28th May 2023 Beena
Hello everyone🙂🙂. I wish to describe this painting which I did on particle board. Many asked me if this was an oil painting. The answer is no; I needed multiple mediums to create it😊😊. I will describe the process. I got the picture from Pinterest. My art teachers Stella and Jia Yang came up with the idea of using multiple mediums.
First, I prepared the board with gesso. Gesso is the primer for the surface to prevent the paint from soaking the base like canvas. A mixture of chalk and glue gives gesso. The Italian word for chalk is gesso. But here, I used gesso to create a texture for the base. Then I used ink for the light wash for the sky and the buildings. I painted the rest of the painting with acrylic.
I liked the composition of a shanty town in the foreground with sparking swanky high-rise buildings in the background. The cherry blossom trees were the focal point here; rising amid the shanty town was delightful. Often shanty towns are invisible as it depicts the entrenched poverty in all societies. The invisibility is because we cannot solve this monumental crisis. So, what we “can’t see” does not exist🥹🥹🥹.
However, the covid pandemic highlighted the need for their existence. Without them, many of the daily chores became magnified🤔🤔🤔. It was a global reality, and leaders had to handle that sensitively. Now that the pandemic is over, we are back to our everyday lives, and they have once again become invisible. Maybe if we viewed them as cherry blossoms, life may be different, they will remain visible. I would love to read your thoughts on this topic🙏🙏.
12 thoughts on “Invisible Cherry Blossoms”
Loved the image..its vibrancy..the story of invisible people..of need..use and forgetting the existence…
Love your weekly art work and the musings
Thanks Suchi. Glad to know that you enjoy reading my musings, I too enjoy reading the comments. Hope you will continue to post your thoughts too.
Beena
Very impressed by your range of work and techniques. It’s very interesting how you created this piece. You’re also a natural writer. This blog is a very valuable collection and testimony to your talents.
Hmm, I was able to create this under the guidance of my 2 art teachers, have to thank them. But glad you liked the finished work.
Beena
you have really spent a lot of your time and energy on preparing the particle board,
actually that way we can reuse/recycle the particle board
the particle board base itself has a has abuilt in 3D effect.
in fact after seeing the cherry blosom for some time and you feel the need for a fresh bloom you can try REUSING the sameparticle board with a different set of flowers of course …good effort to conserve nature!!!!
nandu
Hi Nandu, thanks for that tip:)
I really like the stories behind all your pantings, you always put life in all of it.
Thank you for sharing Dr Beena 😊
Extraordinary. I marvel each time you put up your paintings. The depth of the creation the thought and attention to detail you have done is spectacular and awesome
DR. Beena, I like your use of media and semi abstract techniques for portraying city. It is beautiful! Your Cherry blossoms is beautifully painted yet your title is Invisible Cherry Blossoms.This implies that you are seeing beyond the beauty on the surface. You are seeing the not so beautiful under privileged group in the city . That is what I read from your painting .
Haha ANgela,
If I state the obvious, no one will be curious to read, hence that title. Thanks for your comments.
Beena
Hi Dr. Beena,
I like your story not just the painting.
Sitting in this Shanty town, cherry blossom gives life.
It represents the fragility and the beauty of life . It’s a reminder that life is almost overwhelmingly beautiful but that it is also tragically short. Live a life with values.
Yes Stef, its only when the painting and story are combined it makes us think. We see this daily but its invisible. We go about our lives without realising how fragile lufe really is:)