April Showers . . .

Spring has sprung! Or maybe, hopefully, it is at least soon on its way to wherever you may be reading this from. Spring is the time of year for things to come alive again, for regrowth, for bloom, for renewal, and for things all around us to melt away and start to regenerate. It is the time of year that warrants the very famous expression, "April showers, bring May flowers." It is believed that this phrase originated in the 1500's in the UK, most likely from a poem by Thomas Tusser, that reads in part,"Sweet April showers do spring May Flowers." So, since the season is upon us, this popular phrase will be the subject of a two part blog series. This month will focus on the "April showers" part of the saying, and will feature 3 artists who all use the subject matter of water in their artwork. You can learn more about each artist by clicking on their name below their artwork. In next month's post, the other part of the expression, "May flowers," will feature 3 artists whose art focuses on the second part of the popular phrase, by using the subject of flowers in very creative ways. So be sure to stay tuned and check back next month too. Hopefully, all of this thinking and centering around the concept of spring will help to usher it in soon!

#1 Ai Shah is a Japanese born Australian based artist, who uses the subject of water to create her peaceful and soothing paintings. Her work(also pictured at the top of this post), is very hyper-realistic, and captures all the finite details of the surface of water, like ripples and reflecting light rays. It is so realistic, at first glance, it can appear to be a photograph instead of a painting!

#2 Hiroshi Senju is a Japanese painter known for his large-scale waterfall paintings. He is one of a few masters of nihonga painting, a traditional Japanese style of art that uses washes of natural pigment on washi paper or silk. He has also created large immersive installation art pieces as well.

#3 Matt Burgess is an Australian photographer, who through his camera lens, documents the personality of the ocean and "moods of the waves." Sometimes the waves are relatively calm and tranquil, while other times, they are a violent, crashing force. He is an international and national award winning ocean photographer.

Hopefully, you have enjoyed learning about a few artists who use the concept of water in some very interesting and unique ways. Think spring!!