Saltwater Paintings,

I was intrigued,

 Japanese self-taught artist Mai Hirashima, uses saltwater as paint, carefully applying it on paper canvases,

  using small brushes and thin bamboo skewers, and then applying heat to cause the water to evaporate and the salt crystallize in the desired shape,

in an interview with Japanese site Irorio, Hirashima said that she was inspired by cooking salt-baked fish and seeing how the salt adhered to the fish skin and crystallized into miniature corals,

Mai Hirashima begins the artistic process by preparing the saltwater, She then paints the outline of her composition using a paintbrush, and either letting it dry or applying heat from a stove to make the water evaporate faster, She then fills her designs, using a bamboo skewer to apply thicker layers, the artist achieves different shades of white by applying one or multiple layers of saltwater,

since she uses no adhesives or coatings, Mai Hirashima’s artworks are not only incredibly fragile, but also temporary, they are most vulnerable to humidity, which is why she usually doesn’t work during the rainy season, but her artworks will naturally degrade over time as well, Hirashima says that, depending on complexity, completing one of her saltwater paintings can take between 12 hours and a month,

so although it might be difficult to own an original, she has a series of exhibitions planned, you can check out more of Mai Hirashima’s amazing saltwater art on her Twitter and Instagram, saltwater painting, amazing!