Birds in my hedge scarf

I got one of my friends to hem the silk, I sized it yesterday.



This morning I painted the birds in the hedge right next to the window where they are.

I had to stretch the silk across my book shelf which was actually the perfect length.
I took the picture with the panorama setting as it is too long to get in the frame otherwise.

Sumi study of birds in the hedge

I got some new ink from a friend who went to China.




So to try it out I did a short study of the birds I'm planning to paint on silk.

One of the aims of sumi-e is to use different shades of ink across the composition. In order to achieve this, 5 bowls of lighter shades are mixed before hand. I only used three here.




The darkest shade is in the ink stone itself and I diluted it in varying quantities to get the light shades. Then it's a case of loading your brush correctly to get the best mix of shades in one stroke.

Figure drawing is hard

Thought I'd try some sumi style figure drawing, clearly that needs more practice.

Painting on silk again

I've had a modicum of success now, I prepared the stretched silk with fixative, let it dry overnight and the excessive bleeding of ink has stopped. I'm going to steam it tonight then wash it to see if the ink stays as dark.

The trick is to keep a pretty dry brush. This composition wasn't that great but I wasn't expecting it to work so hadn't planned a good one.

Sizing the silk

It seems there is a solution to the silk bleed problem. People who paint with dyes on silk first 'size' the silk with various chemicals. These agents fill the gaps between the fibres and stop the spread of ink. After it has been steam set, the sizing is then washed out if the silk. Also the silk should be stretched on a frame.

I'm not sure on the traditional Japanese sizing recipe, there was mention of a specific ratio of alum and glue but I'll be happy if I can find some commercially available solution.

Enzo 60

Silk follow up

I ironed and hand washed the squares without the ink washing out.

Reading a little more about other silk painting I'm going to try wetting the fabric before painting next time, this could help prevent the ink bleeding.

Painting on silk

I bought some silk to paint on, it was used in China for sumi-e before paper was invented. I chose an off white raw silk with great texture.

There is not much info online about painting sumi on silk, most of what I found was using modern paints and resists. So I cut two squares and gave it a go. I used the bird I had just learnt.




I had put a felt blotter under it but it still bled a lot. With the next one I put carlton roll over the felt under the silk and it absorbed the excess ink much more readily. The second one did bleed but not as much.








Now I'm going to iron these and wash them to see if they become colour fast

Enzo 51

I had some ink and time so I painted a few more

Gago In

You may have notices the red stamps appearing on my latest Enzo. This is a form of signing your name in China and Japan. There are different types of signature stamps for different uses. Official ones are obviously subject to many rules but an artists signature can be anything significant to the artist. You can read more about them here http://www.tessellations.org/seth-asian-chop-1.shtml

These are my first and are quite rough, some are really beautiful. I will carve others as artists stamps are normally made from stone, not wood like these.



I made one Enzo stamp and one which has been a part of my signature for years. I designed it in second year, 1996.

I bought a standard stationary ink stamp and red ink. The wood soaked up quite a bit on the first few times, but they're stamping quite nicely now. I had a bit of marble in my workshop a while ago, I'll see if I can find it and make some nicer looking ones.

New paper

I bought some handmade mulberry paper to try. Sumi is normally painted onto washi paper which is made from bamboo fibres. I thought the mulberry paper could be a good stand in. Unfortunately they didn't have plain white so I got light yellow. Painting on it proved quite different to watercolour paper, the fibres spread the ink in a different way. It may be good for pictures but it bleeds too much for clear writing. Perhaps I have to use a drier brush.

The reason brushwork was so influential on metal work

The reason the tagane (chisels) are called the "iron brush" is carvings were closely related to ink paintings. This is not just some beautiful metaphor but as they were working in pre-photography times, ink paintings were the only common visual reference. Patrons would come in with a painting and want some part of that carved into a tzuba.

Enzo 31 enzo as eyes

I woke this morning thinking the term enzo as eyes, so I drew this owl with enzo eyes. While I am not displeased with the resulting owl, I feel the enzo get lost, they're better used as the moon or sun.

Enzo 18

Enzo 17

Enzo 16

Pregnant enzo

Couple enzo

Heart enzo

Enzo 15