I have been interested in Asian art, architecture, culture and martial arts since I was young. In 2014, I was accepted as a professor with the Japan Studies Institute in San Diego, studying various aspects of Japanese culture (from history and literature to ikebana and taiko drumming) for two weeks. In 2015, I was awarded a fellowship to travel with other professors to Tokyo, Kyoto and Beppu. In 2019, I stopped on my way to China to travel for two weeks to Tokyo, Kanasawa, Hikone, Miyama, Kyoto, and Naoshima. I am amused that at the most avant-garde island of Naoshima, my drawings are my most conservative of this series. Generally I was playing with the energy of gesture with the black ink, none of which is in the Naoshima drawings. Overall, I admire the simplicity and elegance of Japanese design: from art and architecture to food and music. It has influenced my work for decades.

Samurai Garden, Kanasawa, 3 shrines, 6/18/19, pastel and ink on paper, 11” x 13.5”, $200 unframed.

Naoshima Study II, 6/25/19, pastel and ink on paper, 9” x12”, $100 unframed

Approach to Hikone Castle II, 6/20/19, pastel and ink on paper, 11” x 13.5” $200 unframed

Cypress Glow, Shinto shrine, Miyama II, 6/21/19, pastel and ink on paper, $200 unframed.

Gray Sunrise Beppu  July  2015   pastel and pencil on Arches paper, c. 10” x 13”, $150

Japanese Temple Study, Byodin, July 2015,  pastel and ink on Arches paper, 6” x 6”, $75 unframed.

Japanese Study  2015  pastel and ink on Arches paper, 5.5” x 6”, $50 unframed.

Japan study with rice fields, July2015   pastel and pencil on Arches paper  10” x 13”  $100.