Artist's Statement I was born in Japan, studied English Literature (AB degree) and came to the USA, where I worked as a scientific translator for McGraw Hill's Biotechnology Newsletter, etc. and wrote and published short stories.  I began oil painting six years ago.   In the late 19th century, the French physicist, Henri Poincare, remarked, "If nature were not beautiful, it would not be worth knowing, and if nature were not worth knowing, life would not be worth living."  But artists, too, revel in the beauty of nature. As a child growing up in Japan I spent hours sitting on a high tree branch, gazing at the sky; the beauty of the clouds' constantly changing shapes and colors fascinated me, and I dreamed of riding on a puffy cloud, blown away to a distant exotic land.  I was indeed taken to a far away land many years later; and now, living in the US with an oceanographer husband whose heart is taken with the beauty of the sea. I have been learning how to paint it all: sky, sea, and land.  As an aspiring artist I am so glad to live in this beautiful world.  And I am grateful to my teachers, Br. Michael Dundin and, most recently, David Barnes (Newport Art Museum School), from whom I have learned most of what I know about the "art of painting."