心から大切に思う人を想い、愛と祈りを込めて描いた一枚です。ひと筆ひと筆に、かけがえのない存在への敬意を込めています。
ダリアの花を、曼荼羅のように描きました。ダリアは、内なる強さや気品、そして感謝の象徴です。
作品に込めた想い
幾重にも重なる花びらと流れる色彩を通して、つながりや想い、あたたかな心を表現しました。
この花曼荼羅が、あなたの大切な人をそっと思い出させてくれますように。そして、あなたの中にある愛を感じるきっかけになりますように。
制作にあたって
この作品は非売品として、今も私の自宅で日々を見守ってくれている一枚です。同じ作品を再びお届けすることはできませんが、パーソナルオーダーアートでは、お一人おひとりとの対話を通して、あなただけの一枚を描かせていただきます。Usage of Artwork
More about this painting
The dahlia
The flower I painted like a mandala in this work is the dahlia.
The dahlia is native to Mexico and is Mexico's national flower. It is said to have reached Japan around the Tenpo era (1830–1844) of the Edo period, brought by the Dutch through Dejima in Nagasaki. Because its shape resembled the peony, it was first called "tenjiku botan" (the peony from India), and in the Meiji era it came to be called "daria," from its English name.
Within a single flower, many petals overlap in regular layers. It looks like a mandala made by nature.
The Kawanishi Dahlia Garden in Yamagata
Yamagata, where I live, has a famous place for dahlias: the Kawanishi Dahlia Garden in the town of Kawanishi in the Okitama region.
Hundreds of varieties are planted across the wide garden, and from late summer to autumn, large flowers of every color bloom together. Some are bigger than your palm, others are round like pompoms — even among dahlias, the shapes and colors are astonishingly varied.
What is a mandala?
The word mandala comes from Sanskrit, the classical language of ancient India. In Buddhism, a mandala is a diagram combining circles and squares that depicts the world of the Buddhas and the state of enlightenment. It came to Japan with esoteric Buddhism and is carefully preserved at many temples.
From the center outward, from the outside to the center — the circular form of a mandala naturally draws the viewer's eyes and heart toward its center.
The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung is known for drawing circular images almost every day to understand the state of his own mind. Jung believed that circular images have the power to gather and settle the mind.
Painting with someone dear in mind
I painted this work thinking of someone I hold dear, with love and prayer. I put respect for an irreplaceable person into every brushstroke.
The time spent layering each petal was also time spent thinking of that person. When we wish for the happiness of someone we love, perhaps our hearts naturally gather toward a gentle center.
Sources
Kawanishi Town (Kawanishi Dahlia Garden, About dahlias) — in Japanese
Kotobank (Dahlia; Mandala) — in Japanese
C. G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections
