Chardons –  Forêts imaginaires à l’encre de Chine

Chardons is an Indian ink painting by Virginie Martin Blaise, created in 2021 as part of the Forêts imaginaires series. Executed on watercolour paper, the work depicts a dense vegetal landscape inspired by thistle forms, suspended between botanical reference and imaginary forest.

Dark, ink-saturated silhouettes rise vertically across the surface, their spiked crowns emerging from soft washes and blurred textures. The contrast between sharp linear accents and diffused ink stains creates a sense of depth and movement, as if the forms were slowly appearing through mist or shadow.

Through this restrained monochrome palette, the painting evokes a quiet, almost meditative tension between fragility and persistence. Chardons invites the viewer into a suspended space where nature is not described, but remembered—transformed into a rhythmic and atmospheric presence.