Koinobori, meaning ‘carp streamer’ in Japanese, are carp-shaped windsocks traditionally flown in Japan to celebrate ‘Tango no sekku’ or Children’s Day. Held on the 5th May it’s a national holiday in Japan. This day falls on the cusp between Kokuu (Grain Rains) and Rikka (Beginning of Summer). It is one of the ‘Small Seasons‘ and this is my painting inspired by the peach blossom and Koinobori flying over the river at Achi Village, in the Nagano Prefecture.
Celebrating the Seasons
In Japan Wisteria begins to flower at this time of year where the purple flowers emit a sweet, gentle fragrance. Spring nights when the moon appears partially hidden by fine haze are called oborozukiyo. In this season, rice farmers tend grains of seed rice in water until they sprout. They plow the rice fields, flood them, and till them in preparation for planting.
Koinobori Colours
Embedded below is a time-lapse video of my Koinobori inspired colour study. Followed by a waltz around the painting. Showing off the different angles in its black floater frame. The canvas itself is 30 x 30cm, but within the frame it’s 34cm square. You can see the detail of the paper i’ve used across the canvas surface. Literally watching the paint dry! But the acrylics have a strange elasticity, first puckering and then stretching out. Eventually it leaves a lovely flat finish for drawing my ink details on top.
It’s been a while since i’ve posted a small seasons artwork. But they do make wonderful ‘warm-up’ pieces in between paid projects. I can relax with them… knowing they’re mostly for my enjoyment! If you do want to see more of these seasonally inspired paintings, i’ll continue to post them here on my studio blog under the #smallseasons tag. Or find me over on facebook, twitter or instagram.
