SEPTEMBER 17, 2020

Keiko Tanabe Demo

 

Keiko Tanabe began her demo by explaining that she would combine an image of a temple in the background with boats in the foreground. The temple is the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto, Japan where Keiko was born. She included 3 boats  with figures in the foreground. Since these were familiar images for her, she didn’t need a photo. After drawing the scene on Arches rough paper, she wet the paper and painted a warm sky with raw siena and quinacridone gold, then dark trees which blurred into the sky. She painted right through the boats with yellows and light purples, spattering with paint and water. Nothing had hard edges.

Leaving this first wash to dry, she explained her approach from vision to drawing to a first stage where she considers color harmony, lights, and darks, and then the final finishing stage, still maintaining a soft look. The three boats with figures tell the story. She added a tree branch coming into the sky, using confident brush strokes. Her brushwork is energetic, alive, and meaningful.