I painted this the evening after the rain stopped, which is when you can still see it.
I work rain-lit lantern paths in Kyoto and Tokyo. Maple reds and cherry pinks against indigo, knife-textured reflections on wet stone, one small figure with an umbrella. What I am chasing is the weather that makes a path slower. The air that makes you want the walk to take longer.
This one is the Kamo river path at dusk. One umbrella, far enough that you cannot see a face.
The knife catches light the way wet stone does
Ruby wrote that the wet stone and glowing lanterns capture a rainy Kyoto evening. She is right about the stone. I put the knife flat and dragged it so the paint sits in ridges. Under a lamp those ridges catch light the way real wet pavement does.
The lanterns on the far bank are palette-knifed too, pulled horizontally so each one bleeds a little into its reflection. That streak is what lantern light does in puddles. If I had brushed it smooth, it would read as oil, not water.
The umbrella is one stroke, and it is the only reason the river matters
The figure is small and alone, back turned, walking into the picture. Sumi-e teaches you that you get one stroke. That never left me. The umbrella went down in one take, no correction. If it had gone wrong the canvas was set aside.
The empty part of the painting is not empty. It is doing the most work. That figure against all that space is the scale of a room against the scale of a person. The river pulls quiet because the rest of the picture lets it.
For a hallway or bedroom where you want the room stiller
This is for a bare wall in a quiet room, a hallway or a bedroom, for someone who wants the picture to make the room stiller. The knife texture shows under a single light source – a table lamp, a sconce – better than it does under even ceiling light.
It is not for a crowded wall or a colourful room. If empty space reads as unfinished to you, this one will feel like I forgot the rest of it.
Gallery-wrapped canvas, in 3 sizes — 12×16, 18×24, 24×32 in. Ships free within the continental US.
