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Tag: winter
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Painting a beautiful countryside scene near a cafe where I will have an exhibition
So this is not really a story but just an attempt to add some context to this painting.
In my story “Taking a wrong turn” you can learn about how I came to know the owner of a cafe with a gallery called Mizushi no Mori.
This cafe is situated in Kuju which is a beautiful national park.
And although my primary purpose in visiting this cafe was to get the chance to exhibit there, I couldn’t help appreciating the beautiful countryside around the cafe.
The painting above is from a scene I saw near this cafe.
It was February. At that time of the year, there are beautiful leafless trees and golden fields.
Towards the end of this year, 2015, I reused the same scene and turned it into a snow scene. I then used this snow scene image on Christmas cards for my family.
“Snow-covered fields” That’s all,
Gareth.
Postscript
This story was written in February of 2015.
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Watercolor sketch of a Japanese river bank on a sunny day in winter
Today was a beautiful sunny day in January.
It was a perfect day for outdoor painting.
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.
That’s all for now,
Gareth.
Postscript
This story was originally written in 2014.
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Paintings of a road with a beautiful panoramic view
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.
