I decided to kick this new year off by diving straight back into the Geisha theme that I’ve been working around over the past year. The first UK lockdown gave me the chance to really delve into Japanese culture and pore over various books, articles, blogs, etc. Studying the art, culture and history of Japan and much of Asia has well and truly captured my attention, and my imagination.
It felt like high time to get back onto the blog and post a new artwork.
This Cormorant Fisherman is one of the first of many to come; I’m currently working on a series throughout which I intend to work with different styles media, exploring the life and traditions of the dying trade of Cormorant fishing.
Cormorant fishing is a traditional fishing method in which fishermen use trained cormorants to fish in rivers. Historically, cormorant fishing has taken place in Japan and China.
It is first attested as a method used by the ancient Japanese in the Book of Sui, the official history of the Sui Dynasty of China, completed in 636 CE.
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JGlover
In light of getting myself stuck into Japanese culture and history as of late, working on my Geisha art project and working part time as a Sushi chef; I decided to venture into another area of Japanese tradition.
Sumi-e is the name given to a style of East Asian brush painting that uses black ink; this method was commonly employed by the master artists of the past in East Asian traditions to create calligraphy and landscapes drawings/paintings.
I absolutely love the look and feel of sumi-e landscape paintings and the atmosphere they evoke; I also love working with charcoal. That was enough reason for me to fuse the two things and work at creating a Japanese landscape piece that has a sumi-e look to it but the smoky, soft magic of a charcoal drawing.
Art depicting Geisha and Maiko is something that has drawn me in from the bustling county of Essex on the outskirts of London in the UK to explore the historical traditions of South-east Asia, Kyoto in Japan in particular. This oil painting is testament to that exploration and shows a rear-view portrait of a Maiko with emphasis on the hair and make-up.
My Geisha series is still growing into a beautiful collection of portraits and gestural sketches and drawings now; with a lot more piece still in the bag and ready to be brought to life.
This portrait has served as a preliminary drawing to use as a reference to inform an oil painting that I just wrapped up today and will be posting here next week; however if you want to see the painting now you can, on my Instagram – @JGloverArt
This series is really beginning to come on in leaps and bounds now, I might even end up giving it its own category on my website before long.
For today’s post, I wanted to share a new pair of drawings I completed as preliminary studies for a pair of oil paintings that are in the works.
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JGloverArt Etsy Shop – Fine Art Prints & Original Artwork/Illustration
Until next time, farewell!
JGlover
I’ve been working on a new series of fine art pieces for a Geisha series over the past week or two; in the beginning as a means of getting some sketchbook work done and then it progressed onto some sketches that I wanted to take into further development.
So here we are with one of the completed pieces for the series, a Geisha Girl portrait.
