Artist Profile

(Hajime is pronounced "Haj-Mae")

I'm a native of Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan. I studied art/illustration & graphic art in the States in the 1980s. My favorite illustrators/painters include Howard Pyle, N.C. Wyeth, Frederic Remington and John William Waterhouse. My current projects consist of portrait drawings/paintings (animal or/and human) and oil paintings depicting rice farmers in early 1960s Hokkaido (which we were). The mediums I normally use are pencils and oils.

I find inspiration from a variety of different artists such as Alphonse Mucha, Hiroshige (Ukiyo-e artist), Gian Lorenzo Bernini, John Singer Sargent, John William Waterhouse, N. C. Wyeth, and Norman Rockwell.

While working on a new project, I hope to discover something new in the process, technically or thematically. When it happens, I try to incorporate that new discovery into that artwork. It does not happen often, but when it happens, it gives me extra fun and motivation.