Sabimidori - Taccia

Here is one of my favourite inks. Both for sketching as for writing. Sabimidori is part of Taccia's Ukiyo-e ink series. Ukiyo-e was a Japanese art movement in the 17th and 18th century and famous for it's woodcut prints. Inspiration for this art were nature and the common working class. Sabimidori ink is based on a print made by Katsushika Hokusai called 'Thirty-Six views of Mount Fuji: The Village of Sekiya on the Sumida River'.

If I had the means I would have bought all the inks of this series just because of the beautiful boxes they come in.

Gorgeous, isn't it? It's difficult to describe the feeling of the writing. Somehow you just feel how saturated and thick this ink is. Or is it all just in my head?

On white Rhodia the ink looks greener than it does on Iroful. Probably because that paper is more ivory. As you can see the ink doesn't shade in normal writing. The calligraphy done with the Pilot Parallel however does make a nice shading.

And then there's the gorgeous red copper sheen. That comes out on all papers. I love it. The sheen behaves well, no smearing once the ink has dried. And finally the chromo and sketch.

What a party! Electric blue, cyan and lemon yellow. I have no idea how it works. That deep red copper sheen comes from somewhere. But I can't find it in the chromatography. If somebody can explain to me how that happens...

Anyway... The sketch was so much fun to do. Not only because the subject was nice. This ink made me oooooh and aaaaaah until the sketch was finished.

It's not a very water resistant ink. So re-wetting works well. Some of the ink does stain the paper though. In wet areas the diluted ink can show lime green, bright blue or almost yellow. When applied in a big, undiluted amount the colour can look almost black. And in those parts of the sketch it's most likely that the sheen will show up too.

This is "castle" Gunterstein in Breukelen, the Netherlands. I was born and raised in Breukelen but not in this castle. This place has a beautiful green park and small forest. It's nice there.