Heather Brown Art Spring Tour 2014 Week 4 and End of Tour!

Aloha!

Wow!! What a month! That was the longest tour I have done without being at home at all through it and it sure was fun and exciting and also exhausting and my head is still spinning a bit!

First off, I would like to thank everyone from The Heather Brown Galleries in Tokyo and Osaka for all of their hard work all month traveling with us, packing and unpacking art, and all the great customer service to everyone! I am so lucky to have such a great team to work with when I am in Japan!
I also want to thank the people from The Greenroom Festival and Galleries in Japan for such great shows and making us feel at home, The Takiashimaya Stores, WTW,  and Sagamihara Isetan!
Most of all I want to thank all of our friends, fans, collectors that came out to see the shows through out the month! It was so nice meeting so many new people and seeing so many familiar faces throughout the country! Mahalo Nui Loa for all of your patience and support!

Below are some photos and fun from the last week of my tour. I will be working hard in the studio for the next 6 weeks or so getting ready for my summer shows back here in Hawai'i! To check my show schedule, you can always go to my website, www.HeatherBrownArt.com and go HERE

Heather Brown Surf Art Show WTW Japan May 2014

 We took 2 days off and had a great relaxation time in Hakone.

Getting a nature fix up in Hakone Japan.

Heather Brown Waterfalling in Hakone Japan

We finished the tour at the annual Greenroom Festival in Yokohama, Japan. This was the 10 year anniversary for the festival and this was the 6th year I have participated in it. As always, this event in definitely one of my favorites! Great music, GREAT art from artists from around the world, and great food ands people all around having a great time for 2 days.

This year, The Captain Surfs had a wall of art in the main art gallery too! This picture is of his wall of art from the Festival.

The Captain Surfs Art at The Greenroom Festival 2014

The first few pieces in set up are always the most difficult for me. Here we go!

Hawaii Surf Artist Heather Brown Setting up her original art for the 2014 Greenroom Festival in Yokohama Japan

Heather Brown Surf Art Originals at the 2014 Greenroom Festival in Yokohama Japan 

So I have been working with Vans Japan on a new limited edition shoe to come out soon (sorry, it is only coming out in Japan, I would love to do some more if anyone from Vans wants to do some! hint hint! ha ha) This was the first time I got to see the pre production samples!

Heather Brown X Vans Collaboration Shoe in Japan May 2014

This year The Heather Brown Gallery had one of the outside containers and I loved it because it had a really nice gallery type feel but I did miss being with all of the other artists up on the gallery floor.

Heather Brown Art at the 2014 Greenroom Festival in Yokohama Japan

 Some random pictures from the 2014 Greenroom Festival.

It's always nice to catch up with friends on the road, in Japan we get to see so many of our friends from around the globe (often more than we see anyone at home!)

Here we are with Southern California Artist Susan Wickstrand Roche, always nice to hang out with her and her husband Kevin.

Heather Brown, Susan Wickstrand Roche and The Captain Surfs at Greenroom Festival 2014

Japanese Surf Photographer U-Ske and Hawaii Surf Artist Heather Brown at the 2014 Greenroom Festival

Heather Brown and Greg Kaplan from Plate Lunch Special at the the 2014 Greenroom Festival  

I had a chance to meet one of my favorite surfers Chris Del Moro. I have one of his LoveBird model surfboards from Bing Surfboards that I love!

Heather Brown and Chris Del Moro at the 2014 Greenroom Festival in Yokohama Japan

Greenroom Festival 2014 crowd at The Heather Brown Gallery booth 2014

 Grant Brittain is one of the most influential skateboard photographers ever! We were beyond stoked to be able to share some time with him this year.

Heather Brown, Grant Brittain and The Captain Surfs at the 2014 Greenroom Festival

my last week show schedule in Japan!

There is nothing like the feeling of looking out the plane window and the first sight of home!

Heather Brown Surf Art Spring Tour 2014 Week 3

Konichiwa!!!!

Well we just finished week 3 and taking big steps into week 4 of my Spring 2014 tour! We had a fun and busy week and today we have a day off before tomorrows, Tuesday May 20, 2014, Special surprise add on book signing at The Greenroom Gallery in Shibuya, Tokyo!!

Here is a little peak into the last week:

We started the week with a couple of days off from shows. We were super stoked to get to visit our good friend John who owns and operates a really cool restaurant and art studio called Kaneyo in Yokuska Japan. John also runs a really cool event each year called Art on The Beach, I was so happy to take part in this event about 5 years ago. You can check out Kaneyo and Johns blog here: http://art-onthebeach.com  Not Only is John such a great guy and amazing artist himself, his restaurant is one of my very favorites around the world, and as a bonus when it is nice outside, you can be eating watching the ocean with your toes in the sand!

Kaneyo Restaurant and Art Studio. Yokuska Japan

Heather Brown, John from Kaneyo and The Captain Surfs 

John took us for a walk down the beach in Yokuska where we saw so many people digging for clams (which we ate later with garlic linguini) harvesting sea weed, coming in from fishing with boats and combing the beach for beautiful shells.

Cleaning Sea Weed before drying 

Massive rows of drying sea weed. So pretty when the different light of the day comes through them

Hanging in Kaneyo is one of the first ever collaboration pieces that I did with The Captain Surfs This was a hand plane the Captain shaped and I painted about 6 years ago as a present to John for having us at his place. Cool to see it hanging in the gallery!

Heather Brown and The Captain Surfs Collaboration Hand Plane

 Always so happy to get to spend some time with the Dogs! This is John's dog Ko-Chan!

Heather Brown and Ko Chan

We even had some great music from John, Jun and The Captain to take us into the sunset on the beach

Jun Yoshimura and The Captain Surfs Playing music on the beach. Kaneyo. Yokuska Japan May 2014

The following morning we woke up to another beautiful day and went for a nice long walk on the beaches in Kamakura Japan. Kamakura is a really cool little beach town close to Tokyo, We always feel so much at home when we are here.

Heather Brown on the beach in Kamakura Japan. May 2014

While walking around, we met some people that knew my art! I was so surprised to be in such a small little fishing village and there were people who collected my art! This family owns and operates a nori company right on the beach. They gave us lots of their delicious Nori to take back with us too! Mahalo Nui Loa!!

Heather Brown and fans. Yokuska Japan. May 2014

 On our morning walk we met up with some local surfers and the owner of Sea Gull Surf Shop. It was nice to hang out and talk surf, art and travel with them.

Heather Brown, The Captain and the crew of Sea Gull Surf Shop at the beach in Kamakura Japan. May 2014

Fun Longboard Waves in Kamakura Japan. May 2014

 I had a book signing event at The Greenroom Gallery in Kamakura and we lucked out with no rain as the actual store is a bit too small to have an event inside. Everyone was happy and we had a great time!! Mahalo Greenroom Galleries for all of your support!!

Heather Brown Art Signing at The Greenroom Gallery in Kamakura Japan May 2014 

One of the highlights of my trip was getting to meet our good friends new baby girl!  Yusuke and Rika Hanai have been friends for many years now and we are so lucky to always be able to meet up in Japan and Hawai'i each year. This visit was the most special. Yusuke is one of my all time favorite artists. You can check out his amazing work Here: http://hanaiyusuke.com/index.html The Captain and I have been collecting his art for years, and we are always wanting more!

Rika and Yusuke Hanai with little Umeno-chan, Heather Brown, the Captain Surfs

With our couple of days in the country done, we got back on the train and headed back to Tokyo 

Tea Fields along the train ride

 My first show back in Tokyo was at WTW in Aoyama. We had a huge turnout and so much fun! Mahalo WTW for supporting my art here in Japan!

Heather Brown with Heather Brown Gallery and WTW Staff in Aoyama Japan

We do ALOT of walking around and exploring when we are in Japan, and sometimes you just have to stop and smell the roses!

Heather Brown. Stop and smell the Roses!

Heather Brown and The Captain Surfs Tokyo Tower May 2014

 Yesterday I had my last show of week 3 at  Sagamihara Isetan. Wow! A huge show with a huge turnout! I actually do not have any pictures from the actual event, but this was just before the start. Mahalo to everyone who came out and to the staff of The Heather Brown Gallery Tokyo and Sagamihara Isetan for putting on a great event!

Heather Brown Art at Sagamihara Isetan

 No trip to Tokyo is complete for me without a visit to see Hachi. If you don;t know the story about Hachi, you should check it out, they even made a hollywood movie based on Hachi, but the real Hachi story is much more incredible. When we were there, there was some interesting filming going on, so of course, they had to ask The Captain to join!

The Captain Surfs with Hachi and the Hachi Dancers in Shibuya, Tokyo May 2014

Going into week 4, the last week of my tour!! This week I will have singings at:

Greenroom Gallery Shibuya on Tuesday May 20, 2014 from 6-8 pm

WTW Futakotamagawa on Wednesday May 21, 2014 from 3-5 pm

and finishing up at The Greenroom Festival on Saturday and Sunday May 24/25, 2014. This year we will have a container outside between the two Red Brick buildings for my art and The Captain Surfs will have a wall of art up in the Art Gallery in the Red Brick building. Please come by and say ALOHA!!

So it has been a great and busy tour. Thank you again to everyone who has come out to my shows on this tour! I am so happy that my art is bringing smiles to your faces and ALOHA to your hearts!! Wherever you may roam, please remember to smile, share happiness and Let Peace Prevail!

May Peace Prevail On Earth sign outside of a small shrine in Kamakura Japan

Heather Brown 2014 Spring Tour Week 2

Konichiwa!

Here we are settling into the third week of my Spring tour and it has been so much fun and so busy this past week! We just figured out that we have woken up in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo again and on to Kamakura each of the previous days this week, so it has been a whirlwind of shows, great meals, taxis, more great meals, friends, more terrific meals, trains, hotels and art!

Here are some images from the past week, you can keep up with my schedule here: http://www.heatherbrownart.com/pages/shows


We got so lucky and Brian Setzer Orchestra was in Osaka at the same time we were so we were able to see this legend rock out! It's funny because both Chris and I listened to the Stray Cats as young kids and now in our 40's we got to see Brian Setzer play and they played old Cats tunes too!!

Brian Setzer Orchestra Osaka Japan May 2014

 We eat ALOT when we are here, and all the food is so Oishi (delicious) this was at a small curry house with about 10 seats in Osaka.

Osaka Gallery Lunch crew grinding on some of the best curry around

about 6 years ago was my first real Japan tour, our first stop on that tour was in Kyoto at a small cafe (about 250 square feet) on Philosophy Lane called Cafe Cherry. The owner Masumi, agreed to let us show art there (not knowing who we were or anything, but just our of her kindness) Her daughter and her worked tirelessly to make sure the show was a success and fed us and made us feel like family, since then, we have outgrown her space, but we always get to see her and share some ALOHA when we are in Kyoto. Mahalo Masumi and Cafe Cherry, you exemplify ALOHA. If you are in Kyoto, please visit her cool little cafe and say KONICHIWA!

Heather Brown and The Captain with Cafe Cherry Owner in Kyoto

This picture was taken above my show this past week at the Kyoto Takashimaya event. It is very surreal for me to see this, as I could have never imagined being able to share my art, love and Aloha with so many people. Mahalo to the Kyoto Takashimaya staff and everyone who came out for this great day!

Heather Brown Art Show Kyoto Takashimaya May 2014

Heather Brown Art 

We had a show at The Heather Brown Gallery in Osaka this past week to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of my newest gallery in Japan. Mahalo to the great staff and everyone who came out to the show to help celebrate! I can;t believe it has already been a year since we opened, felt like just yesterday I was painting this sign in my hotel room the night before the grand opening!

Heather Brown and fans at The Heather Brown Gallery 1 year anniversary show

Heather Brown Gallery Osaka 1 Year Anniversary Show May 2014

Heather Brown Gallery Osaka Staff Dinner

Heather Brown Art Show

 Iki is an artist from Japan and he also works part time at my Osaka Gallery. The Captain and I were blessed with a gift of his art. We are big fans!

Heather Brown, Iki, The Captain Osaka May 2014

 Some more friends from our first trip to Kyoto who we have been lucky enough to keep in touch with through the years and catching up with all around the country, Ko Jun and his wife Maya have helped us out everywhere from Tokyo, Kyotot (their home) even down to Okinawa. Ko Jun is the president of a beautiful temple in Kyoto and I was even lucky enough to do a show there a couple of years back, they exude ALOHA and even went to see Brian Setzer with us!

Heather Brown, Ko Jun, Maya and The Captain. Kyoto May 2014

Heather Brown Gallery Osaka

 We have been selling art through WTW for a couple of years now and I was excite to do y first show with them this year in Kobe. Mahalo WTW for the support and thanks to everyone who came out to this weekday show in Kobe.

Heather Brown and the WTW Kobe Staff May 2014

 Happy to see so many people picking up my new book "The Art of Heather Brown" Limited Editions are selling out quickly!

Surf Artist Heather Brown signing one of here new Limited Edition "The Art of Heather Brown" books

Hawaii Surf Artist Heather Brown at Kyoto Takashimaya SHow May 2014

In kyoto, I always make a stop at the original Tenkaippin! Here I am with my firmed and translator for my Japan tours Yuka about to eat some yummy ramen!

Heather Brown Tenkaippin Ramen Kyoto

The Beautiful Views in Kyoto Japan

Brian Setzer performing in Osaka Japan May 2014

The Art of Heather Brown Limited Edition Books

Yummmmmm in Osaka

 Alas, with shows in different towns each day, we spend a lot of time on trains, taxis, subways and high speed shinkansen. Learning to pack for month long tours is a must!!

Heather Brown Travelling through Japan