This is Itogahama beach.
It is in Hiji town, Oita prefecture.
This painting of the beach was done in about 2011.
And I think I painted this picture on location.
Although I don’t think it is a great painting I still quite like it.
This is because it has a pleasing soft and misty feeling.
Also as I look at this painting I feel a calmness.
I have since done many more paintings of this beach.
And it is interesting to compare those paintings with this one and to see the change in my work.
There are many things about this scene that make it a good painting subject, such as the distant mountains, the rocky outcrops and the dramatic steep cliffs.
Those cliffs with the trees on top are fun to paint.
There are many buzzards in those trees and often they come out and glide high up over the beach.
I remember clearly walking along this beach to that second outcrop of rocks.
I wanted to see what was past that outcrop.
I have a strong desire to look beyond a coastal outcrop, or another turn in the road, or a mountain to see what lies beyond.
I think that I’m partly driven by curiosity and partly by the hope of finding a beautiful scene to paint.
But it was quite dangerous in this case as that second outcrop is a very rocky terrain with almost no flat areas.
And the rocks were wet and very slippery.
Still I persevered through this uninviting terrain and at last I saw past this outcrop.
Ironically, despite all that effort I can’t remember very well what I saw.
I think I saw a wide inlet and in the middle of it a small fishing port.
I don’t think it was a remarkable scene otherwise I would probably have taken a photo of it and then done a painting from the photo.
But that never happened.
So my exploration efforts were in vain but that has often been the case.
However, this doesn’t stop me from continuing to explore.
That’s all,
Gareth.