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Oil on canvas

With Sakura Cherry Blossoms Ichi I tried to recreate the feeling and beauty of Sakura cherry blossom festivals in Japan.

I spent a month in Japan during the Sakura festivals in April, 2014, following the cherry blossoms northward as they bloomed. I started out in Tokyo where I attended a huge Sakura festival at Shinjuku Gyoen. Then I travelled up to Fukushima City and visited the ethereal Hanamiyama Park hillside which was covered with beautiful blossoming cherries. Then I stayed in Sendai for a week and I visited the Shiroishi Riverside hanami festivals where the river is lined on both sides with blossoming cherries, and people picnicking on the banks. Then I flew up to Sapporo and visited Isamu Noguchi's Moerenuma Koen and Maruyama Park and Hokkaido Shrine where people were celebrating the final wave of blooming cherries.

The sheer beauty of the blossoming cherry trees, and also of the people celebrating them, fed my soul like nothing else ever has.