Japan Paintings Final Batch from 2006

Going through some old backup disks I found a folder containing photos taken in the year 2007 of selected paintings. Some of them were earlier than 2007 like the ones of the Yangtze River, but most had been done around the time like 2006's Japan paintings. On the web version you can use tags to see all the Japan paintings, as far as I can tell they have all been posted now. The one you see above was a temple in Kyoto, the original painting was given away as a gift I believe, it was not on my catalogue, lucky I found the backup disk.  

Japan, Kyoto Temple 5 x 8" cold press Watercolour  2006  

 This was done at the same temple if memory serves me correct, it was some sort of good luck decoration hanging from an old tree. Considering the limitations of my palette at the time which I recently recreated in this blog, it is amazing how many earthy and gold tones I could produce. Too bad the alizarin crimson I used is not stable, these paintings would not be good to hang in the sunlight. Guess I have to go back to Japan and do some new ones when the pandemic is over!

Japan, Kyoto Temple Ornament 6 x 10" cold press Watercolour  2006 (No. 1209)  

 The bed and breakfast I stayed at had a bicycle to borrow and I whipped around Kyoto for an afternoon. A sprawling park in the south of the city had plenty of cherry blossoms and neat trees to paint, with amazing mountains in the background. You an see the cerulean blue (PB35) glowing in the distant mountains.

Japan, Kyoto leaning tree 5 x 7" cold press Watercolour  2006

 

It started to rain that day so I hopped on the bike and tried to get back in time. Then a crane landed on a tiny tuft of land in the middle of the river that surrounds Kyoto. I had to paint it, even through the rain was coming down. The crane flew away shortly after I started the painting, and there were people walking on the other side of the embankment with umbrellas. 

Japan, Kyoto Crane 5 x 12" cold press Watercolour  2006 (No. 1210)

     

For a day trip I headed up to a small mountain village in the hills north of Kyoto where they hold a fire festival each year. Some of the other people I knew from the Conference I had attended in Nagoya were there too! Many of us had taken the extra week vacation after the conference and headed to Kyoto. This view is from the very top stairs of the temple complex looking back down into the valley. Another valley scene is in this blog, it was a magical place.

Japan, Kundai, Top of Stairs View, 5 x 8" cold press Watercolour  2006 (No. 1208)