A Better Bokashi

My first attempt at making a bokashi (a gradation) was clumsy at best. The method I had used was to put rice paste on one end of my maru bake brush and pigment on the other end and wipe it horizontally across the block. Tom Kristensen gave me some great advice in his comments on that post, and I'm pleased to show you this second, smoother much-improved bokashi.

As Tom suggested, I first applied a thin even layer of rice paste to the top section of the "sky" block. Then I applied a dollup of darker blue at the top of this layer of paste and used a horizontal motion of the maru bake to work the color into the paste, letting the ink spread into the paste. I found that I didn't need to be as rigid about keeping the motion completely horizontal; that if I pulled the brush slightly downward as I went along it helped the fade become smoother. I also used a blue that was closer in value to the first blue, so the bokashi was softer and not as pronounced as the first time I tried it. Thanks for the tips, Tom!