For the uninitiated, I tried to explain here what this Japanese technique is about. Very similar to other aquadoodling techniques, this one is designed for actually using the water to make the design by dipping the paper in, and is often classed as a kind of monoprinting. Magical patterns can certainly be created this way. It's very much a hands-on technique and it is futile to discuss whether it is art or not, since anything can be defined as art these days. I tried to do it the way I'd seen on YouTube, with varying degrees of success. Here are the first 7 attempts. They aren't authentic because I haven't found the perfect blend of paint yet. I don't have any coloured inks, but they are special and very concentrated and not available in Germany, as far as I could see. Not even Amazon can oblige. A little trip to the art shop is probably part of tomorrow's programme! Then I can try to make them look like the wonderful examples I found on the internet.
So no apologies for these A4 colour mixes. Whatever happens, they can be used as backgrounds for various other techniques, including doodling, of course. One or two have nice markings, and I worked on one wet in wet with charcoal. That is probably the most interesting of the seven shown here. Now I'm going back into the studio to try some other materials. I will also try to improve some of these papers. I have not attempted to do genuine suminagashi patterns because the colours could not be controlled well enough. But even these attempts can be developed into something. Though I managed to float all the paper sheets, I could not "catch" the colours.
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| Suminagashi 1 I used a brush to define some marks and slapped on some undiluted hansa yellow I used isopropyl alcohol to drive some of the pigments |
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| Suminagashi 2 I added gestural marks with charcoal There's something cavemannish about the result |
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| Suminagashi 3 This is the negative of the one above it. I will need to re-dip it, I think, although when I look closer a creature is forming |
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| Suminagashi 4 I like this one because it looked after itself. It also made a cauliflower (back-run) I can see a face with two blue eyes! |
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| Suminagashi 5 the rings are isopropyl and the texture is from the paper towel. I might draw zen patterns on it |
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| Suminagashi 6 There's a bird's head in the centre of this one |
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| Suminagashi 7 a very abstract version - needs another dip |
