I remember standing in the fields of Hokkaido as the warmth of late summer began to give way to a cooler, sharper breeze. In the distance, Mount Yotei stood with its usual silent grandeur—vast, immovable, and imposing. It’s easy to get lost in a view like that. We spend so much of our lives staring at the "mountains"—the big goals we haven't reached, the heavy burdens we carry, or the overwhelming scale of the future.
But as I stood there, my eyes were pulled downward to a single pink cosmos flower swaying near my feet.
I realised then that while the mountain is majestic, the cosmos is miraculous. It is fragile, it is temporary, and it asks for nothing but a moment of your time before the season turns. I painted "Cherish" to capture that specific pull of my heart—the choice to let the mountain become a soft blur in the background so that the flower can finally be seen.
In my work as a counselor, I often see how I overlook the "now" because I am so preoccupied with the "big things." This painting is my invitation to myself, and to you, to pause. I wanted to render that cosmos with such intimacy that you couldn't help but take a closer look.
To cherish something isn't about owning it; it’s about honouring its brief, beautiful presence in our lives. It’s about acknowledging that even in the shadow of something as massive as a mountain, this tiny, delicate bloom matters. It is a reminder that there is a profound, quiet healing found in the simple act of noticing and being noticed.
