Hashima Island

8x10", oil on panel
Location URL

Hey guys, I'm still around, though obviously not posting very frequently. As you know, I've had a full-time job for the past several years that leaves very little time for painting. But I always try to do something for The Virtual Paintout.

This month is Hashima Island, an abandoned mining city in Japan. It could be a very creepy place, but cruising around in Streetview, it just seems interesting and sometimes beautiful. I'm sure the island had its share of tragedies—including the era of POW forced labor—but it didn't seem frightening or scary to me. I tried to capture some of the past in the painting—maybe not ghosts exactly, but the imprint of the many people who lived there, and of course died there. I'm not sure how well this translates in a scan of the painting, but maybe you can find some hidden things in it...