Looking to The East, Chinese Watercolours

I am thoroughly enjoying painting in the Chinese method. The below photographs show my preparatory washes of blue and violet on one side of the paper and subsequent four washes of roasted twig tea on the front.

 

The Chinese paper is totally different to traditional watercolour paper, being much more absorbent.

 

I lay the paper down onto a dry cloth, which is used as a base to absorb any extra paint or ink. It also serves as a protector of the delicate paper from the wood of my desk. The moon is painted using designers white gouache, sometimes mixed with watercolour paint, other times, I just use the white on it's own.

Black bamboo for inspiration in my studio. I have perfected painting bamboo and I will incorporate it into some of my future paintings. However, my first paintings will be centred around beautiful birds, namely the Spoonbill, Heron and my personal favourite, the Egret.

 

Dumortierite gem stones used as paperweights to the paper flat whilst drying.

 

The art of Chinese painting lends itself to the meditative state, such as the preparation of the inks, by grinding them on slate first, whilst preparing for the painting to come.