I made this painting using the amazing Saibiboku ( The Inks of Color and Beauty) from Kobaien in Nara, Japan. I have made a collage with some coloured circles and the Kobaien set's swatches a the bottom.
I used mostly Saibiboku, except for the super-black spots and vivid yellow ones. The blacks as well as gold bits and small ornaments are made with Posca markers. Vivid yellow is a nickel azo gold, new watercolour shade by Roman Szmal. Saibiboku is made with Sumi ink, which results in more muted, darker colours - that is why I I did not use it for the vivid yellows as it would be too dark. As for the other colours, from Saibiboku, I can easily make them lighter by adding water, like some of the lilac and pink bits.
It is a Kandinski-inspired composition, I should say. At least it reminds me of! It was great fun for this small piece to be completed, for there is a lot of details with the intersections and so on. As you can see, the Saibiboku's shades are easily coordinated, and the palette is a joy to work with! Thanks for watching!
Kobaien Earth Paper has an interesting texture as you can feel the small amount of earth in it.
It does buckle/crease with too much moisture, so I dry mounted it onto a 300gsm card and then I was able to build up many layers of colour with fine edges.
With the moisture in each layer the paper would swell slightly, but then dry flat.
Working in this way I was able to obtain depth of colour and subtlety of shading.
I used Suibokugayou Aozumi ink, Saibiboku colours with the addition of gamboge yellow and white.
Now that the painting is framed the paper seems to glow - it is quite exquisite. It took me a little while to get used to it, but I will definitely be using Earth Paper again.
We are over the moon with appreciation to Ichi Inc.Japan and their craftsmen. Thank you for your superior service and care with every order.
Kindest regards,
Kelly & Michael Pickering
Safe delivery, lovely sincere note with the package. Beautiful high quality products! Will purchase again.
It's a very high quality ink that helps me to create great works of art. Very beautiful black colour and beautiful shades. Even when very thinned with water this ink is still very subtle.