Washi Dyed with Sumi Ink

While I was in Japan, I had a chance to visit a museum which was hosting show for Matazou Kayama. He is a post-war era Japanese artist, who used traditional techniques and method to express modern subjects. In one of his paintings, I was fascinated by the technique he used. He dyed washi with sumi ink before he use it. It preset the gloomy effect throughout the image. So, I decided to experiment this technique on the wahi I bought in Ogawamachi.

Here's what I got. First one was best. Washi got ripped off on the edge, but got this nice gloomy patterns.

I realized that each paper took the sumi ink differently. The next one sucked up sumi ink too much, and tared easily. This paper was thicker than the one above.



I tried to use watercolor on this paper, but realize that the sumi effect over power the watercolor. I tried pastels on this, and worked ok. Gouache may work better. I'll keep experimenting.