Busy Noisy Street, Kyoto, Japan

On a conference in 2006 I visited Kyoto, Japan for a week and did many paintings. This painting was done on a busy street near the house I was staying at. Just a few blocks from here was a massive temple. When they say temple they mean a large area covering several acres, with dozens of little temples connected by gardens and walkways. Yet the thing that inspired me most was this noisy, dirty street, imagine a constant stream of honking cars, buses and little white vans going by. I wanted to capture the extraordinary detail of this scene without spending all day painting. I started with a brief outline of the buildings, followed by the basic colour washes that make up the buildings. When dry, I put the details on top. Notice, to paint the tiles on the roofs, I just put a few squiggles, which provide the illusion of tiles without having to spend time painting every tile. Same thing for the bushes in the front, I just put some scribbles on top that look bush-like, without actually painting every leaf. This type of shortcut is especially important for the beginner painter to learn, as it is always tempting to paint or draw every blade of grass when only a few would be enough to give the required effect. 

Busy Noisy Street, Kyoto, Japan, watercolour 6 x 10" cold press, 2006 (No. 1212)