Recently, out of curiosity to understand what pigments people in the Edo period used for woodblock prints, I have been reading Mad About Painting, a translation of Hokusai's remarkable painting manuals. Alongside lessons on drawing and composition is a fascinating glossary of pigments and painting techniques: a rare glimpse into the practical world of an artist's workshop two hundred years ago. The more I read, the more I realised that Hokusai's greatest lessons were not simp

In my studies of the Rinpa school in Japan and their techniques for my own paintings, I suddenly realised something that I didn't think...

There are two main artistic influences on my cat paintings: Hashiguchi Goyo (1880-1921) and Tsuguharu Foujita (1886-1968). In this post,...

Sizing paper in the context I’m going to discuss isn’t about measuring the size, but rather applying a ‘sizing’ solution (usually some...