It's been a while since I posted my paintings last time. Here are some I did past few months. Colors are not exactly correct but I chose photos closest to the originals.

These 3 are triptych. With too much oil on surface, the paintings have some glare. But the colors are closer to the actual paintings.

Next 4 are not exactly 4-panel apintings but they look OK to put them together....I think. What I have been working on is not only color combinations but also new texture. Hope in future I will be able to create some good pieces.

photo

Here are a couple of new paintings and older ones with new photos.

The first two side-by-side pieces are actually a triptych. The yellow one is in the middle. But because of the limited space, I had to divide pictures this way. The grey panel of right side photo

was a bit of a struggle. I changed the process of painting, and it didn't work well at all but in the end it came out rather well.

The top piece is a newer version of the paintings below. When I finished the older version, I thought the colors were too washed-out, so repainted this way. The piece still looks somewhat pale because of lighting.

These next 3 photos are re-taken with better lighting. Colors are much closer to the originals.

I have been working on another triptych and will post on my next blog.

my studio/sauna

Today I show a few pictures of my studio space/sauna. Why do I call it sauna? Well, in summer days, it gets really HOT. I mean HOT!





So, here they are. Those stack of things wrapped by brown paper is my paintings I brought back from SF. There are about 100 of them! Too many.

This is my new friend (easel). The new easel with some new paintings. I love this new friend because the vertical bar stretches out up to 7'! It's much better than one I had in California. I cost about $130. I'm planning to put 4 small wheels on the bottom of this easel so that I will be able to move it around.

Here is where I paint....the whitish board on the lower left is my palette which I found in a hardware store. The painting on a drawing easel is a part of my new triptych.

OK, until next time. So long.

paintings

Today I post the first painting since I came back to Japan. It's a small diptych and a bit gloomy side. But here it is. Because the lighting was not ideal, it looks a bit washed out. They are much darker and subdued actually. Also, the digital camera I have is not isometric, and the picture itself looks a bit distorted. I haven't put a title yet.

This is another washed-out photo of 2nd painting. This time a triptych. The center panel is supposed to be deep earthy green. The texture itself is like paper's. Just tried differnt technique to create different texture. Also no title.

This is another set of triptych, and again I tried to create paper-like texture but this one was less successful. No title yet.

They are finished pieces and there are 2 sets of on-going triptychs which are bit larger.
When I finished these, I'll post them.

On football

I went to a football (soccer) game 2 nights ago. My high school buddy's mom had an extra ticket for my hometown team's game, so I went to see it at Saitama Stadium. My hometown team is Urawa Reds. It was a beautiful stadium with a great seat....near the halfway line. This was the first time to see the Reds' game but unfortunately the team lost with their lacklustre performance.

Yes, I LOVE football since I was a kid. The first major game I watched on TV was the 1974 World Cup final between West Germany and the Netherlands. I was mesmerized by Johan Cruyff's play, and since then, I am a HUGE Dutch football fan. Of course I watched this year's World Cup. I was rooting for 3 teams from the beginning of the tournament...Holland, Germany, and Spain, especially the Dutch who had always shown entertaining football. But this time, they puzzled me. They were tough but didn't seem to have a flowing football they used to play. Most of the players were from Euro 2008 when they showed a great performance in the group stage but when the new coach took over, they changed their style. They almost played like the Germans, and Germany played like the Dutch. The result...we all know. I was happy for the Spanish team 'cuz they played beautiful football but I was a bit sad because Holland played a little dirty. Over all, though, I enjoyed the tournament. Now it seems like party's over, and I will have to wait another 2 years for the Euro 2012 and 4 years for another World Cup. It's gonna be a long wait.

introduction

Well, here is my first blog. I don't know what I should write or how I should I write....oh, what the hell, I just write whatever pops in my head but basically I write on my paintings, my life in Japan, my friends and other of my interests . So, here is it.

Before anything, I think I should write a little bit of my background. I actually am Japanese...born and raised. But for some reason, I began to go to college in California in the early 90's (I left my country in the mid 80's when I was in my mid 20's....for Europe and the US). I graduated from an art school called California college of the Arts (used to be called California College of Arts and Crafts up to a few years ago) in Oakland, CA and lived in the San Francisco Bay Area until the end of last year (2009). I have been showing my paintings at Triangle Gallery in San Francisco since 2002. This is the first time in 25 years to live in Japan, and man, things have changed and have been different. Well, I'll write about my experiences in Japan later.

Yes, my paintings. Since I came back to Japan, I have completed 8 small canvases...one diptych and 2 triptychs, all are abstract paintings. I have mixed feeling about these pieces....one day they look OK, and the other day they look complete failure. It usually takes at least several months to be able to see them objectively, so I'll have to wait another few months. Once I take photos of my paintings, I think I'll post them on this blog so that my friends can see them.

It's hideously hot here in Japan, and I hate this combination of heat and humidity...absolutely disgusting! I am spoiled by the San Francisco summer which was nice and cool. Now the weather is like one in NYC. Yikes! It is too hot to continue this blog, so I'll continue some other time.