Watercoloring with Japanesque Watercolours

Hello Everyone!

Bit of a nip to the air today!  Autumn is starting to settle in.  Today I am going to talk a bit about Japanesque Watercolors.  As you can see from the first photo...they are very muted.  Let's get started!

Supplies I used:

• One piece of 140 lb. cold pressed watercolor paper
• Penny Black Stamp - Flower Cascade
• Set of Japanesque Watercolours (https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Boku-Undo-Gansaiese-Watercolor-Paint-Metallic-Pearl-Aurora-E-Sumi-6-Color-Set-Japan/1935025_32806828291.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.8.77492727Thn7YO&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_1_10065_10068_10130_10547_5015511_10546_10059_10548_10545_10696_100031_5016211_10084_10083_5015611_10103_451_10618_452_10307_5016311,searchweb201603_55,ppcSwitch_4&algo_expid=c55e3d6e-9896-4f46-98f0-3686cb38a47a-1&algo_pvid=c55e3d6e-9896-4f46-98f0-3686cb38a47a&priceBeautifyAB=0.html)...goodness - that's a long address!
• #4 or #6 round paintbrush
• Paper towel
• Black Card Stock for matting
• A2 size card base (I used Gina K Designs - Dark Sage)
• Gina K Designs - Premium Dye Ink in Kraft
• Ink Blending Tool
• Sentiment stamp - I used Neat & Tangled - No Words
• Nuvo Midas Touch Aqua Shimmer Pen
• Glue or Tape Runner
• Black Ink Suitable for watercolor
• Stamp Positioning Tool

I starting out by cutting down my piece of watercolor paper to 4"x 5.25".  I used my MISTI to stamp the Flower Cascade image onto 2 opposing corners of my paper.  I made sure the image on the top showed more of the design than the one on the lower left.  This is a fairly big stamp that measures 5.75" long.  I also made sure to get a good solid stamping which was why I used my MISTI...I stamped it 3 times.  Then it was time to watercolor.

These paints are a type of Gansai watercolor.  Gansai watercolors differ from Western watercolors - the kind we are used to - because of the types of binders used.  Western watercolors most often use gum arabic as a binder and sometimes honey.  Gansai uses neither of those and can use up to a combination of 4 other types of binders (including glue!).  They are particularly creamy and activate with water very easily.  The pan size of these also is quite big...much bigger than we are used to.  That is because in traditional Japanese painting, the brushes are wider and bigger.  They are not as fully filled as regular small pans.  They are also meant not to be mixed with each other...hence, usually no palette is provided.  However, I did use one mix in this project!  Most of the Gansai colors are very bright and also dry brightly.  These Japanese colors are more muted and very much remind me of Graphatint Pencils by Derwent. They are quite earthy and lovely.   So, on to the project!

I started with the biggest flower and used the deep red color.  I painted one petal at a time by filling each petal with clean water and dropping in a bit of pigment on the outer edges until I was happy with the amount.  These paints are very pigmented.  I would encourage you to swatch these paints out first just to get a feel for them.  It's hard to lift these colors once they are on the paper. When I painted the roses, I wanted them to be purple.  There is a color in the palette that is sort of purple, but really looked too dark and was closer to Payne's Gray than the shade of purple I was looking for.  So, I mixed the red and the blue.  Again, I wet the roses and dropped in color.  For the blue flowers, I wet each petal and dropped in the blue color on the outer edges.  I used the lighter more olive green for the leaves and used the red shade again for the smallest flowers, but didn't use as much water so the flowers were darker.  I then painted a light wash of the brown all over the background...I used a lot of water to get it this light!  When all was dry, I used each of the colors and did some light splatter ( fun tip - did you know that a natural bristle brush releases water and paint more easily than a synthetic? An inexpensive fairly big round brush is perfect for splattering - even though you would never use it to paint with!).

I thought it still needed something, so I did some ink blending on the edges with Gina K Designs Kraft ink.  It was the perfect color!  I also added a little touch of shimmer to the centers of all the flowers with the Nuvo Midas Touch Aqua Shimmer Pen.  This is so pretty...just a slight shimmer of gold in the flower centers!

By keeping the lower left image smaller, I had a nice space for my sentiment.  I used my MISTI to stamp this as well.  I mounted this panel onto black card stock cut to just about 1/16" bigger and then adhered the whole to the card base.  The Dark Sage card stock for the base was a nice compliment to the muted watercolors.  And that finished my card!

I hope you'll give these paints a try.  They run around $14.99 for the set with free shipping.  I would love to see what you make, so tag me!

Until next time - happy paper crafting and remember...it's only paper!  😉

Betsy