Keiko Tanabe

Antwerp, Belgium II, Belgian Landscape Painting

11/29/2010 4:13:03 AM

In my last blog post, I talked about how I simplified a busy city street scene by focusing on one element (Antwerp I). While I think doing so helps a lot to make a strong painting, the very essence of a crowded cityscape is often found in its busy-ness, and you feel you just have to paint it all. Instead of having just one star player, I included many in this painting to convey the mood of a popular town square -- beautiful guild houses, people enjoying themselves, colorful awnings of cafes and bars, and again, a horse carriage. Too many cooks [...]

50 Blogs Recommended for Watercolor Artists

11/27/2010 1:01:39 AM

Web Design Schools Guide recently put together a list of 50 best blogs for watercolor artists. A comprehensive guide for students of any age who want to learn more about the latest in the field of watercolor art, the list has links to 10 watercolor demonstrations blogs, 20 watercolor artists blogs, 10 art business blogs and 10 art news & reviews blogs. I am honored to be included as one of the 20 artists they recommend by saying, "Follow this award-winning watercolor artist as she travels around the world, painting Parisian cafes, California beaches, Venetian gondolas and other lovely sites." Paris Café XXIV Paris Café [...]

Antwerp, Belgium I, Belgian Landscape Painting

11/24/2010 2:56:58 AM

The Town Square of Antwerp is really an impressive place as it's surrounded by handsome tall buildings with beautiful architectural features. These are guild houses. Each has a distinct character but all are richly decorated and covered with windows in front. Then there are the City Hall, the fountain, pubs, shops, and needless to say, people who come here to walk, drink and eat, or just relax. The place has all the charms that would make any painter of city scenes want to try his hand at capturing a moment. My idea for this painting was not to depict all kinds of [...]

Namur, Belgium I & II, Belgian Landscape Paintings

11/22/2010 2:30:17 AM

It's been 14 or 15 years already since a good friend of mine from Japan married someone from Belgium. They kept inviting me to their new home in Brussels but the problem was they were always traveling for work and pleasure. One time when I was in Paris, they were home for a few days between trips - so I hopped on a train to visit. They gave me a whirlwind tour of their city and a few more of their favorites in Wallonia - that's when I had a glimpse of Namur. We didn't spend much time there but I've [...]

2011 Art Calendars from Daily Painters & Watercolor Artist

11/21/2010 12:55:17 AM

Family photos, artwork, a clock... We carefully choose what we hang on our walls because we want to make sure that's something we want to look at all the time. What about wall calendars? This holiday season, I'd like to suggest as a gift idea art calendars from Daily Painters and Watercolor Artist magazine. Over a dozen different themed calendars are offered by Daily Painters and available via their Lulu.com store. I have my painting included in Cityscape and Landscape themes. For watercolor enthusiasts, editors of Watercolor Artist magazine have a beautiful watercolor art calendar made up of their 12 top choices available [...]

San Gimignano, Italy III, Italian Landscape Painting

11/19/2010 2:24:46 AM

When we talk about towers in Italy, the Leaning Tower of Pisa is probably what comes to mind first for most people. Of course there are many other well-known towers - the Campanile di San Marco in Venice, Torrazzo in Cremona, the Torre del Mangia in Siena, just to name a few. But which town or city in Italy offers a more strikingly beautiful skyline of towers than San Gimignano? San Gimignano is a small Tuscan hilltop town famous for its medieval towers. Now with only 13 remaining out of more than 70 towers built by rich families during the 12th to [...]

Cortona, Italy V, Italian Landscape Painting

11/16/2010 3:32:24 AM

"As travel pushes me forward, memory keeps dragging me backward." - Frances Mayes. When I think of autumn in Tuscany, the first memory that comes back to me is not a sight but a taste, from many years ago: It was well past lunchtime when I finally found a tiny family-run restaurant in the remote countryside. Inside was quite simple - no tourists but a few local people chatting together. I was feeling a little out of place and not sure what to order, but apparently that was not a concern for a madam who seated me. She said something rapidly in [...]

Siena, Italy VIII, Italian Landscape Painting

11/14/2010 3:37:48 AM

Sometimes we wonder how in the world we could survive life before the internet. But somehow we did. In those days, traveling far from home meant a difficulty to stay current with the news, and a traveler would often feel isolated for better or worse. While in a foreign land where there was a language barrier, TV offered little help. Placing an international call home was a luxury, especially for a young backpacker on a budget. Sometimes I had my family and friends from home send letters for me to a place like the American Express office in a country where I [...]

North American Watercolor Artists To Represent the U.S. in the 9th International Watercolor Biennial in Mexico

11/13/2010 6:02:56 AM

It is with great pleasure that I announce that Kathleen Alexander, Carol Carter, Mark E. Mehaffey, Thomas W. Schaller, Nicholas Simmons and myself have formed the North American Watercolor Artists, a group of six U.S. watercolor artists, to represent the United States in the IX International Watercolor Biennial in Mexico. The exhibition will be held at the National Museum of Watercolor in Mexico City, December 5, 2010 through February 13, 2011. Artists representing countries in five continents are participating in the Biennial, which is invitation-only. Begun in 1994, the purpose of the Biennial is to establish or enhance friendly relationships among watercolor [...]

Piazza del Campo of Siena, Italy

11/10/2010 8:29:50 AM

I was awe-struck as I stood on one edge of Piazze del Campo. I often heard people describe it as the loveliest or the finest square in Europe, but until I saw it with my own eyes, I couldn't really believe it. On a sizzling hot summer day, you may feel like a pizza in the oven walking in the sunny red-brick square. But when the beautiful medieval buildings start casting shadows and cooling the bricks, you will see small groups of people here and there actually sitting on the ground as if they were on the beach or in the grassy [...]

VII Bienal Internacional de Acuarela 2009-2010 Chile

11/9/2010 12:02:35 PM

Napoli, Italy III Wonderful news came yesterday that two paintings I had submitted have been juried into the Seventh International Watercolor Biennial (VII Bienal Internacional de Acuarela, 2009-2010, Viña del Mar, Chile). A panel of jurors chose works from 31 artists out of 300 entries from the Americas, Asia and Europe. It is quite an honor to have my paintings selected to be in this exhibition that will open on November 30, 2010 in the city of Viña del Mar, Chile. Exhibiting artists are from Argentina, China, Mexico, Chile, the U.S.A., Venezuela, Japan, Guatemala, Uruguay, and Peru. Napoli, Italy III A larger image of this painting [...]

Siena, Italy IV, Italian Landscape Painting

11/7/2010 2:54:14 AM

Being a traveler longer than a painter, I knew "siena" first as a name of a Tuscan town in Italy before I learned of it as a name in some paint colors. As a beginner painter, learning all the fancy names written on paint tubes, I thought "sienna" (as in raw sienna and burnt sienna) sounded particularly attractive. And I wondered if there was any connection to Siena, a crazy Italian town I had visited long ago as a student backpacker... I said "crazy" because that was my first impression of Siena. No wonder, the day I chose to go there happened to [...]

Arezzo, Italy III, Italian Landscape Painting

11/4/2010 3:39:19 AM

Although there are many churches in the town of Arezzo, the Basilica of San Francesco is one of the most famous because of the frescoes by Piero della Francesca. Facing this medieval church is a cafe used in the film Life is Beautiful (by Roberto Benigni). I had spent a most memorable day exploring the Tuscan countryside and just returned to Arezzo where I had a place to stay. Almost at day's end, I came to Piazza San Francesco and caught the last rays of sunlight hitting the top of the buildings. Stopping to enjoy the scene at the piazza, I also [...]

Life is Beautiful in Arezzo, Italy

11/1/2010 2:54:37 AM

Arezzo, Italy I A few days before arriving in Arezzo, I called Lory, an owner of a bed-and-breakfast in the town where I had booked a room. It was funny that she spoke Italian rapidly and I seriously lacked the ability to understand her language, but somehow we managed to communicate and made a plan for my arrival. My train for Arezzo was delayed and I got there 20 minutes late. But, much to my relief and just as Lory had told me, her husband Alteo was waiting for me with his black SUV. During a short ride to their [...]