I have always love Winter in South Africa. In this painting I wanted to combine this passion with my fondness for Traditional Japanese culture and dress. Japanese archers have always appealed to me as I practice archery myself. I tried to capture the feeling of the dry grassland, silent, peaceful and the mood of the traveler. I used my own photography as reference material.
I don't remember exactly how long it took as i painted it on and off in between other projects...oops. I was a good few days of solid painting.
You can find reference photos here: http://www.shanfischer.com/e107_plugins/sgallery/gallery.php?view.16.1