A step further…..

After submitting the collages using powder pigments, I thought about going back to acrylic. I made a contraption to filter out the nasties from the brush water in preparation, too.

However, it really felt like giving up on the challenge halfway through. And that’s not me. I had to try and paint using the medium, not satisfied with just collages.

I had long been curious about the technique which Hiroshi Senju - a prominent Nihonga artist - used for his ‘Cliffs’ series. And below are my first attempts of emulating his process. The Japanese papers used are supple and incredibly strong which allows artists to manipulate the substrate in ways other papers cannot. Unfortunately they need to be imported from Japan.