A close look at my ink painting process of the Mystic Camphor Tree.
Grab your drink of choice, get comfy and join me for a relaxing 10 minutes of drawing and painting.
About the artwork
Inspired by the over 3000 year old Giant Camphor Tree of Kawago (the 5th largest tree in Japan), this illustration was created using a dipping pen, fine brushes and various inks. As legend says, the shrine was built into the tree by a holy monk hundreds of years ago. Shinto shrines are created to honour and worship 'kami' (gods) and are also where they live. Fun fact - A Camphor tree is the same species of tree that Totoro (a character from the movie My Neighbor Totoro) lives in! "Totoro has animistic traits and has kami status according to his surroundings and being referred to as "mori no nushi," or "master of the forest". Totoro lives in a camphor tree in a Shinto shrine surrounded by a Shinto rope, these are all characteristics of a kami." - Hayao Miyazaki
Medium
This painting was made entirely using fine pigment, lightfast and archival Luquitex Acrylic Inks and a touch of gilding gold paint on cold pressed 300GSM, acid free watercolour paper.
"I enjoy painting and drawing in fine detail. I find it meditative and become hyper-focused, sometimes sitting for as long as 6 hours in a session."
This artwork took 20+ hours (spread over a few days) to complete.
Full Colour or Line Work Art prints are available from sizes A6-A3 and are all printed and signed by the artist in studio (larger sizes can be arranged on request).
Visit the SHOP for more
I hope you enjoyed watching my process.
Thanks for reading!
Salma x
I'm excited to tell you about my new collab!
The Salsa Creative Studio has joined forces with the amazing Ingrini Jewellery to create wearable art pieces. Each piece from this collection is unique, authentic and contains an original miniature ink painting and real dried petals arranged by hand.
About The Salsa
I am a Capetonian artist living in England. Professionally trained as a Graphic Designer, Illustrator and Photographer.
My work has been featured in many publications and even on billboards. I've worked in many mediums before but I've found a real love painting with ink because it allows for lots of tiny detail and precision. In this collaboration, I'm now working in a miniature scale, painting landscapes using a magnifying lamp and paintbrushes that are a fraction of a millimetre thick. Each painting below is only 25mm (2.5cm that's less than an inch!) in diameter. After I paint these tiny landscapes in England I ship them off to Ingrini in the Netherlands for the next steps.
About Ingrini
Claudia, the creative talent behind Ingrini, is a South African living in the Netherlands (where these pieces are made and shipped from). She uses pressed flowers to create imaginative arrangements reminiscent of landscapes, bouquets or abstract scenes using stunning selections of a wide variety of petals that are meticulously and skilfully placed and set into stunning jewellery.
Visit her website to see her beautiful work:
See the full collection
Visit the collab page on the Ingrini website here or Shop the Catalogue here
Good to know:
• Each piece arrives beautifully packaged and contains certificates of authenticity.
• Every piece is a one-of-a-kind original so when it's sold there won't be another.
• Commissions available on request.
Thank you so much for reading.
If you're in South Africa and would like to order a collab piece, please get in touch with me directly for special and safe shipping arrangements.
All pieces shipped from the Netherlands.
Much love,
Salma
Isn't it wonderful
That in this day and age we're able to open a shop without needing to leave the comfort of our homes? I think it's quite amazing and I'm really grateful to be able to have a place to share my labour of love with anyone who feels a connection to it.
Currently
On the store I've listed prints and products featuring my illustrations, but what I'm looking forward to most is to start selling original prints soon (once I've figured out the best way to pack and ship them to you!). Wouldn't that be cool! So keep an eye out on my instagram story or sign up to my newsletter for announcements of when original art works become available!
Here are a few of the products for sale:
T-shirts are unisex and come in all sizes. Also available in black.
Square prints are available in sizes 254mm x 254mm (10inX10in) and upwards to 45.72cm X 45.72cm (18inX18in).
Canvas prints are available in 305mm X 305mm (12in X 12in) and 406mm X 406mm (16in X 16in).
International shipping is available on most products.
Without further ado - please click the link below to visit the store. I do hope you like it!
Thank you for reading!
Please feel free to leave a comment below. I'd love to know what you think of the store.
Till next time,
Salma
x
