December madness and sumi-e

As a full time goldsmith and part time student, December was a time of focusing on being Santa's little elf and making, setting and adjusting Christmas presents. This meant very little time for practicing carving metal. There was, however an avenue of exploration open for me and that was Sumi-e.

Sumi-e is the Japanese version of a Chinese style of painting. It utilises set brush strokes borrowed from calligraphy to create ink and water paintings. As the combination of rice paper and ink allows for no 'fixing' of lines, the artist is forced into a mindful state. The result depends on both the painter's ability to impose bold brush strokes and respond to what happens on the page.

Japanese style metal carving has much in common with the art of sumi-e, in fact the chisels are often referred to as the iron brush. Therefore it makes sense to study the brush simultaneously. 

The tools needed for this style of painting are called the four treasures, these are the ink stick, ink stone, brushes and paper. I was lucky enough to find three of those, the correct paper is difficult to source so I have been using water colour paper.

Here are some of my attempts.

 These are after many sessions of just practicing different brush strokes. Essential to the result is learning how to control the amount of water to ink on the brush as well as manipulating the shape of the brush itself.

This is an engaging and relaxing activity which takes both forethought and responding to what happens on the page. I found it to be a great way to start the day, wake up earlier than the household and spend some time capturing images.