Drawing is seeing. Rather than draw, some people capture things in photographs, while others put them into writing. Another way of grasping something is to hold it in your hands or stand beside it, watching closely. What we call “seeing” is a way of getting closer to the essence of a subject. It comes in many forms. Northern Irish artist Nigel Peake, who spent two weeks exploring Kyoto, uses drawing as a means for gleaning art from our everyday surroundings, capturing their essence.

“Art is a big word. For me…the artless art is beautiful. It can be something as simple as slicing an apple. It is a modest act, something that we all do, but probably we all slice in a different way depending upon the hand, knife and apple. Anything can be possibly called art, though not everything will qualify as art to everyone. It is the act of appreciating and perceiving something, and the decisions made in the process that are of interest to me. When I see particular things, I am drawn in and I take time to look with care and sometimes take a picture or make a simple drawing I have a wish to try and capture the moment. They can be very normal things. They can be very normal things.

The other day, I saw an old sign for an electronics company on a shutter. Not wanting to let it pass, I took a photo. It was raining, I was carrying my suitcase and had no umbrella but still I stopped. I’m not sure what causes me to stop. But I feel something, and so I listen. I don’t think it’s necessary to figure out the reason. On a trip up to Kamakura, I was watching some surfers ride the waves and felt like I was being hypnotized. Sometimes I can be just fascinated by the way things move. I have spent the past three years walking up and down the same country roads, without visiting a s bookstore, record shop, or museum, and yet every day I noticed something new. It could be the shape of a field or a tree. One shadow got me thinking about Ellsworth Kelly. The shape of it and its colour made me think of how he translated his world into his work.”

Ranging from rural landscapes of his native Northern Ireland to the awesome artifice of metropolises like New York, Nigel’s art honors the interplay of nature and the city. He says he enjoys Kyoto for its close proximity to nature and how the city blends organically into the mountains.

“I have really enjoyed watching the mountains that surround Kyoto. I really like to pass the streets that end with a view of the mountains. How the rows of buildings turn into a landscape. I prefer to walk to go somewhere. Sometimes you get lost along the way and find something new. Or find something familiar from a different direction. I also enjoy to cycle. You are fractionally taller and so there is a shift in the way you see things. With walking and cycling you can stop anytime you want. If you tried stopping a taxi every time you noticed something interesting, the driver would get tired of it really quickly!

I have been making drawings from as early as I can remember. Looking back, I realize I’ve been drawing quiet places or things in one form or another all this time.

Along with drawing, I also like to write. I find it beautiful that the Japanese words for “draw” and “write” are pronounced the same—kaku. It can lead to nice misunderstandings,a free feeling of how to explore something. I write the tree. I draw the sound. One informs the other, making gaps and spaces for the other to move in.

Sometimes I wonder if I make drawings just so that I can hold onto a memory. Like the cover of this issue, for example. It captures my feeling of Kyoto at this time. But people change and as time goes by. Later on, I might cut or tape over a portion of the work. To remove is beautiful. There is a composer I like who as he works cuts out notes from sections of the sheet music and patches them up with blank paper. To make a void to let things happen in. Leaving blank space is an art, as Japanese gardens demonstrate so beautifully.”

Nigel has three brothers and one sister. He is the second youngest of his siblings and the only one who draws. His father likes books, and his mother likes flowers. Both of his parents love the garden; when Nigel calls home, one of them is usually out there working. Nigel has a small garden too.

“I started to make a garden fairly recently by the sea. It is a lot like drawing, actually. Arranging plants or flowers in a row is similar to drawing lines on paper. It is a division of space. A garden causes one to see time in a different way; there is a slowness and also a sense of distance involved in it that is very appealing. Music is another of my favorite things. I’m very interested in Japanese ambient music from the 1980s. I often listen to it when I am working. Along with soundtracks or jazz or electronic music from different places. Hearing a piece of music is like being in a landscape. I hesitate to say I play guitar (because I do not play well) but sometimes I like watching a movie on mute, with just the subtitles, and making some sounds on the guitar.

I often use Mitsubishi pencils and Pilot pens alongside pencils from Switzerland. My pencil case can be like an atlas of places I have been. They are my tools. If I do not draw the things I see, I can not hope to understand them. I draw things that escape my understanding. It is only by stopping, listening and drawing that I can begin to understand. I’m found of things that I can’t understand. That’s why I draw. Finding out what you like and what you do not like is part of a process of discovering what days are all about but I realize now it will all just remain a mystery.”

I have a piece of art from Nigel hanging in my living room, prominently displayed. A daily reminder of the joy of life. Art does different things for different people, but if it makes your day a little easier, that’s plenty. Now, if something stops me in my tracks, I feel an urge to take it with me too. Nigel’s work reminds us that small, everyday details combine to form majestic landscapes.