Splashed Ink Landscape, Sesshin

This method of painting was very imaginative for the Japanese. Having originated in China, Japanese artist took it and applied it to their own artwork as a more playful way of depicting their usual natural landscapes. The places these splashed ink pieces show are usually completely imaginative, no longer based on actual places visited by the monks painting these ink strokes. They usually splashed the ink on the paper to create the basic outline of mountains, hills, and rivers--the larger geographic features. Then, they would come back in and add the smaller, more detailed elements like houses, temples, and bridges with smaller calligraphy brushes.