“This is my favorite picture of me and my brother.”

When I saw sparkles in Axel’s eyes when he told me, I knew I wanted to paint it for him. You see, many people ask me what inspires me when I paint. The answer is sparkles. It’s that simple.

It was an old photo of Axel and his little brother, two French brothers living in Le Cellier, a small town near Nantes.

It was a yellowish film photo. But in my imagination, I was seeing more blue-ish green, in their father’s garden on a cloudy day, with stars on the grass instead of the sky. I still wonder why I changed the hue and concept, but it’s probably because it was right after Axel told me that he studied astronomy at his university.

How nice would it be if I could incarnate my imagination of them into the universe, floating together….?

I took a quick cellphone picture of this photo with a glint in my eyes.

This is the garden today. There is a hidden wood house on the right side where the brothers spend so much time playing around.

First sketch with my beloved cat. Often my art stops there. I have so many drafts that I never touch anymore.

I never know what to do with colors. I mix a lot until my fingers decide to stop it.

It’s a very little touch, but I really wanted to make sure that I add stars. I wanted them to float in their “universe”, which was carefully built and rebuilt by their father. Every kid would dream to have this universe, and I’m also one of them.

I spent most magical 2 days painting this piece. It was an agony to re-create my imagination into a piece of paper, but it was so worth it. I really hope the brothers like it.

“Axel and his little brother” by Yuki Matsumura 2019

(Water-color and colored pencil)