Hirameki Garden 1 Painting

To watch colors blend and diffuse as watercolor dries is a meditation in surprise. Hirameki translates to ‘brainwave’ or ‘flash of inspiration’ in Japanese. Hirameki is doodling and imagination in a flow state. I have practiced hirameki for a year now and find it to be a refreshing and playful approach to composition. This hirameki composition is inspired by poet Joe Smith's garden/love poems in a collection called Flashcards. We sense some new thing between us. We lick it into life, as the doe licks the fawn, opening its eyes to the world with her tongue. The clear pool of dew cradled at the base of that nasturtium leaf— was it always there, magnifying the veins of the leaf like a lens? Hirameki translates into ‘brainwave’ or ‘flash of inspiration’ in Japanese. The concept of Hirameki is based on the idea of interpretation -- to prompt creativity rather than dictate it. Practicing Hirameki is imagination in a flow state. Starting with blobs of paint, let relaxed responses to each shape resolve into a meaning. In this case, the colorful shapes seemed like flowers; other times, they may seem like fish or birds. Adding the stems and leaves turned these blobs into a garden. I have practiced hirameki for a year and find it to be a refreshing and playful approach to composition. This hirameki composition is inspired by poet Joe Smith's garden/love poems in a collection called Flashcards. We sense some new thing between us. We lick it into life, as the doe licks the fawn, opening its eyes to the world with her tongue. The clear pool of dew cradled at the base of that nasturtium leaf— was it always there, magnifying the veins of the leaf like a lens? This hirameki compostion is on 300 lb cold-pressed watercolor paper and will be sent matted and framed.