Three Crows at Sunset

21x9 on Arches 300

 This is an experiment with watercolor and india ink. I've never used india ink before and it is thicker than I imagined. It can be quite gummy, in fact. Or at least, the old bottle I found and used needed to be thinned.

My inspiration for this composition comes from the movie, "Onibaba". This is an old black and white horror flick but the opening was fantastically beautiful with this tall grass everywhere rustling in the breeze.

If you watch this movie you will see where Jim Carrey's "The Mask" was derived, but the story bears no resemblance. In Onibaba, the story is of an old peasant woman who lives with her young daughter in law and they have to find some unethical ways to survive. They slay and rob soldiers who pass through the swamp. When the daughter starts an affair with a deserter, mother-in-law connives a plan to scare the two of them apart. But the mask she stole from the samurai has it's own will.

I rented this one from NetFlix. It's worth watching if you love beautifully filmed black and white movies.