In 2011, my wife accepted a teaching position in Aomori, Japan. This would be our first move outside of Florida and the changes were dramatic to say the least. The town we lived in, was on the very northern tip of the main island of Honshu. We were about 2 minutes from the mountains and 1 minute from the ocean. It was a landscape painter's paradise. Because of it's northern location, we had a particularly brutal winter as well as an extremely hot and humid summer, but this made for an interesting introduction to the Japanese countryside. This would be the first year that I would take a serious approach to landscape painting. I tried to paint from life daily and if the weather was too miserable, I would paint still-lifes of the local seafood. Here are some photos of my outdoor painting journey during my first year in Japan.
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| Early morning at Ichiyagani Park in autumn 2011. This was one of my first attempts at painting outdoors. It was a quiet and peaceful way to start the day. |
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| Ichiyagani Park: Sunrise - 8" x 10" - oil on gessoed wood |
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| I found this secluded location about 15 minutes by car from my house. It was a beautiful spot, on the cliffs right next to the Pacific Ocean in a small town called Tomari. |
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| Sometimes the weather made it pretty much impossible to go painting outdoors and I had to adapt. This meant painting fish from the local market! Umai! |
The snow is beginning to melt....Spring is here!
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