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GretchŌ・ Sumi-e & Shodō Art ・ Ink Wash & Calligraphy ・墨絵 & 書道

@gretcho.art

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Sumi Ink Artist | Illustrator Tokyo-taught, Melbourne-based
Inspired by fashion, slow living, and philosophy Originals, fine art prints & enquiries ↓

POSTS STORIES REELS

I’ve been finding it challenging to explain my sumi ink obsession outside of Japan, so I made another reel. #onarollwithreels 😄

Credits to @mya.atplay for most of the photos and footage.

#australianartist #japaneseinkpainting #sumiink #asianart #melbourneartist by @gretcho.art

Blossoms fade. Ink remembers. 🌸

#sumiink #natureinink #japaneseink by @gretcho.art

When you have too much fun creating mockups, pop them into Reels. 😅 🎥

I’ve recently started uploading some works at @bluethumbart. (15% off site-wide sale ends tomorrow — link in bio if you’d like to check out/support my work and other Aussie artists through purchase, follows, or blue hearts 💙💙💙)

I’m also sharing about my experience in this process, plus my favourite apps, and curated resources that I’ve found while exploring how visual creators who don’t have formal art training can be found, in this age of AI. Newsletter link also in bio, if you’d like to learn more.

This diptych is one of my personal favourites that I’ve finished at @rimpasumieclub in Tokyo. Adapted Kaii Higashiyama’s Mountain Gorge Morning Mist Nihonga painting into a monochrome diptych using sumi ink and silk on shikishi art board.

It took over 2 months to finish, plus hundreds of photos of mountain scenery and trees. It forever changed the way I look at trees. 😍🌲🌳🌴🤩

#bluethumbartist #australianartist #landscapeart #japaneseinkpainting #japaneseinkart by @gretcho.art

“I could paint for a hundred years… and still feel as though I knew nothing.”
— Paul Cézanne

Apples in Sumi
Reinkterpreted: Where ink whispers colour

Japanese Sumi Ink on Paper
#reinkterpreted #sumie #sumi by @gretcho.art

The coffee cup empties, the brush rests — and still, the current moves.
Completion is only a pause before creation begins again.

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22　Circle of Calm
A single button holds it all together — coat, confidence, composure.
Sometimes the smallest circle keeps one’s world from unraveling.
#Inktober22 #Button

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23　Fleeting Light
Inspired by Amanjena’s terracotta glow.
Lanterns pulse like fireflies in the dusk — a mirage of shadow and sand.
And the glow lingers inside you.
#Inktober23 #Firefly

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24　Rebel Stroke
Reference: Tom Cruise by Greg Williams.
The ink misbehaves — splatters, streaks, runs wild.
That’s when it’s most alive.
#Inktober24 #Rowdy

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25　Burn to Create
Born of flame, black ink keeps burning across white paper.
Like sumi, the tango begins in fire — silk turns like smoke, movement as prayer.
#Inktober25 #Inferno

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26　Missing Piece
An impression of the Loewe Puzzle Tote.
The ink refused to fill the gap — and maybe that was the point.
Emptiness completes the composition.
#Inktober26 #Puzzling #NegativeSpace #SumiInk #ZenParadox

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27　Layered Truths
Peel one, find another.
Revelation arrives only through quiet contemplation.
#Inktober27 #Onion

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28　The Suit Structure
Form reduced to philosophy.
Tailored fabric whispers like ink — structure before flourish, essence before ornament.
Even emptiness has architecture.
#Inktober28 #Skeletal

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29　Lesson in Layovers
Lost luggage, found stories.
Leaving space between flights prevents panic — ink teaches patience (so do customs forms).
#Inktober29 #Lesson

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30　The Space Between
City in fog.
Emptiness hums with quiet potential.
Vacancy isn’t absence — it’s invitation.
#Inktober30 #Vacant

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31　A Quiet Triumph
Not a trophy — just a calm heart after creation.
Ink dried, brush rinsed, lesson learned — enough.
Each work imperfect, unhurried, out of sync — still a medal for showing up, falling off, and finishing anyway.
The truest award is the one we give ourselves.
#Inktober31 #Award #SumiInk #CreativeJourney #DoItForTheProcess #StudioSanctuary #TravelArt
#inktoberaspostingprompt by @gretcho.art

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” — Lao Tzu

Out of sync, in the flow.
Ink meanders before it lands — like me, finding my rhythm.

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15 Rouge Raw 💄
An untamed take on Chanel Rouge Coco.
Edge without restraint — pigment, pulse, power in minimal strokes.
#Inktober15 #Ragged #ChanelLipstick

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16 Flaw or Flow ✒️
Sometimes an imperfect line deserves to stay; sometimes it sparks grace.
Ink remembers — each blunder is a brushstroke toward truth.
#Inktober16 #Blunder

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17 Wear It Twice 💫
Chanel Coco Mademoiselle Twist & Spray Limited Edition
Luxe at first glance, disciplined at heart.
Gold-and-pearl bracelet with a perfume charm — Chanel turns ritual into jewellery.
Too good to wear just once.
#Inktober17 #Ornate

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18 Fukubukuro / The Lucky Bag 🎁
Chance wrapped in tissue — joy sealed with surprise.
The art of not knowing, yet trusting anyway.
#Inktober18 #Deal

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19 Lofoten Lights / Aurora Impression ❄️
Ink watches, then learns the language of light.
Stillness moves; silence shimmers.
#Inktober19 #Arctic

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20 Two Forces, One Flow 🥋
The leap meets no opponent but air.
To master form is to face oneself —
the truest duel ends in balance.
“A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms.” — Zen proverb

#Inktober20 #Rivals

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21 Ink Bloom 💧🌿
Not every blast is loud. Some whisper across paper, not an explosion but a breath.
Ink and scent unfold together — quiet, alive, in motion.
#Inktober21 #Blast

#InktoberAsPostingPrompt #doitfortheprocesss by @gretcho.art

[Washed up behind schedule. The sea doesn’t do calendars, and apparently neither do I. Maybe there’s still a bit of that island girl in me. And someday I’ll figure out my posting-while-traveling routine.]

“In the vast oceanic universe starfishes are the stars in the sky of the shore...”
― Munia Khan

And oysters? They cradle miniature galaxies, forged from the quiet friction of the sea. They cradle discomfort the way the cosmos cradles stars—pressure becoming beauty. Each pearl, spun from patience and grace.

Inspired by the iconic Alexander McQueen’s oyster dress, the brush expresses its layers, texture and movement in minimal, deliberate sweeps.

🖌️ Japanese Sumi Ink on Washi by @gretcho.art
Reference: Oyster Dress by @alexandermcqueen
Image credits: @irinaleoni.co

#Inktober2025 #InktoberDay7 #Starfish #InkTardy #RetroactiveCatchup #SumiInkArt #JapaneseInkPainting #OceanGeometry #MinimalBrushstrokes #StudioSanctuary #NatureInInk by @gretcho.art

Manifesting my future atelier-on-wheels:
vintage Louis Vuitton travel trunk. In its quiet compartments, I imagine washi tucked where where silk once lay, brushes resting where gloves were kept.
Until then, I’ll keep painting it into existence. Perhaps every dream begins this way — imagined, inked, then lived.

🖋 Japanese Sumi Ink on Washi Paper
Background photo credit: @irinaleoni.co
#Inktober2025 #InktoberDay14 #Trunk #LouisVuitton @louisvuitton #SumiInkStyle #TravelLuxury #ArtistAtelier #ManifestingArt #InkAndImagination #StudioSanctuary by @gretcho.art

Flat white at home. Drip in Tokyo. Ink on paper everywhere.

I’m the typical Melburnian (or Narrm-nian?) who drinks flat white — sometimes a Melbourne Magic to survive a lack of REM sleep. If it’s a non-specialty shop, I lower my risk of disappointment with a mocha (if at Starbucks, the pumpkin spice latte when in season).
 In Tokyo, however, whether in a traditional kissaten or hipster roasters, I would often order the drip. As anything Japanese, they elevate the craft of craft coffee, patience, and quiet art in every pour. Aiming to capture the ritual in sumi ink — the bloom, the swirl, the pause between drips.

🖋 Japanese Sumi Ink on Washi Paper Reference: Tokyo barista pouring drip coffee, Shibuya, editorial study #Inktober2025 #InktoberDay13 #Drink #PostingPrompts #RetroactiveCatchup #PostItForTheProcess #TokyoCoffee #SumiInkArt #JapaneseInkPainting #MinimalBrushstrokes #QuietLuxury #StudioSanctuary #CoffeeArt #EditorialInk by @gretcho.art

Inspired by Cartier’s Juste un Clou single hoop earring — a simple nail transformed into a jewel, where piercing precision meets poetry.

Japanese Sumi Ink on Hotel Paper (I forgot to bring Washi) 🤦🏻‍♀️  #Inktober2025 #InktoberDay6 #Pierce #RetroactiveCatchup #DrawItForTheProcess #JusteUnClou #CartierInk #SumiInkArt #MinimalBrushstrokes #NoPencil #StudioSanctuary #AbstractJewelry by @gretcho.art

Inspired by the A/W24 collection with the deconstructed jacket by @ezumi.official
Ink follows the rhythm of fabric shredded with precision; a jacket transformed into wearable art.

🖋 Japanese Sumi Ink on Washi Paper
#Inktober2025 #InktoberDay12 #Shredded #PostingPrompts #RetroactiveCatchup #DoItForTheProcess #Ezumi #JapaneseFashion #SumiInk #MinimalBrushstrokes #InkAndForm #StudioSanctuary by @gretcho.art

“I don’t have to take a trip around the world or be on a yacht in the Mediterranean to have happiness. I can find it in the little things, like looking out into my backyard and seeing deer in the fields.” — Queen Latifah

In sumi-e, kōrokuhō — “the method of the deer’s antlers” — describes the branching brushstrokes technique once used for painting tree trunks and branches.
I didn’t follow it by the book here but each branch, each curve, remembered its antlers.
The softer spirit of kōrokuhō found me while painting the plum blossom branches.

🖋 Japanese Sumi Ink on Washi Paper with Digital Colouring
#Inktober2025 #InktoberDay5 #Deer #PostingPromptEdition #RetroactiveCatchup #SumiInk #Kōrokuhō #SumiInkPainting #MinimalBrushstrokes #ZenArt #StudioSanctuary #InkAndNature #ArtThatBreathes #JapaneseInkPainting #DoItForTheProcess by @gretcho.art