Biwako Blue
by Sarah Brayer
- Medium:
- Poured washi with phosphorescent pigments
- Image courtesy of
- Sarah Brayer Official Website
by Sarah Brayer
Biwako Blue evokes Lake Biwa, Japan's largest freshwater lake located northeast of Kyoto, where Brayer has drawn sustained inspiration. Working in her signature poured washi technique, Brayer allows pigment-saturated water to flow freely across handmade Japanese paper during formation, generating organic gradations that no brush could replicate. The phosphorescent pigments activate under low light, transforming the work from a static field of deep cerulean and indigo into a quietly luminous surface. The composition likely presents the lake as an expanse of layered blues — surface water, depth, sky, and reflected light collapsed into a single atmospheric plane, with the irregular paper edges reinforcing the impression of a shoreline or horizon dissolving into mist.
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Biwako Blue was created by Sarah Brayer.
Biwako Blue uses Washi, on poured washi with phosphorescent pigments.
Biwako Blue depicts landscapes.
