood.
And I then went on a long walkabout that lasted over two hours.
During my walkabout I was constantly looking for something to paint but I couldn’t find a beautiful scene.
The new houses are bland boxes with none of the beauty of traditional architecture. Many of the fields have been replaced with greenhouses, which are not particularly beautiful. And there was a huge and brand new car park without even one car in it and that too – as you can imagine – was not beautiful.
At least, they don’t have fields full of solar panels. But I expect that is coming.
Recently, they wanted to cover an outstandingly beautiful green mountain side in Oita prefecture with solar panels. That is to say, cover it all with concrete and then put as many black solar panels on it as possible.
It was only protests by the ordinary people that stopped this.
During my walkabout I got lost in my despondency about the ugliness of the modern world. And I also got literally lost. The latter I quite enjoyed.
Time though was passing. The sun was beginning its slow downward journey that became moment by moment more and more beautiful. I didn’t know it yet, but the day would end in a spectacular sunset.
Third painting
Luckily, after having walked across a few rice fields, jumped over a concrete ditch and wandered down a long lane that came to a dead end I found the river.
I knew the river would take me back to where I had started and so I followed it. And it was along this river that I did my final painting of the day.
It wasn’t a perfect scene. I took the liberty, for instance, of removing a big hotel that was by the side of the river. I hope you don’t mind!
This river was quite dazzling in the evening light and I was entranced by the beauty of that shimmering light.
I walked up and down this river quite a few times before I found the right spot.
In painting, composition is the most essential thing and that means finding the best viewpoint.
It was a delight to paint this scene. There was a wonderful mellow evening mood and it felt very peaceful to paint in such conditions.
Here is the painting that I did on the spot.
“People walking by a grassy river bank”
Although I am happy with the result, it needs improving and I will paint it again at home.
In the second version, I will lower the height of the near riverbank. And I will attempt to make the water appear more dazzling.
I will also add some ducks.
This is because there was a flock of ducks in the water and they looked beautiful.
It was also so cheering to my heart to hear these lovely creatures quacking merrily.
Of course, it may be just my imagination that they were quacking merrily.
They could have been asking who this weirdo is in the floppy hat and the huge sunglasses.
Certainly some passersby had slightly stunned expressions on their faces when they saw me.
At some point while I was painting, I realized that it was beginning to get dark.
And I suddenly had the panicky thought that they might soon close the car park.
If they did, then I would be stuck here.
So I finished the painting off in a hurry.
Then I rushed back to the carpark.
Luckily, despite the late hour, it was still open.
A spectacular sunset
In a relieved mood, I got in the car and started to drive away.
I also had a deep feeling of satisfaction as I had done some good paintings.
Yufuin is in a valley. And so, as I drove out of Yufuin, I was driving up a hill.
And it was while I was slowly driving up this hill, in a very blissful state, that I saw the beautiful evening sunlight streaming through the trees.
It was magical.
And I felt compelled to stop and take a few photos.
If I was more of a free man and less of a family man I would have stayed and painted a picture.
At home, I finally painted this wonderful scene.
It was quite a challenge and I had to experiment a lot before getting a pleasing result.
“Evening sunlight shining through the trees”
Soon, I will be going back to Yufuin to paint some more pictures for the exhibition.
Perhaps I shouldn’t as I will only show two paintings at the exhibition in this town and I already have enough paintings.
However, I have this bad habit of overdoing things.
That’s all for now,
Gareth.
Postscript
This story was originally written in March of 2014. I’m editing it in March of 2021. So 7 years later. How time flies.
There are some things I’d like to add here.
Firstly, I wasn’t proud of my second painting, which is of lake Kinrinko so I threw it away. And even though I still have an image of the painting, I didn’t want to show it.
And I did some new versions of the river painting, as I said I would. However, none of them were an improvement on the original one that I did on the spot!
And this is why I believe outdoor painting is a must.
The wonderful atmosphere you can sometimes get when painting outdoors will add a special magic to your work that you just can’t achieve at home.
I also did manage to get inside the gallery and meet the owner. We became good friends. And I now exhibit my work at her gallery. The gallery is called Dorudonyu Museum. Here is a link to the gallery.
And here are some paintings I did of the train station in Yufuin. It was designed by a famous Japanese architect. I think his name is Arata Isozaki.
“Small picturesque Japanese train station”“Small Japanese train station”
This is a story about a small exhibition I had in a shop in Usuki.
Usuki is a small town in Oita prefecture famous for a lot of traditional buildings, especially temples.
It’s also famous for a bamboo candle festival that it holds every year.
The first disaster was that I couldn’t show three of my best paintings at the exhibition.
These paintings were a new larger size for me and I didn’t have enough money to buy frames for them.
A sudden cash-flow problem had taken away the money that I’d saved!
Life is what happens when you’ve made other plans. Thanks life.
Above is one of the larger paintings, probably my favorite.
I even went to Usuki and painted this picture solely for the exhibition.
The next disaster was a printer problem.
I made postcards advertising the event and they looked really good.
It took a long time and involved translating everything from English into Japanese. That was not easy for me.
The final result, though, was spoiled by a leaky printer that made an inky tire mark over nearly all of my beautiful postcards.
The next disaster involved the printer again.
This time with the labels for the pictures.
Actually, it wasn’t really the printer’s fault, but rather the ridiculous situation of having one computer that has Microsoft Word and in which I can write the labels but is not connected to the printer and another computer that doesn’t have Microsoft Word but is connected to the printer.
So I was making labels on one computer and sending them to the other computer via e-mail and then printing them.
Although this strategy worked for the postcards it didn’t work with the labels which disappointingly came out of the printer as pure white as they went in.
That was a very stressful moment as it happened the night before the exhibition.
The next morning after a lot of hassle, and also involving the wife who was none too pleased, I managed to get the postcard size labels printed but at A4 size.
So on the way to the exhibition I was cutting the labels down to postcard size.
I don’t recommend using a cutter while in a car but it was a “needs must” situation. Luckily no fingers were lost which is especially important for an artist.
At this stage, I thought that the nightmare was finally over.
After all, I just had to put up the paintings in the shop. No problem right.
Wrong!
When I arrived at the shop I found that they had fixed hooks in the wall that were extremely close to the ceiling.
As a result I couldn’t get the short string on the back of my frames to go over these hooks. It just wasn’t physically possible unless I had bendable frames.
What I needed was sliding hangers.
So, I asked the owner for any sliding hangers.
She seemed surprised by my request.
But the truth is artists always need sliding hangers.
And for the owner of the exhibition to not have sliding hangars is ridiculously bad.
Anyway, she appeared doubtful about having any hangers but went into the back of the store to check.
And at first it looked like she had nothing because she was gone a long time.
About 10 minutes later though she returned with one.
Just one.
After informing her that one wasn’t enough, she reluctantly went in search of more.
Slowly a variety of different hangars appeared.
First a plastic one.
Then handmade ones that had been made from bending thick wire and not too gracefully either appeared.
Then, some very weak looking hangers made from string with a hook on one end and a simple loop on the other appeared. A few of the loops unraveled when I put my finger through them.
I was less than enthusiastic to put my 70 dollar frames on these hangers but what else could I do.
So with this assorted collection of hangers I eventually had my paintings on the wall in a yo yo alignment.
However, my wife said it looked good and she especially liked the black background.
Part 2 The end of the exhibition
“Historical Japanese street called Nioza”
Today, I went to collect my paintings from my exhibition in Usuki.
I had exhibited about 15 paintings.
And I had made about 9 postcards.
I wasn’t expecting amazing results.
But I was extremely disappointed when I discovered that I had sold just 1 postcard.
And that was to a friend too!
The postcard sold for 5 dollars and the owner took twenty-five percent.
I couldn’t believe they would even be bothered to take twenty-five percent of 5 dollars but they were!
It cost 10 dollars in gasoline just to travel to this town.
So I had lost money from doing this exhibition.
Certain feelings go through you when you fail and you look to blame someone but really there is only one person.
Myself.
But what surprised me was when I entered the shop and saw my paintings.
I was myself enchanted by the beauty of them and I realized there was nothing wrong with these creations.
Not only was this original work but it was beautiful.
It was interesting how the two staff people at the shop showed no enthusiasm for the work.
Clearly, for them it was totally valueless.
That’s all,
Gareth.
Postscript
I originally wrote this story in March of 2014. I am editing it in January of 2021.
I have to confess that it has been a bit of a shock for me to read and thus relive this experience which I had pretty much forgotten.
I can’t express enough to you how soul-destroying it has been on many occasions to be an artist.
Perhaps most people think artists are egotistical, and perhaps they are, but perhaps we all are to some extent if we are honest.
However, what they don’t consider is how most artists’ egos get tortured.
And I thought it important to add to this rather dark story a bit of a golden lining.
So the painting above, which is of a famous traditional street in Usuki, and which I showed in my exhibition, was not long after this event bought by a French man who lives in America.
This man is quite a character and it is a pleasure to know him. He is a blackbelt in karate and a talented mosaic artist.
And finally if you are looking for original, beautiful and inspired art then please consider buying some of my artwork.
I still paint and I love to paint. But I have found it very difficult to make money from it.
Video
In this video I talk about this nightmare exhibition while painting a picture of a street in Usuki.
More paintings
And here are a few more paintings that I did of Usuki.
“Rooftops of Usuki”
This one was painted from the top of a hill. I did a lot of walking that day.
I like this painting’s bird’s eye view of the town. It is almost like an abstract painting. And I especially like the pattern of the numerous roof tops. I think the train line gives a focal point to the painting and as such unifies it.
“Traditional Japanese street”
And this is a beautiful traditional Japanese street. I think the buildings and the shadows look good. But I am not so happy with the figures.
This picture was painted in 2014. This place is Usuki town in Oita prefecture, Japan.
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.
The long horizontal lines and low verticals you get at the riverside give the viewer an unobstructed view of the sky.
Also the low vertical features by the riverside mean that the ground area in the painting doesn’t take up much vertical space and so this can be given to the sky area.
And when you want to paint a dramatic sky it is important to give as much physical space on the paper as possible to the sky.
I went to the river by bicycle because it’s quicker than walking.
My bicycle also acts as an outdoor mobile studio because my bicycle basket can hold all my art equipment.
I took the largest watercolor pad I had (45.5 x 53 cm) even though it is awkward to ride with and when it is windy it can even be dangerous to ride with.
A few months ago, when I was cycling in the city with my big pad I got smacked in the face by it. It was very painful as well as embarrassing.
But there are two good reasons for carrying a big pad.
Firstly, because I enjoy painting big.
And secondly, because it is good for competitions where big paintings are the norm and where a normal size painting looks like a postcard.
I also get the feeling that the small paintings don’t win prizes.
It was February and it was cold by the river.
A constant cold wind was blowing against the backs of my legs and as I began painting my fingers slowly started to go numb.
But I love to paint outdoors and to paint directly what I see, such as a dramatic sky.
There is a feeling of aliveness because the scene is changing moment by moment and as I paint I feel that I am alive in that changing scene.
I finished the painting with chattering teeth but a feeling of satisfaction.
I felt satisfied with my painting because it captured a little of the dramatic mood of the sky.
And finally, when I came home, it was a nice surprise to be greeted by a delicious meal made by my wife.
It was much better than the breakfast that I threw together in my haste to get outdoors and paint.
That’s all for now,
Gareth.
Postscript
This story was originally written in February of 2014.
I have edited it substantially as it was too wordy.
Also I changed the painting!
Sadly, I no longer had the original painting.
I must have thrown it away.
I did have an image of the original painting.
But it was a small image.
I tried enlarging it in an image editing app and then sharpening it but it still looked blurry.
I didn’t want to show a blurry picture.
So I replaced it with a painting from the same year.
Fortunately, this painting showed a dramatic sky with the sunlight bursting out of the clouds by the river which I described in the story.
But maybe not if you have a one and half year old toddler.
I had a plan though.
So, I took my toddler, Annie, down to the river where we could play.
But I also took my sketchbook so that if the opportunity arose then I could also do some sketching.
You have to use your nous right.
But Annie wasn’t going to make it easy for me to do some drawing.
Whenever I stopped to sketch she would stomp her feet, point ahead and make lots of impatient uh, uh, uh sounds.
What can you do?
So I made some very quick and super rudimentary sketches when I got the chance.
However, these attempts were not in vain because from these crude marks I could create some watercolor sketches at home.
And I’m really happy with them.
I feel they capture the beautiful clear light you get in Japan in winter time.
Anyway, my strategy of taking my sketchbook with me when I’m out taking care of and playing with my daughter and then later turning those sketches into paintings proves that it is possible to make art in all manner of circumstances.
Annie, though, was playing her own strategic games.
The riverbank has a road at the top of it and there are concrete steps leading up to the road at various points along the river bank.
Annie wanted very much to climb up those steps.
But I shook my head when she pointed at the steps.
I thought it was too dangerous because of the cars.
However, Annie then sat on the bottom step and pointed to the space next to her and said uh, uh, uh.
So, I sat next to her.
As soon as I did, she ascended to the next step, sat down and repeated the sit here daddy strategy.
This continued all the way up, or most of the way up as at some point I gave up and just helped her the rest of the way up.
To be honest, you only get the occasional car on this road. So it wasn’t really that dangerous.
And when we got to the top of the river bank I saw a nice scene for a sketch.
I did my best to memorize it so that when we were safely back down the steps and on the path I could do a sketch from my memory.
This became the watercolor sketch above and this is my favorite one.
It may also be my only one because I couldn’t find the other watercolor sketches I did.
I’ve probably thrown the others away.
Later, my wife took care of our daughter so I could dash back down to the river and do a large outdoor painting.
Often when I paint outdoors I produce my best paintings, but in this case I thought that the quick watercolor sketches I did at home were much better than the large outdoor painting.
I’d love to show you the large outdoor painting so you can compare them but I can’t find it. I think I threw it away.
There is a lot of construction going on in the city where I live.
It’s called Oita city.
The changes to the city are really big.
For instance, where I live they have removed a whole row of houses and built a completely new road.
This new road connects to a newly enlarged road.
And this newly enlarged road connects to a new bridge.
This construction work has created a new spaciousness to the urban area.
This new spaciousness is sometimes unintentional and probably temporary.
For instance, by the newly enlarged road there is an expansive wasteland area.
And I find the wild golden brown grass that is growing upon this wasteland along with a few wild trees very beautiful.
It also gives an unobstructed and beautiful panoramic view of the city.
And the newly enlarged road has become a place where I like to paint.
The path is very wide by this road so there is plenty of space to set up my easel and paint without feeling like I’m obstructing passersby.
In Japan you really appreciate paths because the old streets don’t have any.
I’m hoping that it will be a while before they do any construction work on this wasteland area.
Normally in Japan every bit of space is crammed with buildings.
The result can be visually suffocating.
The painting above doesn’t truly capture the beauty of this panoramic scene.
And I will paint this scene many more times in the hope of capturing as fully as possible the beauty of this scene.
Strange encounter
“A road with a beautiful view”
And I will mention one strange encounter I had here.
So one day, while I was painting this road, a strange man came along.
He had long greasy hair, a very brown sunburnt face and was wearing shabby clothes.
He was carrying two big shopping bags.
I was expecting him to simply walk past me.
But he surprised me when he suddenly stopped about two metres from me and started unpacking one of his bags.
I was even more surprised when he produced a paintbrush and a pad of paper and started to paint.
I nodded at him in a gesture of camaraderie but he didn’t acknowledge me in any way whatsoever.
I might as well have just been a road sign.
I noticed that he painted with great gusto.
It was almost as if he were pretending to be an artist.
And maybe he was mocking me.
But I couldn’t be sure.
Especially as he really seemed to be deeply focused.
After about twenty minutes or so he stopped and packed up.
Then, he turned around to me and asked: “Are you bilingual?” “A little”, I replied in Japanese.
Then, he remarked, “Mmm… I wanted to do a collaboration with you. But I am too busy. Sorry”.
With that he walked away.
I was left with a bizarre mixture of feeling simultaneously rejected, surprised and amused.
It was as if a girl at the bus stop that I’d never met before had suddenly approached me and rejected me as a boyfriend without me even asking her out.
That’s all for now,
Gareth.
Postscript
These two stories were written in 2014.
I edited them and joined them together.
In the first story I had written about drops of rain falling on my painting.
But I found no painting with raindrop marks on it. Alas!
So I must have thrown that particular painting away.
However, I had another two paintings of this road that were painted in the same year.
Also, both stories were written in winter time.
And these two paintings were most likely painted around the same time as I wrote the stories as both paintings have that beautiful golden brown winter grass.
The first story was originally entitled: “Seeing the Magnificent in the Mundane”.
I thought this title was too pretentious so I abandoned it.
Also, it wasn’t very clear what I was talking about, which was the amazing panoramic view created by the wasteland area by a road.
It was written on the 20th of January, 2014.
And the second story was originally entitled: “Rejected by a Homeless-Looking Artist”.
This second story was written just a few days after the first one on the 23rd of the same month.
It’s a small haven of space, greenery and fresh air surrounded by a city that is cramped, gray and full of cars and noisy motorbikes belching out gasoline.
I have to admit this river is not all beautiful.
The Japanese are excessive in their use of concrete and even by the river there is concrete everywhere.
At the same time, I have to confess the concrete path is extremely convenient and it would be very unpleasant to have to walk through one or even two meter high plants.
And, nature, as much as I love it and would love to say it is wonderful, is not simply wonderful.
Nature in Japan is like a wildfire and along some wilder stretches of the river you can see an extremely dense mass of trees, bamboo and bushes covered in a net of ivy. It’s not pretty.
But the river is still a haven compared to the surrounding city and I have spent many hours outside painting this river.
I think these paintings were done in 2013.
At that time I was still struggling with the medium of watercolor and although I enjoyed painting outdoors by the river I also experienced a lot of frustration and produced a lot of bad paintings.
The paintings here are the few survivors from the many paintings I have done of this river.
The picture above is my favorite one of this small surviving collection.
What I like most about this painting is the strong mood of beauty and peacefulness.
Some of the other things I like are:
The viewpoint. This is one of my favorite viewpoints of the river and I have done many paintings of the river from this spot.
And I like to paint figures walking by the edge of the river with the water sparkling behind them.
Next, I like the sky in the painting which is very luminous and has a very soft and gradual diffusion of a yellow sun into a blue sky with a cluster of beautifully shaped, warm gray clouds around the sun. This pattern of the clouds makes for a lovely composition.
And I like the reddish mountain (which is actually very unnatural but works in this painting) with the receding mountains becoming noticeably bluer and cooler.
The distant buildings and foliage work fairly well as you can distinguish the different objects but at the same time it is subtly done.
And the river has a beautiful glow and sparkle.
The foreground is very nice. The green is just the right color, the distant tree is well painted and the figure slightly disappearing into the grass gives a lovely feeling of softness.
For me, this painting is magical.
I won’t, though, say anything about that signature except that I’m happy it’s fairly small.
“Early morning fishermen walking by the river”
What I like most about this next painting is the vast expanse of sky.
This painting has a very similar viewpoint as the previous one.
But I think you’ll agree that it has a very different mood.
This is an early morning scene and I like the early morning long shadows of the figures in this painting.
I also like the reflective surface of the river and the sparkle.
And I like the brown grass and gravel path in the foreground which has been subtly but beautifully depicted.
The background is okay. The buildings are not particularly beautiful but their irregular shapes of the buildings along with the reflective roofs creates an interesting skyline.
I think the figures of the two fishermen on the left hand side of the painting are fairly well done and also the figure of a woman with a dog in the distance.
But the other two figures are not so good.
I think those two figures are the weakest part of this painting.
At some point, I’d like to paint this picture again and try to improve those two figures.
“Fishermen returning home”
This painting shows a small island in the river.
I think this island creates a very interesting scene.
This scene has since changed though as they have built a bridge across this river at about this point.
This bridge has spoiled the view and I no longer paint this island.
What I like most about this painting is the luminosity.
This painting almost glows with light.
I also like the bright colors.
Next, the distant background is a beautiful gray color that has subtle touches of a green color within it and some interesting little gaps.
It looks very realistic.
The trees are lovely shapes and have beautiful shadowy areas.
And they have a beautiful bright green color.
And the grass is well done, especially that brown grass on the island. I’m delighted with that.
The green grass in the foreground looks good. I love the touches of brown and the tufts of grass.
Also the subtle blue color of the river and the rich, dark gray-green reflections are very good.
The figures of the two fishermen are passable. I don’t like how similar they look to one another. For instance, both seem to have the same hat but in a different color.
If I painted this picture again then I would make these two figures much more different from one another. Or I would just have one figure.
But overall, I like this brightly colored painting. There is a feeling of it being a lovely day and there is an aliveness and cheerfulness in this scene.
“Peaceful evening by Oita river”
What I like most about this painting is the very subtle color changes.
So sometimes I paint from the other side of the river and this painting is from the other side of the river bank.
This side of the river gives an interesting view of Oita city center and the mountains behind the city.
I like the way I have painted the distant skyline in this picture. The distant mountains are soft and seem to melt into the sky.
And the city is beautiful. The color of the buildings is nicely subdued and yet there are a few subtle color variations which make it interesting to look at.
Then there is the lovely blue sparkle upon the river.
And the foreground grass and trees are well done.
And I like the figures and the boat, especially the shapes of these objects. I think they might be even better with a little more color added to them. But I’m not completely sure about that.
I don’t often paint this outlet. This is because it is artificial and the sides are very straight so I don’t think it is a particularly nice subject to look at.
But in this picture, I tried to hide the straightness of it with the rough grass and trees and the reflections and I think it turned out quite nice.
Overall, I think this painting has a lovely feeling to it. For me, it beautifully captures a quiet, evening moment by the river.
“Factory smoke and morning sunshine”
This is an odd painting.
In the foreground, for instance, we have something almost bucolic and idyllic, as we have some greenery and people fishing and a boy with a butterfly net walking by the river with his father.
But across the river it is not at all bucolic or idyllic.
You can see gray city buildings and the distant steel factory with those tall chimney stacks which are belching out gray smoke.
Although not exactly beautiful, those chimney stacks along with those baseball lights and some of the tall buildings are quite interesting shapes and make for a very interesting skyline. I especially like the shape of the baseball lights.
And I thought that the gray smoke passing in front of the early morning sun and the white fluffy clouds is not only visually interesting but kind of beautiful. Perhaps I’m brainwashing myself.
Whether this painting is beautiful or not, it is certainly interesting and so I’m glad I painted those chimney stacks and all that smoke.
Steel factories have a big significance in my life.
And not simply because nowadays I live right next to one.
But also because my mum’s family is from Dublin, Ireland and her family moved to England in order to work in the steel factories.
It was a good job with a good salary until they closed nearly all of them down.
Although I don’t like having a steel factory near where I live, at the same time I think it is important for a country to have heavy industries.
This painting is of a small restaurant in a region called Kusu.
This region is a very rural and rugged part of Oita prefecture.
And I visited this restaurant with my family.
Our main purpose, though, was to see Shiramizu falls.
And next to this restaurant is a river that leads to the falls.
Alongside the river is a footpath.
It is quite a long walk along the footpath to the falls.
But it is a very pleasant and scenic walk.
And the waterfall is very high and dramatic.
After our walk to the falls and back we stopped at this small restaurant to have lunch.
I can’t remember what we ate but I’ll never forget this building.
As you can see from the painting, it’s a traditional Japanese building.
I found the interior of this building to be both beautiful and comfortable.
And the atmosphere was also very pleasant.
During lunch I took a few photos and from them later at home I painted the picture above.
There are so many things that make this interior a good subject for a painting.
There is the beauty of the wood and the wooden structure.
And the reflections within the wooden floor are beautiful.
There is the lovely design of the big sliding doors that lead to a covered verandah with a beautiful view of the surrounding natural scenery.
And then, almost like a model, there is the relaxed figure of the old man sitting on the verandah and taking in nature while having a smoke.
Finally, there is the elegant figure of the woman sitting on the floor and eating lunch.
What a wonderful scene for a painting!
In this traditional Japanese restaurant there are no chairs.
People sit on cushions.
They are called “zabuton” in Japanese.
I personally like sitting on the floor as I find it to be far more comfortable and relaxing than sitting in a chair.
I’ve been to this place several times and I also once had a disastrous painting holiday here.
I’ll talk about that misadventure in a later blog.
That’s all,
Gareth.
Postscript
I have to mention going to another restaurant in this area.
Although I had a simple meal at this restaurant, I think it was spaghetti bolognese with salad, it was one of the tastiest meals I’ve ever had.
The salad in particular was so fresh and tasty.
I’m sure the salad came from the garden by the restaurant and that the salad vegetables had been picked that very day or the day before.
It was run by a very old couple and I’ll never forget how the old man moved so slowly as he went around serving people and collecting dishes.
And we had to wait quite a while.
It was definitely worth the wait but I do remember wishing that he would speed up a bit while at the same time appreciating that he couldn’t.
But I have no doubt that this old couple had lived to such a ripe old age by eating all these fresh vegetables from their own garden.
I just wish that I’d remembered the name of the place as I would have told everybody.
And yet, the irony is that they probably don’t want more people coming – not unless they have a young person working for them who can take on the extra work.
