Japanese Tanzaku Panels

Eugene likes to paint on Japanese tanzaku panels that measure only 2.5 x 14.25 inches. He paints small delicate images on a single panel vertically or horizontally, either way it is amazing to see the tiny details he includes in the scene. He also paints across three panels at a time or eleven panels at one time to create a larger scene. His bamboo brushwork on these panels runs the gamut from florals, to Mt Fuji in Japan, the Li River Valley in Guilin, China and even a local scene of the Wintergreen, VA area.

 

Tanzaku boards are made from fine handmade art papers laminated to a hard board backing. They are edged with a strip of gold paper and are used for Sumi-e, haiku and watercolor. Sumi-e in Japanese means painting with ink, literally “sumi” is ink and combined with an “e” creates ink picture. The philosophy of sumi-e is to capture a simplified basic of the object, harmony of the spirit and the artist’s perception. Although Eugene is painting with watercolors, you can see he has captured the harmony of spirit in this piece as well as many others.