Art-trade with Shinya Okayama: The Lost Midnight Garden

"The Lost Midnight Garden"

2015 Watercolor, colored pencil, and digital.

By Mike Blake

Late last year I was browsing Shinya Okayama's Facebook page (link at bottom of post) and commented offhandedly to him how it would be fun to do an art-trade. Shinya is one of my favorite artists, so we have had a few conversations in the past, but this one caught me by surprise. Not only did he like the idea of an art-trade, but he immediately started making plans!

As expected, we were both pretty busy, so hammering out the details took a couple months. In the end we decided to paint something blindly for each other.  Basically we gave vague recommendations, based on some of our favorite paintings/drawings from our each others art, and began to work. I had no clue what he was painting and he had no clue what I was painting... until we received it in the mail.

Several months pass by....

Shinya was the first to finish and ship his painting (from Japan). When I opened it I was very anxious and had my wife, kids and mother in law standing around. He surprised me with a bunch of extras, but I didn't let that distract me. When I came to the painting, I carefully opened the folder it was in. Seeing the painting, I was in shock. It was magical, deep, and beautiful ...not only that it was well crafted and intricately detailed. 

"Cloudy Forest" 雲の森
2015 Watercolor
By Shinya Okayama 

Seeing it for the first time left a lasting impression on me that I will never forget. He created something that surpassed my expectations and his painting will be something I always treasure. (In fact I hung it next to my studio desk so that i could use it for inspiration...I mean enjoyment!) Here is a close-up shot of the ridiculous amount of details:

Well, for various reasons I finished my painting much, much later (thank heavens he was understanding) and after building the package to ship it in,I finally took it to the post office.  As I did, I was filled with a LOT of trepidation...You see...I have never shipped something...so valuable...so FAR (Japan)! Thanfkully after a few tense weeks, Shinya received the painting... undamaged and to show how much he appreciated it, he practically hung it up the same day!  

Photo of my painting watercolor,colored pencil artwork.

Anyway....much, much later... I finished editing it digitally and here is my finished piece (make sure right click and open in new window. It's meant to view large):

"The Lost Midnight Garden"

2015 Watercolor, colored pencil, and digital.

By Mike Blake

Honestly I think I got the better end of the deal, because man he is so detail oriented and does such a great job creating mood, space and narrative. Either way it was an honor to work with Shinya and to actually own one of his paintings (mostly so I can look at the small watercolor brushstrokes and smell the paint...yes it has a small and no I am not weird.) Also to have something my family will enjoy for years to come. Shinya if you are reading this (ahem) THANK YOU! YOU ARE AMAZING!

Btw the painting I did for Shinya, was a follow-up from what I did for Lisa Ferguson, "The Lost Garden".

Anyway go ahead and check out Shinya's other work. I promise it will be worth your time!

Webpage: http://okayamashinya.com/

Deviantart: http://perodog.deviantart.com/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/shinya.okayama.33

OH and make sure to come back soon. I have a major update coming for my webpage, Facebook, and blog in the works!!!