"I've always loved drawing since I was a child. I used to be in Kushiro, where I started attending painting classes, and from there I started my career as a painter in earnest. Is it about a year after graduating from high school? When I was a student, I didn't think about being a painter at all, but I suddenly felt like I wanted to paint... I didn't have such a big opportunity, but I naturally developed that kind of mindset. From the beginning, I had a strong desire to draw landscape paintings, so I mainly learned watercolor painting in the painting class. That's how I worked as a painter in Kushiro for about five years while working for a company, but then I moved to Sapporo due to work reasons. After I moved here, I no longer go to painting classes, but I continue to draw when I have free time."
-I think it is difficult to be a painter while you have a main job, but what style are you currently working in?
"It's an activity on the side of my main job, but it's not in the form of setting a time to draw, but I feel like I'm going to do it when I have time. In terms of time of day, do you often draw at night? I don't feel motivated in the morning or during the day... It's easy to concentrate on holiday nights or the night before holidays. I also went to painting classes at night, so maybe that might have something to do with it.
Basically, it is a style of drawing while looking at a photo taken with a smartphone. I'm the type to keep drawing until I'm satisfied, so I tend to spend a lot of time at the draft stage. Even if I think, 'It's not going to be completed,' when I look closely, I feel that it's strange, and I often delete it and rewrite it repeatedly."
InterviewFeatured Artist
"There are times when I feel like I can't go to the canvas, and I don't think about changing my mood too much at those times. I will wait until I can naturally face the painting."
―What kind of paintings are you currently drawing?
"I mainly paint landscapes, and I also love history, so I like to draw historical buildings. The same is true of "Kinkakuji", which has already been posted. When I visited Kinkakuji Temple on a high school field trip, I drew it while looking at the photos I took with my smartphone."
-How do you improve your skills?
"I often study painting by reading books that are useful for watercolor painting or by looking at works such as the web. As for how to draw clouds, I am also learning various techniques such as making it look like a thin cloud when the tissue is sucked into the whole thing at first. I do it in a style of researching techniques that interest me and learning them."
"I haven't been able to do the activities I had envisioned yet. I like castles, so I have a dream to one day visit castles all over Japan and draw them with my own hands. Currently, I live in Hokkaido, so I haven't been able to visit any of them... The most important thing I want to visit is Himeji Castle. I like it in terms of shape, but the main reason is because it is the birthplace of my favorite warlord, Kuroda Kanbei. By the way, the origin of my name is also derived from Kuroda Kanbei.
I also have a dream that I can draw a spot in my hometown of Hamanaka and that the painting will lead to even one tourist. The "Kiritappu Marsh" and "Cape Yubu Lighthouse" that have already been posted are one of them, and I would be happy if you could visit them. Although I am a local, there are places in Hamanaka Town that I haven't been able to go to yet, so I want to find time to go around carefully."
-Do you want to create a place to show it to many people, such as a solo exhibition?
"Of course, I want to have a solo exhibition. However, first of all, I want to increase my painting activities. And I would be really happy if you could remember my name. It may be an exaggeration, but I want to be a painter who can leave works that will be passed down to the world and be familiar to many people. Rather than selling paintings, I want people to see the paintings first, no matter what form they take.
I exhibited it once in Tokyo, but it was surprisingly difficult to exhibit, and if I could find another opportunity to put it out... That's the idea. Therefore, now I would like to deliver it to everyone through social media.
I don't know when it will be, but the dream I want to achieve the most is to continue painting while traveling. While traveling around the country, I would like to draw castles, historical buildings, and landscapes. To that end, I want to steadily build on what I can do in Sapporo now."