KATAGAMI PAINTINGS

Katagami papers are hand cut, mulberry paper stencil designs for the purpose of painting textiles. Treated with oils and layered with reinforcement threads, these antiques are an artpiece in themselves. So what do I do? Cut them up and start painting.

I started the process in a similar manner to collage, using the most advantageous elements of the base material. And designing excess paper as border elements gives the pieces strong compositional qualities. 

Creating new designs from stencils I had already used was an additional way to remix multiple formats of media in one artpiece. 

The subdued color scheme is a new exploration as well... using the natural worn tones of the paper by picking minimal color additions.