Second in my yearlong Preserve Coyote Valley Series.
Coyote Valley, a large expanse of farmlands, orchards, and scattered homes has been the subject of a war between the developers and conservationists for years. I am spending a year painting at least once a month a scene in the valley, either en plein air (on location), or studio paintings. You can read about my first painting in this year long quest here, and a video here.
We have had an unusual number of storms coming through the San Francisco Bay area the last week or so. For the second Coyote Valley painting, I decided to make it as much about the sky as the valley.
The painting is a barn along Kalana Avenue, a short street just over a mile long in the valley. I started this piece en plein air (on location), but finished it in the studio…probably about 70-30. I took a little artists license and moved some trees around, shortened the barn, but overall it’s about what it looked like.
Below are a few shots of the day.
Stay tuned for more. I still have to report on the Carmel Art Festival with some great drone video along the California coast!
Hokkaido is the northernmost, second largest, and least developed of Japan’s four main islands. The winters are harsh with lots of snowfall, below zero temperatures and frozen seas, while in summer it does not get as hot and humid as in the other parts of Japan.With unspoiled nature, Hokkaido attracts many outdoor lovers, including skiers and snowboarders in the colder seasons. Hikers, cyclists, and campers come during summer and fall.It is considered to have some of the best snow powder in the world.
I just returned from a couple weeks in Japan visiting my son, who recently moved to Sapporo, the capital and largest city in Hokkaido.After 5 years living in SW rural Japan, he wanted a change of scenery so moved to northern Japan and one of the snowiest metropolis’s in the world. Sapporo hosted the first ever Olympics in Asia, the 1972 Winter games.
Soon after we arrived, we realized it would be raining in a few days, so we took advantage of the sunshine, rented a car, and drove around the Hokkaido countryside for a couple days.Our first daytrip was south of Sapporo where we enjoyed rural Hokkaido and visited a couple lakes. The lakes in this area are all caldera lakes, that is, they are ancient volcanos.
The first was Lake Shikotsu-ku. We spent some time at the visitors center (we were in a national park), and I did a quick 90 minute study, plus a drone flight.The lake is very reminiscent of Lake Tahoe, except without all the boulders along the shore.
Lake Shikotsu
We then went on to Lake Toya, which was just as pretty, but it was getting late in the day, so flew the drone, and then headed home.
The next day, Justin and I headed to the Shakotan coastal area.What a spectacular coastline! It is much like the coastal areas of California, but with little Japanese fishing villages scattered throughout. We drove to the fishing village of Shakotan, had lunch, and then backtracked to a place I had spotted on our drive there to paint.
Shimadomarigyo Harbor is a small fishing harbor along the coast with a view of Candle Rock, an unusual natural monolith. It was a beautiful view, but the winds were around 20mph with gusts up to 40.Even my tubes of paint were being blown away. I moved to a boat shed to get out of the wind, but it was still too much to handle, so I made a quick study to finish the painting later.
The final painting is at the top of this weblog entry. Here are a few shots of the area…
I was disappointed the strong winds prevented me from flying my drone and capturing this amazing place from above, so this area is definitely on my list for the next visit!
There doesn’t seem to be as many temples and shrines in Hokkaido as in other parts of Japan.My assumption is this is because Hokkaido was the last area where the Japanese people populated.Prior to that, the Ainu indigenous people inhabited the area.
However, there was a little Buddhist shrine a few blocks from Justin’s apartment, called Nantoku Shrine, so I spent a few hours painting it.
Nantoku Shrine
The shrine in the painting looks a little askew, so will correct that when I have time.
The next day was still nice, so I went back to the same place and did another painting facing a different way.
Cherry Blossoms
Overall it was a wonderful journey and we saw new parts of Japan. I was a little disappointed I wasn’t able to fly my drone more, but when we were at places where it is allowed, the weather didn’t cooperate.
