Love your new watercolour paints but have had limited success on washi? Searching for a fresh paper look for your plein-air outings? This summer, join us for Washi & Water Media Wednesdays, an opportunity for exchanging techniques and ideas with other painters, and JPP staff, who will join the discussion and provide washi to try.

Participants trying washi samples in another washi session; Summer Washi Clinics, 2023

Washi (traditional Japanese paper) is wonderfully receptive to painting materials. Watercolour, gouache, fluid acrylic, artist inks, sumi, or dyes – all can work, given the correct choice of washi and your approach. The fibres of kozo, gampi and mitsumata papers absorb wet media well, their subtle liveliness animating any painting. Washi acts as more than a surface, it becomes an integral part of the artwork.

Tengo #6, Lorraine Pritchard, Sumi ink and Pigma pen on three layers of Tosa Tengu-jo 11g

Some characteristics of washi often create challenges for artists used to working on western papers. Where paint sits on the surface of western watercolour papers, and there is time to manipulate it, on washi, once the colour is laid down, it’s absorbed and can’t be moved. Colours often bleed and the paper doesn’t always dry flat. What to do?

Explore with us at one of four Washi & Water Media Wednesdays where we will exchange ideas on how to work with these characteristics. Do we embrace these differences and incorporate them into our work? Are these properties different from paper to paper? Does it make a difference if you use watercolour vs. gouache, dyes vs artists inks? Can you size the paper or change it in any way before you paint on it?

Some of the works made by a participant 

We have invited painters practised in using watercolour with washi, to attend one session each, bringing their own experience to the conversation. The JPP will provide three different types of washi to try, and participants will bring their own water media. While this is meant to be an exchange rather than a workshop, we will offer guidance on ways to compare papers to choose appropriately for your media and approach. We hope you’ll leave swimming with inspiration to incorporate washi into your art practice.

Washi & Water Media Wednesdays

Date & Time: Wednesdays, June 26, July 10, 24, August 7, 2:00 - 4:00 pm EDT
Location: The Japanese Paper Place (103 The East Mall, Unit 1 Toronto) 
Registration: Eventbrite
Limited to 12 attendees per session.