I paint seascapes that evoke human emotions. Just as in this Poem by the 7th Century Japanese Poet Hitomaro, Seagrass is used as a metaphor for the entanglement of lovers in the bond of the relationship they have formed.
Although abstracted, you can see in this painting that the clouds are enveloped by the seagrass that lands on the beach where I live. Surrounding and entangling something ethereal, something not tangible....just like human emotion and NFTs!
“In the Sea of Iwami” – By Kakinomoto Hitomaro
In the sea of Iwami
There amid the stones under sea
Grows the deep-sea Miru weed;
There along the rocky strand
Grows the sleek sea tangle.
Like the swaying sea tangle,
Unresisting would she lie beside me –
My wife whom I love with a love
Deep as the miru-growing ocean.
But few are the nights
We two have lain together.
Away I have come, parting from her
Even as the creeping vines do part.
My heart aches within me;
I turn back to gaze –
But because of the yellow leaves
Of Watari Hill,
Flying and fluttering in the air,
My wife waving her sleeve to me.
Now as the moon, sailing through the cloud-rift
Above the mountain of Yakami,
Disappears, leaving me full of regret,
So vanishes my love out of sight;
Now sinks at last the sun,
Coursing down the western sky.
I thought myself a strong man,
But the sleeves of my garment
Are wetted through with tears.
Envoys
My black steed Galloping fast,
Away have I come,
Leaving under distant skies
The dwelling place of my love.
Oh, yellow leaves
Falling on the autumn hill,
Cease a while
To fly and flutter in the air,
That I may see my love’s dwelling place!
In the Sea of Iwami
Watercolour on card
14.8 x 10.5 cm
6 x 4 in (approx)
Mounted
The background card is white.
This painting was done outdoors, painting in situ with a fellow painter friend.
- Subject Matter: Clouds
- Created: c. July 2021
- Collections: NFTs, Portfolio, Small Works