In the autumn of 2022, I visited a village called Akitsuki. This is a beautiful village in Fukuoka prefecture, Japan. It was a family trip. And at the end of the day, I wandered around some rice fields and came across the beautiful scene below.
In the video lesson below, I show you how to paint this scene in 5 simple stages.
Video lesson
Main materials
3 Brushes
Mop or quill brush
10 mm or just over 3/8” width
Pointed oval
10 mm or 3/5” width
Liner
6 Paints
Phthalo Blue (Red Shade)
Ultramarine blue is also okay.
Cobalt Turquoise Light
Cerulean is also okay.
Permanent Alizarin Crimson
Yellow Ochre
Imidazolone Lemon
Aureolin is okay.
Titanium white
Any white will do.
Note
If you don’t have these colors and can’t wait then just use the colors you’ve got.
This is a painting of a country path in a region called Hiji.
I have visited this region quite a few times and have found some very picturesque scenes here such as the one above.
And as I look at this painting, I find myself thinking that this is a very good painting and I am surprised that I almost binned it.
All I can say is that I have over a 1000 paintings and it just becomes overwhelming so if I can bin a painting then I feel a little less like I’m drowning in my own creations.
So here is a short critique of this painting in which I talk about the many good points of this painting and a few of the bad points.
Firstly, I like the composition and in particular the curve of the path.
It is beautiful and interesting.
And it guides the viewer’s eye deeper into the painting.
Next, the shapes of objects, such as the trees, the figures and the house, are well done.
I especially like the figure of the man with the dog as it really looks like he is moving.
Along with good shapes there is also some very nice expressive brushwork in the trees.
And the colors are also very good, especially in the foliage and the sky.
As I look at the sky, I like how dramatic it is with the sun behind a big gray cloud and I can see beautiful subtle touches of gray, blue and a very light gray as well as yellow in the sky.
And I like how the distant mountain disappears into the clouds.
Finally, I like the flock of birds above the tree on the left which you sometimes get.
It is a nice extra detail.
This painting fails in a few places though.
The walls of the house are too blue.
I doubt it, but it could have been a blue house.
But even if it was a blue house I think the blue needs to be toned down a little.
This painting also fails with the smoke.
At the end of the path there is supposed to be smoke.
I think that’s what I saw when I went there.
But that smoke needs to be a lot whiter as it is difficult to see that it is smoke.
So I hope one day that I get the chance to paint this picture again as I’m sure I can improve upon the color of the house and the smoke.
However, I think that I will struggle to paint such an amazing sky.
All this painting needs now is a title.
I was thinking of calling it: “Man and dog taking a stroll along a country path”.
What do you think?
If you have any ideas for a good title then please let me know in the comments.
I’d really appreciate it and if I like it then I will definitely use it.
This is a momentous task as I have over 1000 paintings.
In the process, I found the painting above.
It is an old painting which was done around 2013.
And I still remember seeing the rather dilapidated but picturesque shed in the painting.
I was cycling along the main road through a small, Japanese town called Shonai that is deep in the countryside.
At some point, I turned off the main road and onto a very narrow side road.
And along this road I saw the shed.
I think that as soon as I saw this shed, I felt the urge to paint it.
And I’m happy with my painting of this building as I caught the slight lean of the structure as well as the irregularities of the structure.
Also, I think the light blue roof looks very good.
And I think the rice field looks beautiful.
The viewpoint of this shed is very good.
As the gutter by the side of the road, guides the viewer’s eye towards the shed which is the focal point of the painting.
However, I think the foliage is not so well painted or the other buildings.
And yet I’m happy I didn’t throw away this painting.
Because it is a precious reminder of where I’ve been, what I liked to paint and also what my artwork used to be like.
It is so easy to forget these things and not even realize you’ve forgotten.
“Beautiful, old Japanese barn”
And here is one more painting of Shonai.
I think it was that old Japanese barn on the left that captured my interest and made me stop and paint this scene.
It is such a beautiful structure.
And I think I’ve done a good job of painting that barn.
The fields are well done.
I love the combination of yellows and browns and those soft brown dots in the foreground field.
I’m not sure how I did those dots but I’d definitely like to use that technique in future paintings.
Everything else, such as the other buildings, the foliage and the figures are just passable.
And sadly, the mountains are not very well painted.
In reality they look amazing.
I normally say that I’ll have another go at painting a picture that doesn’t quite work but for some reason with this particular picture I don’t feel the urge to have another go.
At least not yet!
I have painted this particular scene a few times since though because I found the view very beautiful.
It was near here that I did a painting of some Japanese haystacks in 2014 that I’m really happy with.
But this story actually happened around the spring of 2010.
It is one of my older stories.
With that said, let’s begin.
So I’m a little romantic.
Or maybe I’m just stupid.
I remember once looking at a girl’s neck and saying how it looked “swan like”.
Everybody erupted in laughter.
I was so embarrassed.
But the truth was that it did look swan-like.
But anyway this is a blog about one of my romantic painting trips into the Japanese countryside.
I think this is also perhaps as laughable as the comment I made about that girl’s neck.
I should have been doing a sensible and useful job and making money.
Instead, I was getting on a bicycle and cycling off into the Japanese countryside to look for adventure and a beautiful scene.
How foolish can you be?
But, anyway, on this occasion, I got both an adventure and a beautiful scene.
So I was following a very long and wide river called Ono river.
Rivers are the best places to cycle next to in Japan because the ground is usually flat.
The path, though, can sometimes suddenly disappear.
Especially if you cycle along it for miles and miles.
I’ve often experienced this but part of the fun is seeing how far you can cycle by a river.
And that was part of the enjoyment of cycling by Ono river.
At first this river was very pleasant to cycle along.
There is a smooth path and next to it are rice fields and it’s all very hospitable.
But at a certain point the landscape becomes more rugged and rocky.
And then you find yourself cycling along a very quiet, more neglected, path that you know very few people use.
I think it was a road but it was as narrow as a path.
And the sides of the river were no longer grassy banks but dramatic rocky cliffs.
At a certain point, I came across a big steel bridge spanning the river with a chain across its entrance.
There was a sign on the chain saying that you are not allowed to cross it.
Once again, as I often experienced when cycling in Japan, I felt myself in a forgotten place.
And then the road was cutting through the side of a rock and there were rivulets of water running down the side and forming pools of water in the middle of the road.
It had become a spooky road but also interesting.
And then suddenly I came upon the scene in the painting above.
It looked like a dazzlingly green rice field.
The picture above is a watercolor sketch that I did on the spot.
I used to take all my paint gear with me in those days.
I wish I still had that kind of energy.
At that time I felt indestructible.
Anyway, I was at that time really happy with the painting I did.
I felt that it captured that dazzlingly green color of the rice.
Now, I don’t think it’s so great.
I did a studio painting from this sketch.
And I sold that painting.
But sadly, now I only have one blurry image of the studio painting to show you.
I was hesitant about showing this bad image.
If possible I want to show only good images on my website.
Perhaps that’s vanity.
Anyway, I decided to show you because I thought you might find it interesting.
