Japanese Seasons Watercolour Set, Autumn

One of the possible byproducts of the situation we find ourselves in is a renewed heightened awareness of nature. The song of birds, the silence of the sky, the passing of the seasons have filled the emptiness of time with a welcome rekindling of earth's motherhood and all the meaning that entails, thanks Nature! With that in mind we have devised 4 palettes depicting each season, having picked out (in a way by no means prescriptive or exhaustive) some colours of leaves, trees,  flowers, and feelings propriertary to winter, spring, summer and winter. There is no overlap in terms of colours between the 4 season sets, each set includes 20 distinct colours.

Also consider Swiss painter Johannes Itten's (1888 – 1967) seasonal colour theory - four colour palettes for four types of people each under the sun of a different season - a sort of painter's Yin and Yang if you will. 

Of course there is no strict prescription for the use of this set, only a desire to give inspiration - the colours can be used in a literal way for landscape and botanicals, or more abstractly and expressively. They can also be mixed resulting in an even wider range of colours. 

Each season comes in a matching box covered in luxury silk screen printed Japanese paper. Each box is made from a different segment of the print and so the pattern may vary. 

Very useful too, a letterpress swatch card featuring each individual colour name is included to be painted in for colour referencing. This can come in handy as appearances can be deceiving and each colour is only revealed once wet and set to paper!

We recommend our Aquarella (white) and Aquarello (off-white) for the perfect paper pairing.

Details:
Material: Gansai watercolour
Included: 20 colours in chiyogami paper presentation box and including a blank letterpress swatch card which can be painted in for colour reference. 
Vegetarian/ Vegan: No (contains gelatine glue binder)
Non-toxic
Made in Japan

Colours Included:
48 - Azuki-Cha - Literally translating to mean ‘Azuki bean tea’, this reddish brown pays homage to the Azuki bean which is ever popular in Japanese cooking. 
37 - Senkouhi - Fresh bright crimson 
14 - Ake - When used for more traditional colours this refers to a more orange toned red; for modern colours it is usually a paler red. In this instance the former is more accurate. 
35 - Seidou - This deep green usually translates to mean ‘bronze’ but also shares its name with ‘shrine’; picture the aged bronze statues of a Japanese temple. 
7 - Gunjou - Ultramarine - in translation this colour means across the sea, referring to the rare lapis that was used to make the pigment. Gunjou however refers to the pigment made from crushed azurite, not lapis. 
224 - Jinkou-cha - Argarwood tea - named after the specialised wood that is commonly used in perfumes and incense. 
59 - Akagane - Copper or, more literally, red-gold
219 - Rikyuu-Nezumi - In translation this colour combines ‘dark green’ and ‘mouse’ but in practice it is far lighter than such a name suggests.
207 - Sakura-iro - Cherry blossom - named after the much beloved sakura season in Japan. 
26 - Ugoisucha-midori - Olive brown or nightingale tea green? The Japanese are good competition for the Brits when it comes to their love of tea, apparent in their colour naming!
42 - Kurocha - Black tea 
3 - Senkouki - Fresh bright yellow 
38 - Kodai-murasaki - Ancient purple - due to the cost of the pigment, purple was traditionally associated with wealth in Japan and ordinary people were not permitted to wear it. 
225 - Bara - Rose 
223 - Kuchiba - This dark brown literally means ‘decayed leaves’ but more commonly translates to the English colour russet brown. 
28 - Seiji - This colour refers to celadon which is pottery characterised by its jade green glaze, and has also been known as secret colour due to the mystery of its beauty… 
203 - Kurogin-iro - Black-silver
34 - Hadairo - flesh 
54 - Aaraishu - Washed vermillon 
45 - Kincha - Gold tea