Japan Again!

Great to be back! We were in Japan for three weeks and just got back last Thursday. So busy out there combining business, speed meeting with friends, visiting family and sightseeing around the country (since my partner was with me this time), that I had little time to get creative. Although we enjoyed every minute of it, it got a bit frustrating being unable to spare a few moments to sit down and sketch all the ideas and inspirations I was coming across whilst traveling. I missed painting so much! Not to worry, I was finally able, since returning home, to jot down some highlights about our adventures with some kawaii illustrations on my larger sketchbook…

The Highlights

Such highlights of course include Tokyo. Three nights were also spent in the picturesque Nikko when we rented a Toyota Supra for fun and drove all the way there and cruised up and down the nearby mountains. Back to Tokyo for about a week during which time we met up with some friends who drove us to Hakone for the day to watch the volcanic mountains. Then during our three-day sojourn to Osaka, we of course met up with my family. Apart from that, we also took a Hello Kitty shinkansen bullet train (more about that on another painting) to Hiroshima to visit the atomic bomb memorials and on another day rented a car to check out Koyasan, an area about a two-hour drive from Osaka with beautiful ancient temples. And speaking of temples, we also visited the famous Great Buddha in Kamakura the day before our departure from Japan. Such an action-packed stay in Japan! Unfortunately not everything could be included in this sketch but I managed to fit in the main stuff.

Making it All Pretty

After tracing the pencil sketch over with a permanent black marker (Faber Castell’s Pitt Artist’s Pen is recommended), I went for some Japanese watercolor! Kuretake Gansai Tambi is the Rolls Royce of such watercolors, and whilst I was in Tokyo, I also managed to buy some additional colors including the Shadow, Black and Pale series. Great idea because the shades are typically seen in the traditional Japanese paintings; quite muted yet rich. Far from the types of colors I normally opt for, but I do love them here! To enhance the Japanese theme, I took some origami paper and cut out some Crane and Sakura petal as well as heart and teddy bear shapes with a craft punch and glued them randomly around the pages. This was then concluded with some Hello Kitty stickers and labels cut out from merchandise to introduce the modern “kawaii” side of Japan. Finally some glitter gel with stars was spread around to fill in the empty spaces, et voilà!

So happy being able to go back to getting creative again! I very much missed it and would love to continue painting more. Just need to set at least two hours daily when I’m home. Although I’m still trying to ease myself back into the routine, I will get there in no time! This sketch was certainly a good start.