Recently I’ve tried to paint on Khadi handmade paper from India. The paper is made from 100% cotton rag using neutral pH size. It is acid-free and comes with medium-rough surface and deckle edges. It is sized with gelatin, which creates a water resistant surface that prevents water to penetrate the paper.

Before creating this  tutorial, I painted two portraits on Khadi 640 gsm, trying to quickly develop the feeling for the paper (see photos below). The surface of the paper gives the impression of woollen felt and if it gets damaged, controlling the flow of water is not possible anymore. This is the reason why I’m using a traditional Chinese Ying Hao brush in this tutorial, moving quickly over the paper and avoiding to return to wet areas.

The video below shows my approach to painting a portrait on Khadi. The whole process took about eight hours, mainly because there are three layers that needed to dry before continuing, and I left out the final “make up” session 🙂 So, if anything about the process looks mysterious please, be free to ask questions!

Here are the photos of the final painting and two works in progress.

FINAL
In progress
In progress

In my next tutorial, I will show the use of other papers for painting portraits, e.g. Fabriano Artistico 640 gsm (Satinata), Arches 300 gsm, and Hahnemühle 425 gsm.

Enjoy!