Mountains and Stars

162cm x 224cm
Mineral pigment paint on "Washi" Japanese paper.

My largest painting to date! Over a 2 meters tall! (and wider than I am tall hahahaha) This was my final project during my 3rd year. I got to paint 3 things I love the milky way, mountains and trees! Yay! The concept for this painting is the same as 「ひろくて、せまい」(Hirokute, Semai) but I'm much happier with the results this time. I think adding the mountains gave it more depth and a better sense of space~ The stars are painted in silver paint so they shine in real life ^^
I still need to work on painting trees less wonky. . . lol

Comments and critiques would be super-d-duper appreciated!!

Japanese Painting material (from wikipedia)
"Nihonga are typically executed on washi (Japanese paper) or eginu (silk), using brushes. The paintings can be either monochrome or polychrome. If monochrome, typically sumi (Chinese ink) made from soot mixed with a glue from fishbone or animal hide is used. If polychrome, the pigments are derived from natural ingredients: minerals, shells, corals, and even semi-precious stones like malachite, azurite and cinnabar. The raw materials are powdered into 16 gradations from fine to sandy grain textures. A hide glue solution, called nikawa, is used as a binder for these powdered pigments. In both cases, water is used; hence nihonga is actually a water-based medium. Gofun (powdered calcium carbonate that is made from cured oyster, clam or scallop shells) is an important material used in nihonga. Different kinds of gofun are utilized as a ground, for under-painting, and as a fine white top color."