Eagle in Sepia

Day 8 of the Oriental Art Supply November painting challenge. Tonight I tried two new artforms: painting in sepia ink, and an art board I found in the Chinese, Japanese, Korean traditional watercolor section of an art store. Shikishi board! Apparently the board is supposed to be used with the thicker Asian traditional watercolors, but not mixing them with much water. 

I like the concept of having a board semi-framed and therefore complete to hang once done, but I'll have to learn how to master using this board with watercolor. Because the paper covering the board is rice paper, it dampens easily, which changes the color, so I had a hard time knowing how much paint to add to the water. At first it seemed like I didn't have color in my light paint mixture. Then I started adding more ... and well, overworked the color. Anyway, it's a nice beginning. BTW, the color tinting was done with M Graham watercolors, earth tones. 

Eagle in sepia
18cm x 21cm on shikishi, a Japanese art board
Image was from Wang Xi Guo's pyrography of an eagle