This beautiful tree-lined canal in Highashiyama is called Philosopher’s Walk, and we rented a Japanese house just steps from here last month. Beautiful autumn color was everywhere as this lies pretty snug against the mountains. A beautiful area to live and ride bicycles.
Watercolor and ink

I went back and visited Neko Kaigi again in Kyoto to get my cat fix. It was a busy Sunday and a rainy one, so the place was quite busy. I had time for a coffee and this quick sketch while I watched the visitors and cats interacting.
Watercolor and ink

This is a compilation of what I saw along the section of the Kamo River near our hotel in Kyoto. It was nice to see cosmos flowers again, and still see the summer like green of weeping willow trees even in late autumn.

I love cemeteries in general, but Buddhist ones are so fascinating because of the various bibs and sometimes hand knit hats that the bodhisattvas are wearing. I made an attempt to draw the ones that had worn away into a vague shapes and some of the more realistic ones that still remained. The white bibs here were adored with shapes, rather like petroglyphs, and this was the first I had seen of this style of bib.

I visited this lesser known part of Nara by myself and enjoyed all of the old architecture, cats, temples, shrines, craft shops and cafes. After an exhausting and exhilarating day, I drew this map as a souvenir of my delightful day.

This is one of Kyoto’s prettiest little temples. It is a subtemple of Daikoku-Ji, a huge temple complex in the NW part of the city. I sketched this quickly from the moon viewing veranda (engawa) while others were viewing and meditating on the garden. Maples were so delicate and beautiful and ginko leaves are always charming. Watercolor and ink.

This boat is moored at the head of the Takase River near the Okura Hotel in Kyoto. This canal was dug in 1611 and used to transport goods to various places in Kyoto.
This particular old boat is loaded with sake. The water is fresh and clear and flowing in this canal, with pretty autumn leaves in the water and on the walkways.
I sat on a damp concrete step(lower left) on a cold and damp afternoon and tried this scene.
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A small part of an architecturally detailed famous old building still standing in Honolulu’s Chinatown. I did have a lunch here 20 years ago, but am not sure it is still a restaurant, especially in this economy. Saturdays in Chinatown are just bustling with people doing their food shopping for the week and it was very difficult to find a place out of the way and with some kind of interesting view to sketch.

Kings Village is a small British-inspired multi-level shopping center in Waikiki. It is painted in red, white and blue with lots of flowering plants and charming architecture. I have not been here in a while, so I found a bench in the shade and drew what I could see from there.
Watercolor and Sharpie Pen

A quick sketch of the International MarketPlace in Waikiki. This is a favorite spot for tourists to purchase inexpensive and interesting goods. Full of little blue roofed individual carts that sell jewelry and the like. Charming place.