There's something magical about painting with watercolors. Especially when Tokyo freelance artist, Mizue Hirano, holds the brush. Her website inspired me today to start painting again, and although I'm not very steady with my hand (or brain!), I'm beginning to think that perhaps I should put my acrylics aside and experiment with watercolors for awhile, maybe produce something worthy of a small frame for a shelf in my house.

Do you paint? Have any work that you can point me to? Go ahead, self-promote in the comments section below this post. Also, can anyone suggest a good watercolor kit? I've been hunting around the dick blick website, but I'm a little lost...

If you'd like to contact Mizue, or if you're interested in seeing more of her work (it's stunning and much of the website is in English in addition to Japanese), please visit her online. She is also an illustrator and works with acrylics and oil on canvas, too. Below is a photo of an exhibition she was a part of last year. You can also email Mizue at hirano[at]mizue[dot]info.

(images copyright 2006 mizue hirano)