I Bring Stones To Life By Painting The Living Spirit Of The Being I Feel Inside The Stone (New Pics)

To me, stones are not simple materials or canvases for painting pictures on. Among all those numerous stones on a river bank, one stone looking like an animal catches my eye. When I find a stone, I feel that stone has found me too. Stones have their intentions, and I consider my encounters with them as cues they give me; it’s OK to go ahead and paint what I see on them.

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01. Mom And Baby Sea Otter

Akie Nakata

02. Hamster

Akie Nakata

03. Blue Bird

Akie Nakata

04. Red Fox

Akie Nakata

05. Owl

Akie Nakata

So the stones I decide to paint on are not arbitrary, but my significant opposites with whom I have established a connection inspire me to work with them. In my encounters with the stones and in my art, I respect my negatives in toto, so I never process stones and would never cut off an edge to alter the shape.

Rocks may fall outside our usual definition of living organisms, but when I think of the long time it takes for a stone to change from a massive boulder in the mountains to the size and shape it has as it rests in my palm, I feel the history of the earth that the stone has silently witnessed over the millennia, and I feel the story inside it. I feel the breath of life inside each stone, so sometimes I paint while I talk to the rock as I hold it in my hand.

06. Baby Seal

Akie Nakata

07. Pug Dog

Akie Nakata

08. Koala

Akie Nakata

09. Golden Retriever

Akie Nakata

10. Raccoon

Akie Nakata

I carefully bring out the living being I feel in the stone to its surface. And I consider step by step, for example, whether I am positioning the backbone in the right place. Does it feel right? Am I forcing something that disagrees with the natural shape of the stone? I tread carefully. I put my paintbrush to the rock when I genuinely feel it is the right brushstroke. In this sense, my painting is a dialogue with the stone. The stone determines what I paint on it, not me. The art I want to create is a life newly born in my hands through my dialogue with the stone. I want to paint the life, the living spirit of the being I feel inside the stone.

I paint the eyes at the very end, and I consider my work completed only when I see the eyes are alive and looking back at me. Completing a job is not about how much detail I draw but whether I feel the life in the stone.

11. Baby Owl

Akie Nakata

12. Snow Owl

Akie Nakata

13. Mom And Baby Elephant

Akie Nakata

14. Hippo

Akie Nakata

15. Lone Wolf

Akie Nakata

16. Young Lion

Akie Nakata

17. Japanese Chin Dog

Akie Nakata

18. Eagle Owl

Akie Nakata

19. Polar Bear

Akie Nakata

20. Green Iguana

Akie Nakata

21. Laying Himalayan Cat

Akie Nakata

22. Baby Red-Eared Slider

Akie Nakata

23. Wings Of Affection

Akie Nakata

24. Himalayan Cat

Akie Nakata

25. Dendrobates

Akie Nakata

26. Owl Friends

Akie Nakata

27. Long-Haired Tortoiseshell Cat

Akie Nakata

28. Tuxedo Cat

Akie Nakata

29. Leopard

Akie Nakata

30. Chinese Pond Turtle

Akie Nakata

31. Crocodile

Akie Nakata

32. Possum Family

Akie Nakata

33. Somali Cat

Akie Nakata

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