Painting in Water

I came across this blog entry while surfing smashingmagazine.com.  The entry is about Suminagashi, which is the art of painting on water.  I watched two videos on how its done and I was amazed.  There are a few techniques but they all come out elegantly beautiful.  The technique requires a knowledge of fluid dynamics and of course basic artistic ability.  The technique originated in China over 2,000 years ago, but was practiced by Shinto priests in Japan starting in the 12th century.  The basic technique is still mainly the same with some variations because of modern tools.  To do this kind of art you have to know what your doing before it's done.  Kind of like working backwards.  To make steams of a flower the artists in these videos start off with circles and manipulate them to create the form they are trying to achieve.  When the process is finished a paper is placed on the surface to pick up the ink that is floating on top of the water.  A very cool process.