A Flash of Blue Nihonga Painting

One of my first ever Nihonga paintings.

Nihonga is a style of Japanese painting developed in the late 19th century (Meiji era) that uses traditional techniques and natural materials such as mineral pigments, shells, and ink on silk or washi paper. Finding information and materials outside of Japan is difficult, but following a year-long personal study of the technique both in Australia and Japan and speaking to Japanese artists who specialise in this technique, I've finally begun completing my own pieces using nothing but the best materials.

Nihonga is incredibly time-consuming, because paint has to be mixed fresh for every session. There's an art to layering, as finer pigments may sink if added on top of coarser pigments, but the end result is always rather incredible. If you turn a Nihonga painting into the light, you can see the sparkle of pigment grains, which are so much coarser than European pigments.

Where a deep black is required, especially at initial layers, I use Sumi (Japanese ink).