Tulips for Chikanobu

"Tulips for Chikanobu"

11 x 16.3 cm

Watercolour

US$ 30.00

“Chikanobu?” you’re probably thinking. “What is that?” I like including bits of my own modest art collection in my still life. Last year I bought a Japanese woodcut by Chikanobu at a local gallery. It is incredibly delicate. Chikanobu made a series of “beautiful women” portraits, and this young Japanese girl marvelling at a goldfish in a bowl she’s holding reminded me of my student days and my beautiful goldfish.

The spring tulips are quickly disappearing. When you buy tulips now, they last only a few days. The last fields of tulips are disappearing from the Dutch landscape. Tulip season is short and exuberant, and I miss them when they’re gone. However, tulip season flows seamlessly into peony season. What a wonderful flower that is!

I’m painting some slightly larger still lifes as well, though I fully intend to keep painting ACEOs. Sometimes, in trying to describe the beauty before you, it’s hard to limit yourself to a paragraph.

I’ve included the same image twice. One is a scan, the other a photograph. Neither seems to do justice to the original. However, the photograph shows the detail and colour variation the scanner can’t seem to reproduce.