Even though I’m not fond of the heat, I am drawn to the unique ambiance and charm of summer. The lingering warmth of the day carries over into the evening air, and the droning of insects, sounding from the lush profusion of grass and wildflowers, plays against the cool stillness of the water’s surface and the reflection of the moonlight. Here, water lilies transform into a dance of butterflies and they spiral up into the night sky, fluttering in a luminous rainbow of soft light. As they rise, the light cascades down, or does it also rise from the water? I invite the viewer to free their imagination and decide for themselves.

In my travels abroad I have sometimes come upon floors tiled with a checkerboard pattern. The first floor of the Picasso Museum in Paris, France, uses this sophisticated pattern, and that air of orderly style influenced this painting. In this work, a vase heaped with autumnal blooms stands at the fore, the hue of the vase is echoed in the color of the Art Deco patterned wall and a checkered flooring draws the eye through the chamber to an inviting view of the garden beyond.

The full moon is lovely to behold, but a crescent moon hanging low in the eastern sky also holds an eloquent allure. I’ve yearned to create a piece depicting this lunar phase so I set the moon low in a clouded sky above a group of shaded cedars and a field of wild grasses. The trees contrast the darkening horizon, directing the viewer’s gaze and thoughts into the twilight distance while the foreground holds two rabbits sharing a brief interlude while on their way to their hidden burrows.

　

When I think of life as something that has been passed from generation to generation since time immemorial, I feel that my own life is a very precious gift to have come to me, now, through so many that have come before my time. This composition is in praise of nature and life as well as my wish that our blue planet will remain beautiful for all eternity. This work received the “Member’s Honorable Mention” at the 48th Japan Modern Naive Art Exhibition.

I am fascinated by the dignified figure of white lilies. They have previously appeared in my works, but only as ambient elements. In this piece, I wanted to present them as the focus and share their eloquent beauty. I sought to capture the moment of coming upon lilies blooming beneath the moonlight, and the different faces presented by the orientation of the blossoms.

Inspiration often comes to me from many sources but this is the first time I have painted a scene inspired by a novel. The novel had a visually arresting description of a street corner in New York on a July afternoon, when the low and damp sky looked as if it was about to give way to rain. A bus was likened to a fish’s flashing silver belly, and a young woman appeared in a raincoat, humming a tune as she looked up at the heavy sky. I was intrigued by a merger of the sky and the sea juxtaposed against urban scenery. To represent the shimmer of water, I used thin, irregular brush strokes to impart texture and added blotchy pools of color at the base of objects to depict distorted reflections.

This composition tells a tale. A leopard with despair from hunger and loneliness in its eyes sees something far off in the distance, approaching as dawn touches the horizon behind it. The two were very close by the time the leopard realized it was a solitary giraffe, which spoke to him.
“I’m so glad to finally meet you,” the giraffe said.
The leopard was surprised and asked, “Aren’t you afraid of me?”
“Not at all,” said the giraffe, “I’ve been looking for a friend for a long time.
The leopard stared thoughtfully at the giraffe, trying to decide whether to satisfy his hunger or relieve his loneliness, but it noticed that the giraffe’s legs looked very strong and it thought that a kick might end his life if he wasn’t careful in how he attacked this prey. So the leopard decided to continue traveling with the giraffe for the time being, assuming an opportunity might arise where it could safely take it as prey.
Then, to his surprise, the giraffe proved useful to the leopard.
The giraffe provided shade as they walked in the harsh sunlight and with its long neck, they were sometimes able to catch prey that lived in the trees.
In return, the leopard safeguarded the giraffe when they rested so that they would not be attacked.
As they continued their journey, they would sometimes meet others of their kind but neither the giraffe nor the leopard wished to return to their respective places – they had come to enjoy each other’s differences.

This piece tells the story of the moon and sakura blossoms.
The sakura tree spoke to the moon, saying, “good evening, your light is beautiful tonight.”
But the moon didn’t reply and only distorted before her gaze.
So she spoke again, asking the moon, “please shine your light upon me.”
Still, the moon only shimmered and swayed before her.
Saddened by the silence, the sakura fluttered her petals, they fell as if she were weeping.
It was then that she heard a voice from above her,
“I am still shining upon you.”
Then the sakura looked up in amazement because the moon was in the sky above her.
She had been so enamored of the moon’s reflection upon the water below her that she had forgotten to turn her gaze to the sky.

This composition presents an evening view of Lake Tateshina. I wanted to share the moment when the surface of the water perfectly reflects the sky, the surrounding trees, and the mountains. It is then that the evergreens both stand as shadowed silhouettes against the sky and simultaneously seem to reach down into the reflection on the lake’s surface. I used subtle variances within a monotone palette to emphasize detail without detracting from the ambiance.

In 2019 I painted a series that was inspired by my journeys through Bali and the enchanting doors found in their architecture. Three years later, I returned to this motif, enchanted anew by those brilliant doors and the theme that such doors could open into different worlds. Much like a popular children’s fantasy here in Japan, I feel there are many doors within our minds and that we easily travel between the different worlds and our reality each time we use our imagination.

Even though I’m not fond of the heat, I am drawn to the unique ambiance and charm of summer. The lingering warmth of the day carries over into the evening air, and the droning of insects, sounding from the lush profusion of grass and wildflowers, plays against the cool stillness of the water’s surface and the reflection of the moonlight. Here, water lilies transform into a dance of butterflies and they spiral up into the night sky, fluttering in a luminous rainbow of soft light. As they rise, the light cascades down, or does it also rise from the water? I invite the viewer to free their imagination and decide for themselves.

In my travels abroad I have sometimes come upon floors tiled with a checkerboard pattern. The first floor of the Picasso Museum in Paris, France, uses this sophisticated pattern, and that air of orderly style influenced this painting. In this work, a vase heaped with autumnal blooms stands at the fore, the hue of the vase is echoed in the color of the Art Deco patterned wall and a checkered flooring draws the eye through the chamber to an inviting view of the garden beyond.

The full moon is lovely to behold, but a crescent moon hanging low in the eastern sky also holds an eloquent allure. I’ve yearned to create a piece depicting this lunar phase so I set the moon low in a clouded sky above a group of shaded cedars and a field of wild grasses. The trees contrast the darkening horizon, directing the viewer’s gaze and thoughts into the twilight distance while the foreground holds two rabbits sharing a brief interlude while on their way to their hidden burrows.

　

When I think of life as something that has been passed from generation to generation since time immemorial, I feel that my own life is a very precious gift to have come to me, now, through so many that have come before my time. This composition is in praise of nature and life as well as my wish that our blue planet will remain beautiful for all eternity. This work received the “Member’s Honorable Mention” at the 48th Japan Modern Naive Art Exhibition.

I am fascinated by the dignified figure of white lilies. They have previously appeared in my works, but only as ambient elements. In this piece, I wanted to present them as the focus and share their eloquent beauty. I sought to capture the moment of coming upon lilies blooming beneath the moonlight, and the different faces presented by the orientation of the blossoms.

Inspiration often comes to me from many sources but this is the first time I have painted a scene inspired by a novel. The novel had a visually arresting description of a street corner in New York on a July afternoon, when the low and damp sky looked as if it was about to give way to rain. A bus was likened to a fish’s flashing silver belly, and a young woman appeared in a raincoat, humming a tune as she looked up at the heavy sky. I was intrigued by a merger of the sky and the sea juxtaposed against urban scenery. To represent the shimmer of water, I used thin, irregular brush strokes to impart texture and added blotchy pools of color at the base of objects to depict distorted reflections.

This composition tells a tale. A leopard with despair from hunger and loneliness in its eyes sees something far off in the distance, approaching as dawn touches the horizon behind it. The two were very close by the time the leopard realized it was a solitary giraffe, which spoke to him.
“I’m so glad to finally meet you,” the giraffe said.
The leopard was surprised and asked, “Aren’t you afraid of me?”
“Not at all,” said the giraffe, “I’ve been looking for a friend for a long time.
The leopard stared thoughtfully at the giraffe, trying to decide whether to satisfy his hunger or relieve his loneliness, but it noticed that the giraffe’s legs looked very strong and it thought that a kick might end his life if he wasn’t careful in how he attacked this prey. So the leopard decided to continue traveling with the giraffe for the time being, assuming an opportunity might arise where it could safely take it as prey.
Then, to his surprise, the giraffe proved useful to the leopard.
The giraffe provided shade as they walked in the harsh sunlight and with its long neck, they were sometimes able to catch prey that lived in the trees.
In return, the leopard safeguarded the giraffe when they rested so that they would not be attacked.
As they continued their journey, they would sometimes meet others of their kind but neither the giraffe nor the leopard wished to return to their respective places – they had come to enjoy each other’s differences.

This piece tells the story of the moon and sakura blossoms.
The sakura tree spoke to the moon, saying, “good evening, your light is beautiful tonight.”
But the moon didn’t reply and only distorted before her gaze.
So she spoke again, asking the moon, “please shine your light upon me.”
Still, the moon only shimmered and swayed before her.
Saddened by the silence, the sakura fluttered her petals, they fell as if she were weeping.
It was then that she heard a voice from above her,
“I am still shining upon you.”
Then the sakura looked up in amazement because the moon was in the sky above her.
She had been so enamored of the moon’s reflection upon the water below her that she had forgotten to turn her gaze to the sky.

This composition presents an evening view of Lake Tateshina. I wanted to share the moment when the surface of the water perfectly reflects the sky, the surrounding trees, and the mountains. It is then that the evergreens both stand as shadowed silhouettes against the sky and simultaneously seem to reach down into the reflection on the lake’s surface. I used subtle variances within a monotone palette to emphasize detail without detracting from the ambiance.

In 2019 I painted a series that was inspired by my journeys through Bali and the enchanting doors found in their architecture. Three years later, I returned to this motif, enchanted anew by those brilliant doors and the theme that such doors could open into different worlds. Much like a popular children’s fantasy here in Japan, I feel there are many doors within our minds and that we easily travel between the different worlds and our reality each time we use our imagination.