About the Artist

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My paintings are an emotional response to the landscape. They are a record of the feelings that came to me when I experienced the scene and I hope that they will in turn evoke an emotional reaction in the viewer. Scenery, especially a beautiful sky, strikes a chord within me, creating a sense of transience, reminding me that I am living a moment that will never be repeated. That realisation makes the moment precious and that emotion is what I am conveying in my paintings.

The style of my art is peaceful and quiet, but is also full of life and wonder. I would like the viewer to feel the wind in the trees, hear the silence of the atmosphere or see the movement of forest life. My landscapes often include living creatures as they add a sense of movement and bring the paintings to life.

Turner's watercolour landscapes are the foundation of my artistic aspiration. In addition, I also admire the way David Hockney finds his subjects in everyday ordinary landscapes and turns them into pieces of art. I endeavour to keep my mind and heart open to my surroundings and look out for scenes that trigger my desire to paint.

Nao Hayashi-Green was born in Japan and moved to the UK in 2002. Whilst establishing her new life there, she met a South African artist, Donna White, and started to paint under her mentoring in 2008. Nao loves the British countryside and currently lives in a Thames Valley town, where she enjoys exploring the surroundings.

For Nao, a Turner watercolour exhibition that she visited as a teenager has been the inspiration and catalyst for her love of landscape painting. Having been captivated by the details of Turner’s landscapes, Nao’s artistic aspiration has been to capture natural beauty such as the nuance of light, the formation of clouds in the sky, tree-lined riverbanks in various seasons and the ever-changing surface of the river. For Nao, the pleasure of painting landscapes is in the process of absorbing the environment she treasures and outputting it with her own emotional influence.