In Chinese paintings, the marriage of rice paper and ink is the soul of this art. Ink possesses a highly distinctive “color” expressiveness. By employing ink, various shades of black and diverse color effects can be portrayed, making the image more rich, vibrant, and three-dimensional on a rice paper. However, when used in traditional ink wash painting, the flow and penetration of conventional ink is difficult to control, and its carbon black particles make it a challenge to achieve multiple transparent gradients. Considering the water solubility and two-dimensional nanostructure of graphene oxide (GO), the authors of this paper has developed and proposed the use of water-based GO ink for Chinese ink wash painting, aiming to endow it with new aesthetic forms and unique expressive potentials.