Koi Kichi is a large painting measuring 118 x 100 x 3 cm. It has been created using acrylic and enamel paints on canvas. Koi Kichi is ready to hang. Beautiful flickering glints of red, the water twists and turns. In the dappled shade of a Linden tree, I lay on the grass, watching the water. The blue depths reflect the sky. Spectral life lazily glides by. I glimpse their colour, I know they are there. I hang my hand in the water, feeling the cool space where the graceful red gold phantoms live. I loose hours, watching, feeling myself being lulled with the gentle motion around me. Bubbles rise to the surface, golden sunlight refracts the shapes. I remember the legend of the Koi and its transformation into a dragon and smile. Koi Kichi My inspiration for this beautiful painting is a wonderful arboretum close to my house where there are numerous shady spots beside the many ponds and lakes. On hot summer afternoons hours are lost laying in the shadows and looking out at the water…. I wanted to capture the movement and life in the water and the ethereal creatures which live in the blue. When the sun hits the water colours become fused and reflections of light flicker then disappear. I wanted the image to become clear as you focus in on it rather than be immediately visible, just like when you are sat at the water’s edge and your eyes have to adjust to the colours of the depths. Koi Kichi is an abstract painting initially and then as the viewer ponders it the image emerges, like glimpsing a fish in the water.
