The Birds and the Bees
Even as technology develops, I am glad that there is always an effort to preserve the past. I recently fell in love with Hibiscus & Sparrow by Japanese painter Katsushika Hokusai. Most known for his Great Wave Off Kanagawa, I find his more serene works equally as poetic and visually compelling. It's like a breath of fresh air after being indoors for far too long. Although I'd love to own the original, I purchased it as a mouse pad, so that I may always be happy even when cloistered in the library on late nights.
There are so many Hokusai woodblock prints, but my favorites often feature birds and blossoms. I also adore that softly aged peach color of his works, like a blush or a nude that is painful to reproduce without being blatantly pink.
Cherry Blossoms and Warbler, 1827.
However, what I love about Hokusai's work is that it is at times purely experimental; there is no set formula to what constitutes a "good" work of art. He playfully depicted nudes, demons, mundane household objects, and all-too-perfect landscapes without limiting himself to one distinct style.
Quick Lessons in Simplified Drawing, 1823
Aren't these cranes beautiful? edited down to their simplest form in one fluid line, this could be converted to a pattern that I would wear as a dress.
Mount Fuji seen throught cherry blossom
Although the greatest artists, from DaVinci to Picasso, are only recognized by one or two iconic pieces, actually carry an entire arsenal of work, as if nothing could keep them from the greatest loves of their life. Do true masters ever retire?
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