Ebru is the traditional Turkish art form of painting on water and transferring the painting onto paper, also called marbling. Interestingly enough, when I looked up ebru, I found a secondary definition. It is also the Turkish slang word for someone who doesn’t know how beautiful they are.

I always assumed that marbled paper artworks were created on the paper’s surface. Painted or drawn or something. It never occurred to me that the artwork is instead created in a bath, then the paper is dragged across the surface to absorb the paint. It’s a fascinating process. I was really amazed by the shapes and realistic figures this artist was able to make with just water, paint, and what appears to be long needles.