This semester, we learned a variety of painting techniques that involve holding a brush, whether it be vertical (chokuhitsu) or slanted (sokuhitsu), making and using different shades of sumi (nōboku, chūboku, and tanboku), and different styles of painting, using lines to outline subjects (senbyō-hō), fleshing subjects out without lines (mokkotsu-hō), or a combination of the two (kōrokutensai-hō). This week a new painting technique is shown, the purpose of which is to add texture to painted objects--tarashikomi.

Tarashikomi (たらし込み) is the dropping of sumi, gansai, or water on wet portions of a painting to achieve special effects like the appearance of blotting. It was a technique favored by the Rinpa school of decorative art developed by Sōtatsu Tawaraya (1570-1640) and Ogata Kōrin (1658-1715). It works best on washi with high levels of sizing.

In my demonstration of ume this week, I use it on the trunk and branches of a plum tree. See  my demonstration painting below for an example of its use.

The following illustrations show how to draw plum buds, flowers, trunks and branches.

My Demonstration Painting: White Plum with a Japanese Nightingale, Using the Tarashikomi Technique