The inspiration behind my Japan series

I grew up hearing stories about Japan. In 1959, my mother lived there for a year while my grandfather was working at the Yokota Air Base outside of Tokyo. She was deeply impacted by her time there and brought back lots of stories, along with china, textiles, and beautiful decorative objects that filled our home.

Last year, I finally got to experience Japan firsthand. We were there for 18 days, in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and the Izu Peninsula. We did lots of sightseeing and also got off the beaten path in some lesser-known parts of Tokyo.

I was struck by the feeling of simplicity and beauty everywhere we visited, even in the heart of bustling Tokyo.

As always, I took lots of photos to capture all the visual elements that resonated with me most deeply.

Back in the studio, I developed a color palette of black, white, cream, and many shades of gray, along with pops of red, pink, and yellow.

I worked on these paintings on and off last year, eventually picking them back up in earnest early this year. As the series unfolded, it fell into two groups: 1) neutrals with a touch of raw sienna and 2) predominantly pink pieces.

The neutrals group was inspired by my photos of shadows on a temple wall, architecture, and an abstracted calligraphy exhibit at the Kyoto Museum of Contemporary Art, among other things.

Dancing in the wind, 18x24” on canvas

The pink group was primarily inspired by the cherry blossoms, which were in bloom while we were there, as well as colorful kimonos spotted on geishas in Kyoto, and the red tori gates that popped up everywhere, even on a remote surfing beach outside of Shimoda.

Softest of mornings, 36x36” on canvas

An additional, underlying inspiration for this series was the meditation practice I’ve had for most of my adult life. I’ve drawn from many spiritual traditions for my practice, but have been primarily influenced by Buddhism in the past 15 years or so.

We encountered temples everywhere in Japan, even on remote mountainsides. It felt like spirituality was seamlessly incorporated into the fabric of life there. At one point in Kyoto, we stood outside of a huge temple filled with people chanting. It was incredibly moving.

In this series, I wanted to capture the feeling of peace and serenity that I felt in Japan and also experience in my daily practice. It’s a quiet collection that I’m hoping will help bring some calm and tranquility into your home.