Nijo Castle, Kyoto Japan

   I chose watercolor as the medium for my Japan series for two reasons. The main reason was because I thought that watercolor, as a painting medium, lent itself to the fluidity and airiness of the Japanese landscape. Japan, at least in the summer months, is hot and the air heavy and dense much like the balminess of the southern states in July. There is a certain transparency in the pigment of watercolor that when layered, color upon color in thin applications, has the ability to create a beautiful sense of light and complexity.  That is precisely how I saw the Japanese landscape: filled with light and complexity of shape and textures!

   The second reason why I chose to work in this medium was due to the scale that I perceived working in. I envisioned these paintings to be small, in fact almost miniatures. One of the quirkier sides to Japanese culture is there obsession with cute, ornate and small trinkets. Countless times I found myself lost in a store filled with endless amounts of miniature, quaint merchandise. Collecter keychains, perfectly packages tea sets and miniture handpainted sushi sets abounded. The Japanese at least from what I saw like items neately package and small so I thought that my paintings should be small  too. Watercolor works great on a small scale because it is much easier to layer with delicate brushes. Pastel is hard to work with on a small scale because the pastel sticks in general are big and chunky, not good for tiny detail. This little painting is a Shogun's home in Kyoto it is 3 x 4.5 inches.  

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