What does ほわって mean?

Question

ほわぁ～って感じが好きです

A woman who's looking at a painting says that after saying that she likes it.

I've searched for ほわって, ほわっと, ほわっ, ほわ, ほわほわ on Jisho and Weblio (Japanese-English), but they're not there.

Answer 1

This site gives the following meanings for ほわっ(と)

• 物や状態が軽く柔らかである様子。
• 表情や動作がゆったりとしている様子。
• 暖かな煙や湯気が立ち上る様子。

Basically, it expresses something being soft, mild, relaxing, warm. (Just searched on google, and found it's used in a product name for bread - being soft and relaxing is probably intended.)

Another related word (than the one linked in the comment) is ほんわか.

［副］心がなごんで、気持ちのよいさま。「—（と）して暖かい」「—ムード」

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Though this may not be really helpful for learners, the meaning of onomatopoeia (at least many two-letter ones) depends on its consonants as mentioned in this answer. In this case, it is howa. As such it has some similarity with another onomatopoeia huwa=ふわっ/ふわふわ/ふわり/ふんわり, which shares with ほわっ the meaning of softness (ふわっ has no 'warm' sense).

Answer 2

ほわ (or ほわほわ, ほわっと) is essentially an uncommon variant of ふわ (ふわふわ, ふわっと). ほわ sounds a bit cuter to me, but the difference is small. It's a very abstract word used to describe almost anything that is non-rigid, elusive, girly, happy, warm, foggy, daydreamy, fluffy, relaxing or soft.

It's impossible to guess which part of the picture is being described as ほわぁ without actually seeing it, and it may still be challenging even when I see it. It may refer to the overall softness, happiness, or warmth of the picture, but it may be used to describe a super-abstract picture.