Bees & Pink Blossom

This painting celebrates spring and with it the mass of pink cherry blossom that appears on the bare boughed trees on my cycle ride to Thames-side Studios from March to May. All this blossom is a welcome tonic for the bees.

The cherry blossom season is an important moment in Japanese culture, celebrating spring and the fleeting beauty of life as the pink cherry blossoms fade and fall so quickly. In Asian art, it is seen as the moment of renewal.

I painted Bees & Pink Blossom in the spring, using Japanese Moon Palace paper made from Mulberry leaves and cotton. I use traditional black Sumi and coloured mineral inks with brushes from China and Japan. The painting has been float mounted and framed in natural Ash.