Authentic Japanese Gansai - Watercolors made in Kyoto, Japan

A look at Nakagawa-Gofun traditional Gansai (watercolor) paints made in Japan. In this episode I'll take a close look at these traditional watercolor paints, including some terminology and history you may be unfamiliar with, as well as a unique art material not used much in the west. See the list below for how to buy these paints and for links to the materials I used.

Become a member today to get access to AWESOME perks and EXCLUSIVE content you won't find anywhere else:

Credits:
Video production and content: Marty Owings
Music credits: None.

Gear from Lochby: (Use discount code owingsart for 10% off)

Field Sketching Gear I can recommend:

For Sponsorships or Product Reviews:
Contact me directly.

Follow along and have fun!
Cara: owingsart
Instagram: owings_art
Facebook: owingsart
Etsy: owingsart
Twitter: owingsart

[SheilaLandry]

Thank you. I have the Art Nouveau Kurataki Gansai paint and I am interested as to how they are used traditionally. I like the history behind this and am happy to see you exploring this paint. Much appreciation.

[ColoringKaria]

I’m going to japan! I’ll try get this while I’m there!

[essietangle]

Really interesting colors but how they mixed looked great. Always great to see new art supplies.

[TsukabuNosoratori]

Wow those are great art supplies! I love Japanese art supplies, and have a large collection of Holbein and Kuretake. So cool you got some of those grinding sticks too! It'll be neat to see the kinds of things you can paint with the supplies you chose.

[flychk]

Thanks Marty! This was very interesting and the paints are beautiful!

[onemig]

This is so nice. I still haven't seen many English videos on using gansai and I've only just begun myself (watching the Asian tutorials)... they don't really mix the colors while painting that's why the range is extensive. if anyone is wondering why a set has so many reds or blues, that's the reason. They do double load their brushes and that's what creates the blending on the XUan paper.

Watching their videos might help watercolorists use up their white paints lol. When painting flowers they double load with white and then a red or two at the tip of the Chinese brush.

Brush painting is known for it's bold, decisive and expressive strokes... I also heard some Japanese ink/brush painters and calligraphers can stare at a blank piece of paper (or while they're grinding the ink) for an hour in meditation before picking up the brush.

It's all very fascinating and exciting. And as many cases with Japan artisans, it's a spiritual experience. Now don't get me started on the tea ceremony... *sigh* I want to visit Japan so bad...

[berolinastrassmann]

Thanks, Marty, for showcasing these little known colours (at least to me). What a treasure! How would these oaints behave on rice paper? I've heard that Japanese paints react different tonthat surface. Do you need to add any binder after you grind the sticks? I hope you come back tonthese paints to create and share more art. They look absolutely fabulous. Thank you again!

[NanaBeth]

I was hoping the sticks might be vegan. Checked out the link, thought all might be good until the last page. Hopes dashed but really enjoyed learning so much about how they make their pigments. As always your tree made me smile.

[gertietheduck]

how would you say it compares to Kissho? I have the 60set of Kissho (bought from Japan because the price here in the UK is exorbitant) but the teppachi set on the site you linked looks so good and I have wanted some teppachi pans for a really long time. I am thinking Xmas gift to self….