(ENG)
(The picture is of my own work.)
It is only in the last 15 years or so that I have started to paint energetically in the style I am painting now, but I have been painting realistic pictures since I was a child, and I never stopped painting, even though there were interruptions along the way. I would like to paint about why I was able to keep painting.
I don't know about other countries, but it seems to be difficult to continue painting in Japan. One of my fellow painters is still painting after graduating from an art university, but all of his seminar students, with the exception of him, stopped painting after graduation.
First of all, I had a hard time with art education at school. The art teacher at my junior high school was very strict, and as a member of the art club, I was repeatedly scolded in class and in club activities.
Not only in art, but also in mathematics and Japanese, there are many people who quit their studies because they do not like their teachers. I also disliked my art teacher in junior high school. But you liked drawing pictures. I thought that the teacher had nothing to do with it. Disliking the teacher was not a reason for me to stop painting. I thought that painting and the teacher were two different things.
The other thing I had to do was to keep on painting and not stop. It is ideal to paint every day, but it is important to have a light hearted attitude so that if you cannot paint one day, you can paint the next day. Otherwise, if you are hospitalized or otherwise unable to paint, you will not be able to get back to your painting routine. When I was in the hospital, I could not paint for about three weeks. But when I left the hospital, I was able to paint again.
It is easy for me to keep painting if I don't worry about how good or bad I am at it. So if I continue to paint many pictures steadily, I am getting good at it to some extent.
(JPN)
（写真は自作の絵です。）
私は今のような画風で精力的に絵を描くようになったのはここ15年くらいのことですが、小さい頃から写実的な絵は描いていたし、途中で中断はあっても絵を描くことはやめませんでした。私がなぜ絵を描き続けられたかについて描きたいと思います。
ほかの国ではどうか知りませんが、日本で絵を描き続けることは困難なようです。私の絵描き仲間で美術大学を卒業して絵を続けている人がいるのですが、彼のゼミ仲間はその人を除いて皆卒業したら絵をやめたそうです。
私はまず、学校の美術教育というところで苦労しました。中学校の美術の先生がすごく厳しく、美術部に入っていた私は授業でも部活でも何度も怒られました。
美術に限らず数学でも国語でも、先生が嫌いなゆえにその科目を極めることをやめる人は大勢います。私も中学校の美術の先生は嫌いでした。でも、絵を描くのは好きだったのですね。そこに先生なんか関係ない、と思いました。先生が嫌いなことが絵をやめる理由にはなりませんでした。絵と先生は別物、と思ったのです。
あとは、コツコツと描き続けること、やめないことです。毎日描くのが理想ですが、1日描けなかったとしてもまた次の日絵を描けばOKぐらいの軽い気持ちが重要です。そうでないと、入院などで絵を描くことが出来なかった時に元に戻れません。私も入院していた時は絵を描くどころではなく、３週間ぐらい絵が描けませんでした。でも退院したらまた絵が描けました。
上手い下手を気にしなければ、絵を描き続けることは私にとっては簡単なことです。それでコツコツ何枚も絵を描き続ければ、ある程度は上手くなっています。