Galleria d'arte di Kimiyo

Something passed between them

2012-01-05T17:12:00.006+09:00

There is a famous dog which is said to understand 300 words of human language but sadly most people don't understand animal languages as well as they do.

I thought this was the moment that the man was understanding what the dog wanted to say and they were really communicating with each other.

Luckily I could catch this instant.

I wanted to focus on their connection through their exchange of glances. I wanted to express the man's response to the dog's trusting eyes and love.

53cm x 35.5cm

Summer breeze

2011-11-13T13:42:00.011+09:00

It was mid-summer on the waterfront.

She said she loved the summer sky so I imagined the whole painting as reflecting the sky colour using several different blue bases.

My main aim was to capture the gentle breeze she was facing into as a metaphor for her imagining that some happy event would happen to her soon after some upsetting life transitions.

The focus of the picture was the shadow cast on her face. It was also interesting to create the colours on her face and chest to make her expression come alive.

45cm x 35cm

Expecting

2011-10-08T09:33:00.009+09:00

This painting was very challenging.

By restricting the use of color, I was trying to create many different tones.

I was also trying to create a sense of perspective despite the lack of a background.

The intention was to depict a young mother who had a sense of pride and satisfaction in her radiant body.

I was also trying to impart her expectations for her future.

55 cm x 36 cm

Autumn shadows

2011-09-15T08:00:00.004+09:00

This was adapted from a photo which reminds me of my childhood.
The story is about a mother and child walking through the late afternoon sun in autumn. It is getting
dark so the mother is walking fast to go home pulling the child by her hand. The child however is fascinated by the the long shadows they cast.
As the sun goes down, their shadows get longer.

I wanted to tell this story by depicting their body movements, not their facial expressions.

42 x 33

Orchard Cafe

2011-05-19T14:12:00.005+09:00

...

This is a unique cafe, the Orchard, along the river from Cambridge in England.

There is no sound of clattering dishes and or coffee-making machines nor any music. Only the sounds of the leaves rustling in the breeze and birds chirping.

When I heard some famous poets and writers such as Rupert Brooke or E.M. Forster or Virginia Woolf used to take tea or coffee here, I understood why they were fond of it. It was a pleasant place to create or concentrate on their own work surrounded by nature. Especially in the shade of early summer.

I wanted to paint such atmosphere: the smell in the fields in early summer where people went to after enduring a long winter.

35 x 46 cm

...

End of the day

2011-04-18T11:57:00.007+09:00

A commonly seen scene at a local beach café in summer.

People sitting enjoying a coffee before going home.

I saw a man in the sun contrasting with a man in the shade.

And while the man in the sun was talking animatedly, I could not be sure that the man in the shade, like a lot of men(?) was actually listening.

28.5 cm x 42 cm

Siesta-time in a Spanish street

2011-02-24T15:36:00.006+09:00

...

An ordinary street in a quiet Spanish town.

It’s siesta time, almost nothing moves except an occasional figure and the flags flapping against the sky.

When the siesta time is over, voices call, people appear. Noise and movement bring the street to life again.

But in the middle of the siesta there is just the heat and a gentle dry breeze.

...

Forest Cyclist

2011-02-10T17:52:00.003+09:00

I did a version of this painting three years ago.

I was fascinated by the magical mosaic-like water reflections after the heavy rain.

But every time when I looked at it, I wanted to try it again.

I couldn't find a focus of interest in the forest scene.

Then after I added the tiny cyclist figure on the far side of the pond,

the magical mosaic-like water reflections after the heavy rain came alive.

Sometimes, landscapes need a human figure in them.

Saxophone in the Sunset

2010-10-23T17:39:00.011+09:00

…

An old black and white photo was the starting point for this picture; a musician had cycled to a park and was playing the saxophone contemplatively.

I bent a composition rule by putting the focal point at the center which artists usually say not to do because it divides the space in half and the eyes stop at the center.

I thought carefully how to paint the focus of the eyes and perspective devices such as clouds, birds, sun and mountains. To make the black and white photo come alive, I suggested that he was playing at sunset which, together with dawn, is the most colorful time of day.

There is a suggestion that the musician forgot to check the time and is absorbed completely in playing music.

42cm x 32 cm

…

Passive Human, Active Statue

2010-10-17T04:52:00.012+09:00

...

On a street in a colorful small town were a bronze statue and a young boy.

It seemed to me that the bronze lady was walking towards me. Her confident stride and happy wave suggested she was optimistic about her future.

Behind her sat a real boy, motionless, almost as if he was paralyzed by his inaction.

This contrast between them, back to back, seems to signify that a living person may exude a quiet passivity while a bronze statue can leap to life.

32 x 42 cm

...

Dancing Duo

2010-05-04T18:52:00.008+09:00

A few years ago, I drove past a man throwing a bundle of garden rubbish into a bin.

I stopped the car and asked him for some of the branches for my flower arrangement.One of them particularly interested me. It made me imagine a dancer performing some wild choregraphy. I tried to paint it straight away but it didn't turn out as I wanted.

Since then I kept thinking how I can treat this subject. A week ago I tried again. This time I painted it as a human dancer and as I did this, all of a sudden, this dead branch came alive and began to dance!

Cheese and Herbs Cellar

2010-04-19T16:31:00.008+09:00

This is a painting of a cheese and herbs shop found on one of my favorite Greek islands.

A few steps down behind the counter, a cheese cellar was bathed in light.

However, the photo I took was so dark that I could not see objects clearly which were hung on the wall and the floor except cheese table .

At first I thought how messy it was but I realized everything was carefully set to create a Greek atmosphere.

Usually when I paint from a photograph, I choose a photo which gives me some feeling. Then I edit it by removing or adding objects.

This time I took some time over the process and choosing colours to create my image
from the photo.

27 cm x 36 cm

Mrs X

2010-04-19T16:07:00.007+09:00

When she came to sit as a model the first time, I just drew her as an object.

But at the coffee break, I could get to know her personality more by her gentle manner and throug her way of talking to people.

I chose the colours to match her, a gentle touch of the brush work and soft touch of pencil drawing to express her character as closely as possible.

36 cm x 26 cm

A Golden Clearing

2010-03-22T08:09:00.006+09:00

This is also an autumn view. Some trees bathe the woods around them in a golden yellow light.

Even the sky and ground are suffused with this golden color.

When I walk through this forest clearing, I have an illusion like going into a land of fantasy.

Autumn's beauty is powerful enough to make the people (who don't take photos often) to go out on a nature walk to take photos.

35 cm x 25 cm

Flaming tree

2010-03-22T07:42:00.005+09:00

In autumn, the mountains, parks wherever maple trees grow, they turn just like a fire flaming in the light.

It often looks like they are using up all their energy to look their best before finishing life.

However, we all know they will come back again with a new look of a fresh green colour in spring.

I tried to express the tree's power and energy by the various bright colors which I don't use usually.

25 cm x 36 cm

Where is going?

2010-03-10T11:38:00.008+09:00

...
This is a sad time which everyone goes through sometime or has in the past. And it is a part of everyday life.

I painted three groups in this picture. On the left, is the undertaker and the minister who is conducting the service.

On the right, the family and friends who are experiencing grief at the passing of the old man.

My focus is the children in the center. They are looking down into the grave full of

curiosity to understand where he is going.

Instead of creating a sad mood, I treated this more as a scene with different people executing different roles. Therefore it doesn't evoke an especially sad atmosphere, almost fun, because of the children.

27 cm x 36 cm

Elelphant at Play

2010-02-24T08:52:00.007+09:00

While I was painting this , I was wondering whether this elephant was splashing the water just to cool himself down or simply having fun to tease his rider?

When I saw the elephant painting his own self-portrait using his trunk to hold a brush (he drew an elephant figure!) on YouTube, I wanted to know more about elephants.

According to WikiPedia, they are a very intelligent mammal. Their brain can process feelings such as grief and compassion. They can make music, they can use tools, they have self awareness and they can PLAY. In this situation he was surely playing. I had the impression from his eyes that he was smiling.

In this composition I was especially interested in the elephant using the powerful water pressure to spray whirls of mist around the girl and above her head .

33 cm x 41 cm

Nassos, a silversmith

2010-02-16T07:12:00.007+09:00

The old city in Naxos (a Greek island) has a long history of constant invasion by Turks and pirates. The city itself was planned like a fort and streets were a maze. Some streets come to an abrupt end or become so narrow with lowered headroom so that adults can't pass through easily.

There we found Nassos, a silversmith in his workshop. In the shop there were some tourists but he did not stop working and kept making jewelry. He was totally absorbed in his own world. I was moved by his expression which expressed passion and pride in his work.

I took his photo while he was adjusting this ring which I bought. Later I found out his jewelry is well known in Europe and New York, although he works out of this tiny shop on this small island hideaway.

35 x 40 cm

La Traviatta

2009-12-19T06:40:00.007+09:00

While I was listening to their performance in the St.Paul cathedral in Roma 3 years ago, I was already thinking how I can express my emotion and feeling of this wonderful music into my painting.

Their voice was filled up in the big space of the12th century church which was entirely decorated in mosaic with gold and colours. Also the acoustics left me with a powerful memory and I kept hearing their music in my head for a few days after.

Coincidentally, when I started to paint this, I was also practicing singing. Because of that, my hand moved freely and quickly. And most of all I truly enjoyed working on this.

(42cm x 31cm)

Flower Seller

2009-11-27T11:05:00.006+09:00

This is also a sight of Nepal.

At the side of the temple, the women are selling flowers to offer to the Buddha with prayers.

These flowers have a sweet fragrance and they are only heads by the string like bracelet.

What interests me about the these women is that they are not selling the flowers aggressively trying to sell the flowers.

They are sitting on the ground chatting, feeding a baby or just thinking. This is not a common sight which you will see

in ordinary shops in other countries.

Also, time seems to be passing at a quite different pace compared with the outside world.

Tailor

2009-11-02T13:08:00.004+09:00

This tailor was seen in working in his room from out on the street. This was a busy bustling street in Nepal.

I tried to express his concentration by encouraging the viewer's eye to move from the bright colour of the cloth to the face and also his hand on the sewing machine, all of which seemed linked up together.

It was a harder task than I thought. It was like I had to constantly solve problems as I developed the painting , including the adjusting of colour tone and light's variations by limited colours.

Here you are

2009-10-18T15:26:00.010+09:00

...

Seeing this girl standing on the path, my interest went to the light which leads up to the sky from the ground.

The small girl has the appearance of looking for her best friend. This is just the moment when she finds him. She still has a trace of worry on her face.

I painted her at the moment of coming into my sight. This allowed me to accentuate the coloring of the pink shirt and boots.

...

Teenage boy expression

2009-05-02T13:06:00.005+09:00

...
I hear human beings have 50 to 60 muscles in their face to express feelings while a cat has only 6 muscles.

When we think about our body language, we must have a great of number of expressions.

This is an expression on the face of a teenage boy who was about to answer his friend's question.

I was trying to capture the moment when his facial expression was one of being relaxed and happy.

Teen

portrait

(30cm x 27cm)

...

Young family

2009-04-18T10:35:00.009+09:00

...

This picture reminds me of the time we had to go through in our life if you have family.

That was the busiest time in our life such as looking after children, career, home, schooling and a busy social life.

It was the time when we just devoted ourselves to the family. When I look back on he past now they are all precious memories of life at that time.

I focussed on the wife's expression and the husband who was carrying the child on his shoulders.

(45 cm x 31 cm)

...

Parting

2009-03-27T06:04:00.010+09:00

...

This shot was taken on a street in Copenhagen a couple of years ago. When I saw these two beautiful young men, I quickly imagined what the situation was all about.

They must be arguing. The one standing behind seemed to have already made up his mind about something, judging by his posture. However the one sitting down still seemed to be confused about something. I think everyone has gone through this sort of experience sometime in their life.

I chose the colours to express the atmosphere of the young men and the contrast in their attittude. I put some suggestive shadow of a 3rd person on the ground to make a story develop, as if that other person had come between them. The lighter part of the foreground between them also suggests their impending separation.

Unlike the previous picture of the three people and a boat, in this picture I wanted to express the idea of time having stopped still.

...

Three generations

2009-02-28T05:51:00.008+09:00

...

I was interested in these three figures' movements which expresses the sharing of an interest in

sailing in a family. They were working together to rig the sailboat for a race.

I imagine the grandfather's interest in sailing was transfered to his son. Now the grandfather and his son are passing on their knowledge learned from their own experiences to the grandson. I could feel an unspoken bond between them.

The colors were mixed to suggest the variations in temperature in the scene.

Reading a text message

2009-02-08T16:01:00.006+09:00

...

When I paint a portrait I try to express some feeling in the subject's face than rather than creating an absolute likeness.

This is a portrait of an unknown man at an unknown place. I imagined him in a situation like he was reading a text message he had just received.

My focus in this painting was the way he was totally concentrated on what he was reading.

...

Monk running late for prayers

2008-12-06T15:44:00.009+09:00

The composition is simple. Just a monk walking by the sea.

In fact the composition is simple so that it could be boring. So it was an interesting challenge to make the viewer's eye move around the scene.

I suggested the sky by adding its reflection in the puddle , also the monk's reflection. I varied the colour of the beach.

Just one figure and his reflection gave this painting a sense of vast space.

Life study

2008-11-25T06:37:00.005+09:00

This is a study of a human body. I find it endlessly challenging.

Depending on the subject's posture and their movement, their shape is always changing. Each model has a different structure, and their muscles and body appearance are all totally different.

I find it easier to draw people when I forget they are human beings. I start out by trying to render the basic form first and then identify my focal points.

Bill

2008-09-20T13:48:00.002+09:00

...

There are some people who have the effect of making me wanting to paint their portrait. Particularly when I see their face. And this desire keeps coming back, even if this is not possible to do at that time or in that place.

Bill was one such person. From the first meeting, his image hung around in my mind for some time. Because he was the music teacher, his image was fixed in my mind immediately as Bill and Piano.

I took several photos of him for his portrait. Among them I chose the one in which Bill was preparing tea for me.

I could feel an air surrounding him just like that of a Buddha. Calmness, warmth, gentleness and serenity. That was Bill.

...

Hide and seek

2008-08-08T08:41:00.006+09:00

...
When winter came, I felt as if all the colours in the garden had faded away. Even the blue sky which we have occasionally looks weak and depressing. But the colour of golden oranges on the tree in the garden is the only thing which brightens me up. I could also find several mischevous faces on the oranges behind the leaves just like children playing hide and seek.

I observed the variety of shapes and colours of oranges from up close to far away to create a sense of perspective.

I was interested in the contrast between the colour of bright oranges and dark green leaves.

Anna

2008-07-16T07:19:00.005+09:00

...

We had a child model, Anna, who we had to draw on sketching paper like Gina of last time.

Unlike the adult model, Gina, it was hard for the child to keep the same posture for more than minute.

Since she kept changing her position and her expression I had to sketch her as quickly as possible.

She looked bored by having to sit for so long but she gave us a big smile when she received some pocket money for this at the end of the session.

This time I controlled the water quantity very carefully and used the pencil to make the lines darker.
...

Gina

2008-07-10T18:30:00.007+09:00

...
This is Gina. It was a cold day and there is only one small electric heater in the hall in which our drawing group meets every Tuesday. So Gina would only pose for 15 minutes. But she's a good model. She can strike a natural pose and hold it without moving for a good length of time.

I did this on a rough sketching pad because I did not plan to paint it when I started.

The paper was very smooth and slippery. It did not therefore absorb water at all well. The paint ran and the paper curled up.

But, in the end, I liked this sketch because I could capture her pose and her aura.
...

Winter morning

2008-07-03T13:40:00.004+09:00

I woke up and looked out the window onto a white world. The view of the estuary had vanished completely and looked like a white paper,

A couple of hours passed until the fog lifted and the view came back.

I was interested watching the fog which gradually thinned and how objects like water, the sand, and houses on the other side reappeared mysteriously.

I tried to create the cold winter's view by the gradation of the colours. I had to mix the pigment with the water carefully to get right colours.

Feeding time for carp

2008-05-21T09:30:00.005+09:00

...
I sometimes see many carp emerging out of the deep, dark pond, appearing suddenly as if from nowhere, when people drop bread in the water.

There is a sudden flurry of water, there ripples and sometimes even Water waves. There is a splashing of water and sparkling of light.

I wanted to paint the moment of the carp feeding time. I tried to create the depth of water through this painting .
...

Massive Fig Tree

2008-04-20T18:49:00.005+09:00

...

I started this painting two years ago. I couldn't solve a problem: that was I couldn't express the sense of the massiveness of the root structure. So I gave up and left it unfinished for two years. But I kept looking at the painting asking myself, "What's the problem?"

Then one day, the words of Sherlock Holmes flashed into my mind. He was telling Watson, "Return to the scene of the crime."

So I went back to the tree. I restarted the painting and solved the problem by focusing only on the roots. The power of the root structure is the essence of this tree.

I was so impressed with this tree, I wanted to hug him.

...

That's him!

2008-03-26T07:42:00.005+09:00

For this painting I used a simple photo of two old people looking at sailing boats in the distance.

When I began to draw this photo, I developed the story in this way. It was midday on a bright, hot summer's day, and the grandparents were looking for the yacht sailed by their grandson. They saw him when he sailed by and waved out to them.

Above them, up in the sky, seagulls were enjoying gliding in the wind's upcurrents.

I tried to flood the whole paper with bright sun and just used a touch of shadow under the objects.

The Yawn

2008-03-16T05:48:00.003+09:00

Leo, a cute Siamese cat, often yawns. My daughter saw him yawning, grabbed a camera, and asked him to yawn again. He did! So I used this photograph for this painting. I focused on his mouth and nose. The rest of his face I deemphasized by using subdued colors.

Lunch at a vineyard

2008-02-27T18:04:00.003+09:00

When we had lunch at a vineyard one summer afternoon, I felt the taste of food better than other places in town where you have to listen to noisy music and people's voices.
We were surrounded by nature's sounds such as cicardas, and breeze blowing through the trees.
And people's time there seemed to stop and they looked so relaxed.

I wanted to transfer to my painting what I felt there.

Festa di Sansepolcro

2008-01-30T00:05:00.000+09:00

We timed it well to be in Sansepolcro for a festival.

I chose the colours carefully to recreate the old and mysterious atmosphere of ancient Rome.

I saw two modern girls chatting and eating ice cream corn in Roman costume among a lot of people.

In order to focus on those two girls, I edited the photograph and relocated them on steps which I imagined.

Paradise

2008-01-30T00:02:00.001+09:00

When I painted this, I had an image of a tropical bird in a thick rain forest. Then it became a metaphor of a flower.

I saw many interesting V shapes here and there by created straight lines so my attention went to the negative spaces first when I began to draw.

I tried to keep the transparency of the petals to make an effect like light coming through the petals.

Fun in the flooded forest

2008-01-06T18:05:00.001+09:00

A sudden storm left the woods flooded. Boys rode the bicycles through the water laughing and splashing.

This painting is a contrast with the previous painting which showed stillness and use of limited colour.

It was the second time I have tried painting moving objects. I wanted to leave brush marks in the front to create the movement using a dry brush and in the back I used a wet brush on wet paint to show still water. Also, I spent some time composing the lighting.

study of the light

2007-12-30T06:13:00.001+09:00

This is the copy from some artist who well understands light in water-color painting.
I was interested in such a simple composition of the light painted within the limitations of just a few colors.

I did not know what mixture of colors she used so I chose ultramarine , yellow ochre and burnt sienna to make a variety of tones and it turned out quite satisfactorily.

Summer Stream

2007-10-21T17:57:00.001+09:00

This was my favorite spot in the park this summer. I used to talk to these children and they responded cheerfully.
This place was shelted by the thick tree branches so that it was a pleasant play spot for them to escape from the fierce heat this summer. I was attracted by a couple of lines like spot lights on the dark water which showed the children clearly and you felt cool air and summer heat at the same time.

Pencil Drawing

2007-10-21T17:47:00.000+09:00

This is the one of 25 pencil drawings done over the past two months for a book entitled “A Book of Talk” to be published next February. It is of Daniel Dennett, a philosopher who recently became famous by questioning religious beliefs.
It was an interesting exercise to study human faces from photographs. Before I started to draw the face, I spent some time trying to catch the characteristic lines on the face, structure of the head and parts of the face. What interested me was that when only a single line was misplaced or drawn on the face, this made the person looked almost a completely different person. The most important places to focus on were eyes and mouth. If they were done well, the character would emerge.

After rain in the forest

2007-08-26T13:47:00.000+09:00

After heavy rain fell in the forest there were pools here and there. This is one of them. It looks like a grand painting of the sky and trees, which were cut out from Nature and hanging on the wall of the ground. It was a wonderful masterpiece of Art Nature.

Technically, I tried to contrast the brightness of the sky through the reflection in the water with darkness in the damp ground.

spider cobweb

2007-07-19T09:31:00.000+09:00

One morning, I was breathless for a second when I saw some lines of sparkling diamond light outside of the window. This wonder of nature which had fascinated me since the time I was a child was the cobweb.

I never got tired of watching these being made by a spider.

To me, it was a sense of surprise and as if it were some magical work completing the form in a beautiful design.

It took some days for me to create the cobweb in my painting and composition to create a sense of depth behind the web. Getting the right tones in the colors took a of lot work too.

Walk with grandpa

2007-06-22T19:10:00.000+09:00

I saw the two figures which disappeared in a second at the entrance of the park. It was as if they vanished into the morning light while walking. The two trees stood there like a gate.

公園の入り口で垣間見た大小の姿が消えたときの印象。まるで二人が、朝の空気の中へ散歩に行ったような瞬間。2本の木が、門のようにも見えた。

palm trees

2007-06-07T21:32:00.000+09:00

This was a tropical view when I looked up at the sky from the beach chair . About 20 to 30 m high tall palm trees, were standing freely and joyously . They were so much like the local people there.

Rotoiti's sunset

2007-04-20T10:32:00.000+09:00

We have often visited Lake Rotoiti during Christmases and Easters. Sunset is a special time there.
Facing west down the lake ,the light in the sky changes as fast as wind.

Captureing the right moment and the right colours is not easy.
So I painted this sunset using my memories and imagination. It might remind you of some sunset you have seen elsewhere.

In this work I focussed on clarity and varieties of tones. I also paid attention to the sense of the space by guiding the viewers eye movements through the use of perspective devices.

Birthday Party

2007-04-09T15:19:00.000+09:00

Some time ago we stayed at a 300 year old stone cottage at the lake district. As soon as I stepped into the room, my eyes were glued to one of the photos of the wall.

It was the photo of a bunch of girls playing in the garden and just like our daughter's 6 years old birhtday party.

Then I felt as if I was in the picture with them listening to girls giggling, laughing and noises of running footsteops.
After the trip I recreated the photo to the painting.

All these memories came to me all sudden while I was watching the movie "Miss Potter" , who lived in the lake district.

The passion

2007-04-02T18:33:00.000+09:00

When you get exhausted by the hustle of Roma , the best place is the church as the shelter.One afternoon I went into the Bassilica di Santa Maria degli angeli to excape from the heat and noise , I saw a bronze sculpture which was illuminated by the candle lights .

It's colour was dull and dark bronze but I could see the blood shedding from his chest and air around him was mysterious.

Rain begins

2007-03-19T11:43:00.000+09:00

To me, one of the challenging subjects is the sky and sea which are changing constantly. I am lucky to be where I can look at them spread out right in front of our garden.
These two cabbage trees standing against strong winds have always fascinated me, I am reminded of something spiritual in them.

break/一休み

2007-03-06T15:25:00.000+09:00

The sight at the back street in Napoli. I wanted to paint the light and the heat in southern Italy.
Also their washing lines were interesting and they looked like international flags at the distance.

Portrait

2007-02-23T13:33:00.000+09:00

Happy talk with a glass of vino.
幸せの時間

Romeo and Juliet

2007-02-18T13:23:00.000+09:00

From a photograph taken in Vico in Puglia, Italy in a restaurant inside an old castle. Photo taken July 2005. I was fascinated by the light at night. That is pretty much as it was. But the two figures are a composite of people coming and going during the evening.