Junko Ono Rothwell Artist Statement

Junko Ono Rothwell
Artist Statement

Georgia’s Wetlands

My subjects are people, places and the things around me. Natures, the change of seasons, the change of color of daylight always inspire me, and so do people, their movement and their atmosphere. I try to capture the beauty of everyday life and ordinary things.

Most of my paintings are done on location. I can learn and understand more with the subject in front of me. The most important thing is to paint what I feel. For instance, plein air painting is wonderful because when I stand in a field I can watch water rise at high tide, smell the ocean, hear the birds and taste the salt air. When I paint on location I see and feel everything vividly, as if I have become part of nature. This is what I try express on my canvas.

I lived in Georgia for almost 30 years. I painted creeks in the mountains in the north and coastal marsh in the south. I feel fortunate that I can paint such variety of landscape in Georgia.

The landscape with water is one of my favorite subjects. I grew up on the Inland Sea in Japan, where there are thousands of small islands. My house was on the hill close to the small stream, which runs rapidly and make a nice sounds. So whenever I stand next of water, the stream in the mountain or coastal marsh, it reminds me home.

Junko Ono Rothwell

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