Blog

Follow this Blog

We Can Do It: Week 3

4/18/2020 4:03:32 PM

Three weeks ago, in the midst of all the sudden changes in our lives caused by the current pandemic, I decided to give away my painting each week to someone working on the front line, to bring a little bit of space where they might be able to find peace and quiet. Read more about this effort, called "We Can Do It," on my previous blog post Week One and Week Two. It was my honor and absolute privilege that the 2 paintings already went to new homes where there's someone who fights this terrible disease to save lives. If you [...]

We Can Do It: Week 2

4/11/2020 2:43:54 PM

"How very little can be done under the spirit of fear." - Florence Nightingale I'd like to donate my painting of a nurse for the second week of "We Can Do It" support effort. This watercolor painting was inspired by the image of Florence Nightingale, a British nurse highly respected as a pioneer of modern nursing. I would like to give this painting to you, or someone you know, as a thank-you, if you are currently working as a health care professional or as a first responder, fighting the current pandemic brought on by the coronavirus. Please contact me. All I would [...]

Spring is Almost Here

3/18/2020 3:03:40 AM

Springtime is just around the corner. What does this season represent to you? As someone who grew up in Japan where a new fiscal and school year starts on April 1, I equate it to a new beginning when I can set new goals and discover new hopes. For people in Japan, spring is definitely a time to look forward to a bright future ahead. Being hopeful for a better future has never been so treasured than this year when people all over the world are suffering from an unprecedented crisis situation. A sign of opening of cherry blossoms (sakura in Japanese) [...]

Repetitio Est Mater Studiorum

8/19/2018 4:50:18 PM

Repetitio est mater studiorum" (Repetition is the mother of learning). I work hard when I'm serious about learning something new but I don't know if learning by repetition is the best way for me. I'm a kind of person who doesn't like reading manuals so I just start playing with a newly purchased product and figure out how to make it work (well, sometimes, never). I like to just dive in and learn by doing instead of reading or taking notes or even seeing how things are done beforehand. It may be natural for a person like me to get bored with the [...]

Like A Child

4/7/2018 12:54:02 AM

To me, a landscape painter, whether or not to go out to paint is not a question I have to ask. No matter the season or no matter where I am. I feel I must paint outside, from nature, from life. Why? I could say "just because." Or I could say something like "I just love being outside." That is true but it is also true that the idea of painting from photos never occurred to me when I started painting some 14 years ago. The reason was simply because I didn't remember using photos the last time I painted in my [...]

Happiness is the Way

12/23/2017 12:36:23 AM

2017 was another memorable year for me, from meeting and working with hundreds of artists and art lovers to visiting some great places in the world. I spent most of the year teaching workshops and painting in and outside classrooms in five continents but I know this was not possible without many people who worked so hard. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to each of the organizers, volunteers and students in dozens of workshops I taught in the past year for their time, dedication, professionalism, patience, kindness and love for what they do (the list of 2017 groups [...]

Journey Home 2017

12/13/2017 11:32:46 PM

I couldn't believe my eyes when I picked up newspaper on the first morning at my mother's, whom I visited after a year, in Kyoto, Japan last month. My father, a scholar of French literature and philosophy, deceased ten years ago, was mentioned in the front-page column. It was with the quote of Simone Weil, a French philosopher whose work my father translated into Japanese, about factory workers she chose to work with after quitting her teaching job: "The temptation to give up thinking altogether is the most difficult one to resist:one feels so clearly that it is the only way [...]

Jurying an Art Show

5/9/2017 10:43:47 PM

(Photo courtesy of the Northwest Watercolor Society, in their 77th International Open Exhibition that I recently had the honor of judging) "We don't meet people by accident. They are meant to cross our path for a reason." - Unknown. I was sure meeting with Lin Holzinger was one of those encounters. Lin is a writer and an artist who publishes articles on San Diego-based artists on her website Art Trails San Diego. A couple of months ago, she and I crossed our paths in an art gallery where I was working as a juror of a watercolor exhibition. Jurying an art show can [...]

Plein Air or Studio?

4/2/2017 9:26:09 AM

"Everything that is painted directly and on the spot has always a strength, a power, a vivacity of touch which one cannot recover in the studio... three strokes of a brush in front of nature are worth more than two days of work at the easel." - Eugene Boudin When I became a full-time painter back in 2005, there was no question in my mind that landscapes must be painted directly from nature. I had no one telling me to do this but I started painting outside once or twice a week in the same year. With very little experience and almost [...]

Play to Fuel Creativity

2/24/2017 10:14:43 AM

"Serious play is not an oxymoron; it is the essence of innovation." - Michael Schrage My cell phone gets recharged every day but me? I have been neglecting myself a little too long, so when my Mexican friends got me out of my daily routine, which has been pretty grueling these months, to stay at a lovely seaside villa of one of them, I felt like a bird out of a cage. Days of enjoying being with friends, eating, laughing, dancing, feeling the sun and ocean breeze, doing whatever we wanted to do (in my case, it was plein air painting & soaking [...]

Too Sensitive? Yes, That's A Good Thing!

1/24/2017 11:53:10 PM

Dear artists, have you ever been told that you are too sensitive? How about "Lighten up," "Don't take it too seriously," or "Oh, you're overreacting"? When this happens in a daily conversation, how do you feel? If you feel hurt, you're not alone. I have been told all these on a number of occasions. Even a seemingly innocent, lighthearted remark such as "Just kidding" is not really innocent because whoever said it knows that they said something not so kind, rude or hurtful to you. That's why they have to say it to try to make you believe what they said [...]

Listen to Your Muse

1/2/2017 12:01:11 PM

Happy New Year! When the champagne glasses were empty and the confetti settled, I wanted whatever I'd do right after the year-end countdown to be representative of what I determine to work on to improve in the new year. So I went to my newly set-up studio and painted. A bit bleary-eyed, I just wanted to play and throw some painting ideas around that I had for some time but my brain (or the champagne?) was saying, it's a new year, a new beginning, so why not use some new colors, new brushes and new methods to do some crazy stuff. There was [...]

Life is Short. There is No Time to Leave Important Words Unsaid.

12/24/2016 7:11:42 PM

"Life is short. There is no time to leave important words unsaid." - Paulo Coelho, Brazilian novelist As we get older, we come to understand certain things more and more. One of these things is well said in those words by Paulo Coelho. His words can be interpreted literally or metaphorically, but either way, I take it to heart. In this business of art that I do, I meet and work with a lot of people every year for my workshops, exhibitions, publicity and marketing. If I count in my workshop participants and audiences for my demonstrations and talks from around the [...]

No Place Like Home

12/31/2015 10:34:27 PM

I spent numerous weeks on the road throughout 2015, teaching dozens of workshops and doing exhibitions in different cities and countries. In fact I traveled so frequently and constantly I have lost track of how many weeks I was away from my house in California the past year. To no one's surprise, I found myself traveling at the end of the year but this time I carried no portofolio, no heavy paper pads or a bag full of paints or any kind of equipment I usually tote around for my business-related trips. With just a few changes of clothes in a small [...]

Journey Home: Looking Back 10 Years of Painting

12/13/2015 11:16:11 PM

It's been 10 years since I started painting full-time. I wanted to end this year by doing something special to mark the first full decade of working as a painter and I am pleased to have my new art book Journey Home Volume I: My Watercolor Paintings of Japanese Landscapes 2005-2015 completed. It is now available online from Blurb.com. This book is a collection of selected watercolor works of Japanese landscapes I created between 2005 and 2015. Included are more than 180 paintings of the places I visited in the last 10 years: Kyoto (my hometown), Yokohama, Tokyo, Hakodate, Sapporo, Takayama, Shirakawa-go, Kobe, [...]

London Calling - Making Art is Therapeutic -

11/25/2015 1:31:56 PM

After generations, London Calling (1979), a hit song by the UK punk rock band Clash, is still iconic of London. We still enjoy this song maybe without thinking too much of what the words really mean. I was a bit surprised to find out, however, when I read its lyrics because they actually portray a pretty gloomy state of their troubled times back then, and speak about their anxiety of the world going to pieces. When people stop and think about the words, it still sends us a message after decades. Perhaps that is what the songwriter intended. We often hear creative [...]

To Facebook Or Not To Facebook

9/2/2015 10:28:56 AM

Aside from creating, there are many tasks to be done on the business side of art. No doubt marketing is one of the priorities for a professional artist. Since 2011, facebook, to me, has been a marketing tool, if not the most essential. I am delighted that Professional Artist magazine interviewed me for a piece in their recent issue (October/November 2015), "Build Your Following on Facebook." With two other artists also active on facebook, we discussed our thoughts on dos and don'ts for this topic. However, I have to confess that, while it was an honor to be featured in this [...]

Alfredo Guati Rojo

8/29/2015 2:23:49 PM

Acuarela Arte antiguo ... Arte nuevo Forma ancestral de unir el color de la tierra o de las flores con el sagrado liquido que ayer era rio o nube. Arco iris prisionero que la mano del hombre ha de liberar. - Alfredo Guati Rojo Alfredo Guati Rojo Cárdenas (1998-2003), a Mexican artist, played a major role in founding the National Museum of Watercolor (Museo Nacional de la Acuarela Alfredo Guati Rojo) in Mexico City, which is named after him. When the medium of watercolor was not regarded as comparable to other techniques, Guati Rojo worked hard to promote the reputation of watercolor as a true form of [...]

The Truth in Us Artists

8/13/2015 3:44:56 PM

"I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration." - Frida Kahlo Have you ever found yourself deep in thought, wondering why in the world you paint? There are millions of other things to choose from but yet we painters choose to pick up a brush and paint. Each artist may have his own answer to this question but I think the single truth in the core of it is this: because we need to. As an international watercolor workshop instructor, [...]

Announcing A New Workshop in California

7/10/2014 3:20:25 AM

"California has been my home for nearly half of my life, and I have spent the majority of the time in San Diego. California's southernmost city holds a special place in my heart, for it was here that I made a life-giving career change and became a full-time painter. The abundant beauty of my 'adopted' home has been the inspiration for many watercolor scenes since I started painting in 2005. Thanks to San Diego's mild climate, I have become an avid plein-air painter and quite often I can be found traipsing its nooks and crannies on a quest for [...]

Central Park, New York City II, American Landscape Painting

5/1/2014 2:14:47 AM

One of the things I repeatedly tell my students is, before painting, have a plan for your creative process and picture your final picture. Easier said than done, but isn't it true that this is so easy to forget? Maybe we are too eager to paint. Maybe we don't think it's that important. Or we think a painting has to be done intuitively - we are artists after all, right? Please read this: Seasoned athletes use vivid, highly detailed internal images and run-throughs of the entire performance, engaging all their senses in their mental rehearsal, and they [...]

Colors and Values

9/13/2013 3:10:29 AM

"It is wonderful how much depends upon the relations of black and white. A black and white, if properly balanced, suggests colour." -- Winslow HomerIn my workshops, one of the things my students may get tired of hearging from me is how important it is to be able to see the correct values. I do not dwell too much on colors. I show them my palette but I also tell them that they can use whatever colors they like. That is not to say that I take colors lightly. On the contrary. What I mean is simply that colors, or hues [...]

Demo and Workshop in Fallbrook, California

8/30/2013 4:03:03 AM

We love sunsets. I'm not just saying. It's true, for vacation brochures, postcards sold at gift shops, wall calendars, commercial logos (and, yes, paintings, too), etc. that the ones with a sunset scene seem to be very popular. Listen to what Mr. George Lucas says: "If the boy and girl walk off into the sunset hand-in-hand in the last scene, it adds 10 million to the box office." So we love seeing a sunset, but not just for its beautiful light and colors but for the feelings evoked by it as well. I have painted quite a number of watercolors at [...]

Hakodate Sunset I, Japanese Landscape Painting

8/25/2013 6:48:24 PM

A railway stationfilled with local accentsI go into the crowdto listen for mine (by Takuboku Ishikawa, translated by me) For Japanese poet Takuboku Ishikawa (1886-1912), Hakodate had something special that made him say that he would like to die there. One of the well-known figures in Japanese literature, most notably for his tanka and free-style poems, Takuboku wrote many poems that tug at our heartstrings. He lived for less than half a year in Hakodate in his short, poverty-stricken life of 26 years. The time he spent there was perhaps the happiest for him thanks to the camaradarie with his colleagues. He was also [...]

Catalan Countryside I, Spanish Landscape Painting

6/23/2013 1:18:03 PM

The exact scene depicted in this painting doesn't exist. I mixed my imagination into the actual subject to fancy this idyllic scene. Although I do representational art, it is true that the imaginary process almost always plays a role in my paintings to some degree. And sometimes my painting is more imaginary than representational like this one. So when does that happen? I have found that the imaginary process happens more spontaneously when the images conjured up from an experience are still vivid, such as right after I return from a very inspirational trip. On the other hand, if I try to [...]

Tossa de Mar II, Spanish Landscape Painting

6/19/2013 12:57:55 AM

Even though we always try to do the right thing, life throws all kinds of adversity at us - and it seems unfair at times. Recently I was hit with a big one which I thought would destroy something I was working so hard for. Needless to say, I was crushed. But obstacles in life do teach us how to weather the storm. They can make us stronger, more knowledgeable, more organized and more thoughtful. Life must go on. “The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining [...]

Published: My Interview in InSevilla

5/2/2013 5:14:19 AM

"En Andalucía me siento como en casa"- so I was quoted in the recent interview by a journalist from InSevilla, a digital newspaper of cultural events in Seville, Spain (April 29, 2013). The article of my interview was just published in time for my watercolor workshop there. Clearly the interviewer was someone knowledgeable of watercolor painting and there were very good questions. The interview was made possible by my dear friend María José Barrera Garrido, an artist and a teacher who is well respected widely in Seville and its surrounding region. She is having a watercolor painting exhibition in May at Plaza [...]

Pétanque (Saint-Paul de Vence) IV, French Landscape Painting

4/9/2013 5:22:59 PM

On a sunny afternoon, several men gather in a little dusty square and chase and throw metal balls under huge plane trees. People sitting in a nearby café watch this simple yet very engaging game called pétanque while sipping pastis. Time passes slowly here and cicadas all around sing incessantly like a broken record... Isn't this joie de vivre at its best? A scene such as this is repeated everywhere in the south of France when the weather is good - and it is most of the year. While traveling in the French Riviera, I witnessed another game in Saint-Paul de Vence, [...]

A Room with a View - Italian Landscape Painting

1/21/2013 2:19:06 AM

A Room with a View - when a young English woman and her cousin/chaperone didn't get a room with a view they had requested at a hotel in Florence, Italy, fellow guests from England, a father and his son, offered to trade their room. Theirs had a view and the older man believed that "women like looking at a view and men don't." The view in question was the one with the Arno River and cityscape of this Renaissance city. The movie A Room with a View, based on the novel by E.M. Foster, was beautifully done, making viewers want to visit [...]

Loving You the Way I Do by Ron Savage

11/26/2012 12:00:42 AM

I am pleased that my watercolor "Torino, Italy II" was chosen as the cover art for Loving You the Way I Do, a new book by Ron Savage (ISBN: 978-0-9826364-3-5; Black Lawrence Press, New York). The book is now available online. "We don't love each other the way we'd like. We love each other the way we do." - Ron Savage [...]

Vienna I, Austrian Landscape Painting

9/10/2012 8:22:00 AM

Abundant opportunities to visit world-class art museums, angelic voices of the Boy's Choir, a cruise on the Danube, great wine, Sacher torte and their famous coffee... There are so many good reasons to go to Austria's capital city, Vienna. This elegant city must also be one of the places where it's worth just being there. Walking on the streets and admiring elegant architecture of baroque-style buildings - it is simply a feast for the eyes. "For almost thirty years I repeatedly saw one and the same dream: I would arrive in Vienna at long last. I would feel really happy, for I [...]

Madrid VI, Spanish Landscape Painting

8/16/2012 9:35:49 AM

Starting at the Puerta del Sol and going eastward on this street, Calle de Alcala, we pass many historical landmarks and important buildings of Madrid: Government offices and banks, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, the Buen Retiro Park... just to name a few. And also the Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas, a famous bullfight ring, speaking of which I should add that I admire its beautiful architecture but haven't had the courage or strong desire to see what takes place inside. One of the people who frequented this bullring was Ernest Hemingway. It is well known that [...]

Marseille Vieux-Port IV, French Landscape Painting

8/10/2012 9:15:19 AM

"I was lucky to come from a difficult area. It teaches you not just about football but also life. There were lots of kids from different races and poor families. People had to struggle to get through the day." - Zinedine Zidane, French soccer legend, native of Marseille, son of Algerian immigrants For almost two thousand years, Marseille has been a gateway for people arriving in France from other countries. Immigrants have come from virtually an every corner of the world but mainly Greece, Italy, Turkey, and in later years from North Africa such as Algeria and Morocco. With many settling there, [...]

Sintra I, Portuguese Landscape Painting

7/31/2012 1:08:13 PM

I've been painting en plein air a lot lately. It did take a little bit of courage in the beginning but since I found the experience unbeatable to any amount of studio learning, I have tried to do it as much as possible in the last 5 years or so. Eugene Boudin, a French marine painter who inspired Claude Monet, said, "three strokes of a brush in front of nature are worth more than two days of work at the easel." I believe his words. Recently my Portuguese artist friend took me to Sintra, near Lisbon, to paint there. Situated in the [...]

Yokohama Chinatown II, Japanese Landscape Painting

6/17/2012 1:45:30 AM

When I was in Dallas, Texas last March, I had the pleasure and honor of giving a demonstration to members of the Southwestern Watercolor Society. Sitting in the front row of a room full of people, was a gracious old lady. She was watching me paint with a loving, supportive smile and I cannot tell you how much that helped me relax in front of a large audience! Later a mutual friend introduced me to her. Her name is Naomi Brotherton, a very well-known watercolor artist from the area, and she's still active throughout the South and Southwest. Learning that she was [...]

FASO Featured Artists

5/21/2012 1:15:07 AM

Artists about to launch an art career sometimes ask me what steps they should take to be a professional. Almost always my answer is, create a professional art website first - before a blog, facebook page, twitter, etc. That's what I did. I chose FineArtStudioOnline (FASO) as my website host and I know I will never regret it. If you are serious about art as a profession, the entire team of FASO is there for you in many facets on the business side of art. FASO Featured Artists is their latest feature and I am truly honored to have my work featured [...]

Springtime in Paris, Paris Café Painting

4/5/2012 12:30:50 AM

"With so many trees in the city, you could see the spring coming each day until a night of warm wind would bring it suddenly in one morning... Sometimes the heavy cold rains would beat it back so that it would seem that it would never come and that you were losing a season out of your life. This was the only truly sad time in Paris because it was unnatural... You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare [...]

White Lovers II, Japanese Landscape Painting

3/13/2012 6:31:07 AM

For many people, last month's Valentine's Day may be a thing of the past. However, in some Asian countries, the whole thing doesn't really end until March 14, which is called White Day. In Japan, for example, it is expected that you know the unwritten rules: if you're a man and received chocolate from a woman on February 14, you are supposed to reciprocate one month later by giving her something equally nice or better. I think it's safe to say the overall tone of this practice is fairly light-hearted, which is enjoyed more like a game by most people. Depicted in [...]

Living Like Sunflowers

2/19/2012 5:49:00 AM

If we are artists by profession, it's because we want and need to create and we take it seriously. So we get up every morning and create just like office workers commute to their workplace each day - this is what we do, or is it really? Artists are not machines that can crank out quality products regularly. Regardless of our level of experience, we do get hit by some sort of creative block once in a while. I had my share during my not-so-long artistic career. Each time it happened, it was quite a struggle but, gladly, I was able to [...]

Refugio State Beach I, California Landscape Painting

2/11/2012 5:58:53 AM

No matter what the results, painting outdoors is always a rewarding experience because we learn so much that may be too hard to learn in the studio. After painting all day in a couple of different locations, I came to this beach. The sun was about to set and the light was just irresistible. I knew there wouldn't be enough time to finish a painting but I did as much as I could anyway (I completed it in my studio the next day). Today I will do a demo in Lakeside, near San Diego, California, for a plein-air painters group from the [...]