Kusatsu, Japan

Kusatsu is an onsen town near tokyo with a commute of roughly three hours. Away from the hustle and bustle of the city, you can hear the streaming water no matter where you are in the city. It is famous for its sulfurous onsen (hot spring). Staying at Kiyoshigekan ryokan, the ryokan (Japanese style inn) actually has its own private and public onsen. The awesome part of this ryokan is after a certain hour, you can reserve the public onsen for private use. I remember the first moment you let your body sink in the onsen, it was a feeling that’s hard to describe. The simple word “wow” escaped me as I soaked in the onsen by myself. It was such an experience as all fatigue and all thoughts escaped you; the water was so hot, your mind could not keep up with your thoughts so your head is blank and you just enjoy the moment. I really miss that feeling; It was a nice escape.

Yubatake is the hot spring field which is located in the center of town. Although the smell is not pleasant (smells like eggs), the view at night was beautiful. There are hotels surrounding the Yutabake, so you see people in their yukata (Japanese summer kimono) and wooden sandals walking around.

Small stream at the entrance of Sainokawara park- Apparently, the onsen in the park was being renovated and opened this year. Missed it by a day. If you walk all the way up the trail, there is a ski area. In the summer, it is just a stretch of grassy fields; with one or two families picnicking as the loud speakers play pop music that rolls upwards faintly, following the curves of the hills.

Near Kiyoshigetsu ryokan, there is a mini wooden bridge and if you cross it, there’s a playground. People there are very friendly; as I ventured alone, I would see people and say “Ohayou” (good morning) of which they would nod and say it back.

Spring rider and sandbox- I was the only person at the park in the early morning. It felt really tranquil; I was really drawn to the bright red spring rider. Something about the curves and design of it; also it was something I couldn’t possibly experience. If I sat on it, pretty sure it would break.

Kusatsu is a really nice place. If you have never gone to a Japanese hot spring, highly recommend this place. The commute was not fun and was a bit long, but it was well worth it. Many thanks to Y for recommending Kusatsu!

Tokyo Watercolour- Parks

One disappointing day turned into a memorable day, was when Ota memorial museum was closed due to preparation for the next exhibition. Somehow ended up at a quiet park in Shinjuku where there were many locals sitting on blankets as they picnic on the grass, children running around, people just sitting near the Japanese garden.

Watercolour and ink

The first time I saw this pond in Ueno park, I was surprised and thought it was a bit surreal. Have not seen so many lotuses gathered so densely in a pond. It was in the afternoon and the sun was about to set slowly as its rays of sunshine blind the eyes and blur the view. The moment I realized how odd this view was; the old pond from years ago against the tall buildings with a temple in the midsts of it all, I wanted to capture the moment.

Watercolour with colored pencils and Ink

Nikko Watercolor and ink

To get to Nikko from Tokyo is an excruciating 2.5 hour ride. If you go on a weekday, you would see many tourists, senior citizens and school kids on class trips. I am not good at doing paintings on the spot, so I usually paint from photos.

Kegon Waterfall- To get there, you have to take a bus which takes around 40 mins from Nikko station. The signs make it obvious where to go; you have to pay for admission since there is an elevator that takes you to the best view of Kegon waterfall.

Tokugawa Ieyasu’s mausoleum in Nikko- Close to the entrance, I was surprised to see orange foliage since it was late May!

According to Japan travel, built in the 1600s, this bridge is called Shinkyo. You have to pay 300 yen or so to walk on it, the sight from afar is better than actually being on the bridge. However did not regret it.

Rendering- Matching Marble with markers and watercolor

Our next project in class was to match marble with markers and watercolors. The technique and trick to it is, all the elements I lack in my personality, patience, spontaneity, letting go and minimal control.

The reason for this is when you do the lines for the marbles, you hold the high point or tip of your pencil to let it spontaneously trail off the paper. As for the watercolor portion, you use a ton of water, let it dry and flow.

My teacher is great with it, she does it so naturally with seemingly no effort and as it dries, it looks like it has depth and full of bright color. I am still an amateur who’s reluctant to give up. 🙂

Matching Wood in markers and watercolor

Another class project was to match wood with markers and watercolor. We used prismacolor markers which is a transparent but permanent marker. Marker paper is special in a way if you want to add color, you can color in the back as well. To create the wood texture, you need to use the marker vertically, layered with base color gray, additional colors as needed, and use color pencils to draw the grain. The colors were really hard to match; you would always use markers first because with watercolors, you can create infinite colors but with markers, the probabilities are somewhat limited (as per my teacher).

Top marker, bottom watercolor in three different shades.

If you have the right guidance, it is achievable-never perfect but still nice.

Rendering- Watercolor vs Fabric

I haven’t been updating the blog much due to nostalgia of Japan. The culture has fascinated me for many years and the experience of being there was surreal; it left me feeling empty when I came back because the dream or vacation had to end at some point. Instead of thinking of these emotions, I was just going about my daily life which consisted of a 9-5 job, study group for JLPT N4 (we are so unmotivated), Japanese class and last but least, interior rendering class.

The first project we had to do in class was find a floral fabric pattern and copy it exactly on watercolor paper to be filled in with watercolor. It should be an exact duplicate; the only difference should be the white background vs any other color background you had on your fabric.The drawing is easy since we used carbon paper to trace but matching colors on two different mediums is not the same. In garment production, we often send artworks to factory on paper with fabric swatches and expect them to match it by submitting strike offs (screen prints on fabric); if one expects it to match exactly, one is naive. on two different material, due to lighting, weaves, materials, reflections of light, it is impossible. Paper is not fabric afterall and they have different material properties.

Here is my try on it! Not perfect but, as we love to say in production after the 3rd attempt, Best Can Do!

Disclaimer- Please note I do not own the print- This is for a class project only 🙂