PaintersOnline editor’s choice
Meet this month’s editor’s choice winner from our PaintersOnline gallery
Mayumi Taguchi is a Japanese watercolour artist, living in Germany. ‘Two English cultures have changed my life,’ she writes. ‘Before I moved to the beautiful countryside of the UK, I had worked as a product designer in Italy for over ten years. Understanding the relationship between products and users allows me to find beauty in common objects. I began to explore
the way in which the techniques of watercolour and design might interact, finding a new paradigm in the fusion between characteristics in western and oriental culture roots, not only in the form, but also in conjunction with psychological imagery.
‘Born and raised in Japan, the ritual and high spirit of the Japanese tea ceremony connects with the guests, which reminds me of English tea. Watercolour is the perfect medium to express the freshness and transparency of objects with different thoughts. I love tea. The teacup is a good friend with which to spend time together while painting.
‘I started painting my teacups spending time at home during the pandemic. In the beginning my teacup was always placed alone in my paintings, during the daytime the cup enjoyed being with flowers and fruits, and in the evening, with some books. At first my teacups were further apart, gradually
the distance shortened and now they are happily all together, which is how I recently painted them on the paper.
‘My watercolour technique is wet in wet on 100 per-cent cotton paper, using traditional techniques to represent the modern world. I was careful not to go too far into the details and reflect on the teacups. I was also careful to leave some unpainted areas of the paper for luminous white shapes.’
Mayumi will be exhibiting at Le Salon d’Automne in Paris, from October
27 to 31. For more information go to www.mayumitaguchi.com or see Mayumi’s exclusive still-life video on PaintersOnline Studio membership at https://www.painters-online.co.uk/howto-paint-a-breakfast-scene-still-life-inwatercolour-with-mayumi-t
To upload your own images to our online gallery, with an opportunity of being selected as the editor’s choice, visit www.painters-online.co.uk