“900. Intermission of the Storm” Watercolor Painting by Mariko Irie

This scene was during the last storm.

Dark clouds covered over our head, suddenly the dark clouds opened and blue sky peeked.

Light came through clouds. It was so beautiful.

And sparkling on waves.

What a fantasy world, isn’t it?

“899. At Twilight” Watercolor painting by Mariko Irie

The sun went down. Now it is at twilight.

The end of the day, relaxing or fixing dinner at home.

Maybe you are holding a wine glass and watching the sky changing.

Still houses are shined by an afterglow.

It is warm and cozy feeling in the air, isn’t it?

This scene makes me feel warm inside.

I remember that I felt this feeling long time ago.

“898. Colorful Moment” Watercolor painting by Mariko Irie

I love the sunset time.

The scene gets warm colors, light comes through leaves. Shadows get long.

What an exciting moment, isn’t it?

And that is the end of the day. After that the sky is dimmed and moon and stars come out.

It’s a great changing moment.

I love it.

And I pray for tomorrow to be other happy one.

Are you with me?

“897. Mendocino in October” Watercolor painting by Mariko Irie

This scene is by the Mendocino Bay in October.

After rain, suddenly the ground got fresh green.

Clouds are flying, the sea is dazzling in the sunshine.

What a cheerful sunny day!!

In Japan, there is no dry season. All year they have rainy days.

In winter, it is cold and the scenery is brown and gray. The colors are just like in summer in Mendocino California.

After I moved to Mendocino from Tokyo, every summer I felt colors of scenes are so odd.

Now I got to used.

I showed this painting to my friend who lives in Tokyo, said, “The spring is peeking”.

Now it is in spring. Enjoy nice warm sunny days.

“895. Gentle Wave” Watercolor painting by Mariko Irie

I love watching waves coming and going.

I feel the earth breathing.

Breath in and breath out.

Like this wave, when wave breaks and splashing, that moment all breath go out and take my not necessary energy, tension out.

After that I breath in, the fresh energy comes in.

What a wonderful feeling, isn’t it?

Let’s take this feeling with us all day long, yes?

Happy Love Day!!

It was rainy today.

It seems we don’t need to worry about drought in this year.

Sometimes I love rainy day, because somehow I can focus what I’m doing.

How about rain on your wedding day?

I just read this in the website ”5 reasons to be excited about rain on your wedding day”:

So there you have it. Don’t stress about rain – you can’t change it – but you CAN change how you react to it.

Enjoy your wedding day, live it up, dance in the rain – and have the best freaking day of your life.

I love this positive thinking.

Whatever happens in your life, keep being happy, you will be a winner of your life.

After rain all day, light in clouds and the clouds start breaking and then the light comes out.

“896. Exciting Moment on Rainy Day” Watercolor painting by Mariko Irie

Wow, what an exciting moment, isn’t it?

“894. Wonderful Illusion” Watercolor painting by Mariko Irie

This location is at MacKerricher State Park, CA.

It’s so beautiful, gorgeous and magnificent sunset.

The sunset time is magical time.

We are finishing for the day, and looking at the sky.

What a colorful event is out there.

It’s changing and changing so fast and gone.

And dark dark night is coming.

After the sunset, always I wonder if that were illusion.

“891. Kiss by Gustav Klimt” Watercolor painting by Mariko Irie

I always fascinate Gust Klimt works.

His early works are very academic realistic paintings. He was a master painter.

Then He started his very original symbolist paintings including using gold leaves.

According Wikipedia:Among the artists of the Vienna Secession, Klimt was the most influenced by Japanese art and its methods.

After I learned realistic painting technique from Bill Martin who was surrealism painter, I wanted to combine 2 dimension and 3 dimension harmoniously in a painting. So I painted Japonica series in last year, 2016.

“850. Koi & Waterfall” Watercolor painting by Mariko Irie

“848. Koi” Watercolor painting by Mariko Irie

“848. Morning Glory & Firework” Watercolor painting by Mariko Irie

 

I’ve read that before Klimt painted, he sketched more than 100, and then he started to paint. Wow. His line of bodies are so alive and sexy.

Before I painted this painting, I searched about Gustav Klimt. Now internet has a lot of information. I had a great time.

Especially https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk5YNt6Q4Z8 Whatever Happened to Klimt’s Golden Lady? with E. Randol Schoenberg — UC San Diego Library Channel

is very interesting documentary. From this one I learned the history of Vienna and jews, which I never learned in schools.

This speaker, E. Randol Schoenberg is the attorney to get the painting “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I” by Gustav Klimt back from Vienna in Austria.

I’m not interested in who or which country owns the painting. But Randol speech is excellent so I watched whole this documentary.

Just listening what he has done, I felt what a time consuming and energy.

I say that Randol Schoenberg has great passion for his job, attorney with a good heart.

I’m happy that I copied Gustav Klimt “Kiss” very much. I could learn Klimt way of seeing and expression a little bit.

I’m planning to show this painting next month at the Northeast Artists in February. February is Valentin month, why not?

I love Degas paintings since my high school student.

I fascinate his colors all the time. He uses different colors even bright colors in shadow. They are surprisingly effective.

Wikipedia:

Edgar Degas (US /deɪˈɡɑː/ or UK /ˈdeɪɡɑː/; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, French: [ilɛːʁ ʒɛʁmɛ̃ ɛdɡaʁ də ɡɑ]; 19 July 1834 – 27 September 1917) was a French artist famous for his paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings. He is especially identified with the subject of dance; more than half of his works depict dancers. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism, although he rejected the term, preferring to be called a realist. He was a superb draftsman, and particularly masterly in depicting movement, as can be seen in his rendition of dancers, racecourse subjects and female nudes. His portraits are notable for their psychological complexity and for their portrayal of human isolation.

At the beginning of his career, Degas wanted to be a history painter, a calling for which he was well prepared by his rigorous academic training and close study of classic art. In his early thirties, he changed course, and by bringing the traditional methods of a history painter to bear on contemporary subject matter, he became a classical painter of modern life.

“890. Waiting by Edgar Degas” Watercolor painting by Mariko Irie

The title of the painting in this image is “Waiting” by Edgar Degas.

These figures are not moving but his composition is dynamic and excellent, therefore the painting is so powerful.

His expression of body language is marvelous, isn’t it?

Edgar Degas/Quotes:

Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.

Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do.

Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.

What do you think?

“889. The Young Shepherdess” Watercolor painting by Mariko Irie

This scene was at San Diego Art Museum.

Every time I go to San Diego, I visit this museum in the Balboa Park and visit this painting as well.

This painting is The Young Shepherdess by William Bouguereau.

According to Wikipedia:

William-Adolphe Bouguereau (French: [buɡ(ə)ʁo]; November 30, 1825 – August 19, 1905) was a French academic painter and traditionalist. In his realistic genre paintings he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of classical subjects, with an emphasis on the female human body. During his life he enjoyed significant popularity in France and the United States, was given numerous official honors, and received top prices for his work.[2] As the quintessential salon painter of his generation, he was reviled by the Impressionist avant-garde. By the early twentieth century, Bouguereau and his art fell out of favor with the public, due in part to changing tastes. In the 1980s, a revival of interest in figure painting led to a rediscovery of Bouguereau and his work. Throughout the course of his life, Bouguereau executed 822 known finished paintings, although the whereabouts of many are still unknown.

He painted skin color of women is fantastic.

It’s transparent, very fresh looking so on. I alway stand in front of the painting and gaze the painting just like he is doing.