Boy among Tulips

Among the poppy, sweet pea, freesia and other spring flowers in full bloom, a boy’s face peers out from within a large flowering tulip. This work was made for the cover of the April issue of the picture magazine Kodomo no Sekai. Painted in watercolors, the flowers in the illustration have a softness that, while different in appearance from actual flowers, conveys the delicate feel, and even the scent, of the petals. As Chihiro loved flowers and raised a variety of them in her garden, the expressiveness of this painting was uniquely her own.