Dissecting the paintings

From the looks of things, Japanese art mainly consisted of Ink, watercolour and printing on natural fibres, such as cotton, silk, wood and heavier papers. They seem quite vague and simple, layered bold colours and deep black shading that sort-of reminds me of calligraphy. (writing style, pictured below)

Japanese calligraphy: although sometimes actually written onto paintings, some of the shading in the paintings bring this style of writing to mind even when it is not used directly.

 Although simple, the paintings always seem very powerful, as though they are trying to convey a message to the viewer.



The Great Wave of Kanagawa

Looking at this just makes me think "Japan" and makes me feel a little bit uneasy. Everybody remembers the great Tsunami that, very tragically happened a few years ago and this is what comes to my mind when i first glance at it. Upon closer inspection i see that the painting consists of three elements, the sea, boats and a mountain, which could possibly be mt fuji. 

The sea dominates the composition and is overwhelming. The way it kind of wraps around  the boats and the "huge" mountain makes me think of what message is it portraying? Was the painter feeling overwhelmed? small? trapped? 

The way the waves are breaking makes them look like claws, like the boats are about the be grabbed from above. 

Inside the museum was this jigsaw, it had a grid pattern that i though could be useful as a reference when trying to draw/sketch this painting. which i may try to do.

Birds over