Blossom

our haiku/short prose:

Spring cherry blossom

Fills my sight, beautifully full

Soft, gentle, peaceful

Transcript for Blossom

Welcome, let’s take a mindful look at this artwork Blossom.

First, let’s ground ourselves in the present moment. You can do this with your eyes open or closed, it’s completely up to you. But I invite you now to take a deep breath. In through your nose, hold for a couple of seconds and then exhale slowly through your mouth. 

Well done.

And now bring your attention to the artwork in front of you. Rest your gaze on it, let your eyes wander. Taking in each and every aspect. The abundance of colour, shape and textures. Luscious cherry-coloured blossoms, energetic greens and vivid blue brushstrokes. Flowers that flourish in clusters and ones that stand out on their own.

Perhaps one of the first things we might notice about this particular artwork is the dominant colour is pink - we can see lighter and softer shades of pale blush, salmon, rose and light raspberry.

Seen alongside these are rich and deeper tones like cherry, fuschia and mulberry pink. And it's not just the flowers in bloom that are pink, some of the leaves are too!

Take a moment to notice all of these.

Although dominant and eye-striking pink is by no means the only colour for us to notice. Blue and green make their presence known of course in the crescent-like arched brushstrokes seen all around. But let’s turn our attention next to yellow - where can you notice this? Little pops of yellow dispersed here and there. Vibrant yellow forms begin to reveal themselves to us  - perhaps you’ve already noticed the bright yellow leaves and petals with tiny white polka dots.

Amongst the layers and layers of marks and rubbings -  the more we look the more we see - the trails of tiny white and orange dots on the stems at the bottom.  Can you notice these trails anywhere else? And what about the pink blossoms with orange centres towards the centre of the piece? And the curious little collection of squares and rectangles stacked together in the top right hand corner.

There is so much to notice in this artwork that if you return to this image again and again I’m sure you’ll notice something new each time.

Why not share some of your thoughts about the artwork or this exercise with someone you know.