Bamboo on silk

I went to a bamboo thicket today, I've had trouble drawing it in sumi as I haven't been able to observe it up close. Spending some time there and taking pics I was able to get some grasp of the nature of bamboo and the way it grows.

Bamboo is plentiful in Japan and is used for many things, from tea ladles to building materials. It is a common theme in Japanese art.










I cut a thin branch from the clump with leaves as a 3d reminder then had a practice go on paper



Then painted on the second piece of silk.



Next is to design the titanium 'buckle'

Birds in my hedge scarf

I got one of my friends to hem the silk, I sized it yesterday.



This morning I painted the birds in the hedge right next to the window where they are.

I had to stretch the silk across my book shelf which was actually the perfect length.
I took the picture with the panorama setting as it is too long to get in the frame otherwise.

Geidō

Geidō is a collective term for Japanese traditional arts. It is also a description of the process of learning. Through learning traditional forms (kata) the practitioner develops a deeper understanding of aesthetics and thought processes of that art. These understandings are universal and can be applied to other activities. 

Short cuts to results are strongly discouraged as the kata and process of learning have been refined over time to have a specific effect on the practitioner.

The focus is more on how one prepares and consumes the tea in the Way of tea than on the result of drinking a cup of tea.

Dō means Way.

New tagane

I made some new tagane today, adding detail to a carving seems to need smaller and smaller cutting faces.

Here they are along side the first ones I made.



The older ones are on the left and the matchbox is for scale

Finishing the Enzo moon plate

The contrasts in carving only become properly evident after a patina or some other method of colouring is applied to the metal.

Today I added a black finish to the steel by heating it and quenching it in cooking (sunflower) oil.




It took several goes to get it looking good. It seems to build up in layers. I brass brushed the whole thing first time round, then selectively sanded it. Then back in the quench, then selectively sanding again.

The results are fairly pleasing although next time I inlay I will be much lighter on the hammer, trying the clean up the marks around the inlay is tricky.



I'm going to mount this one in wood, or possibly slate, not sure yet.

Sumi study of birds in the hedge

I got some new ink from a friend who went to China.




So to try it out I did a short study of the birds I'm planning to paint on silk.

One of the aims of sumi-e is to use different shades of ink across the composition. In order to achieve this, 5 bowls of lighter shades are mixed before hand. I only used three here.




The darkest shade is in the ink stone itself and I diluted it in varying quantities to get the light shades. Then it's a case of loading your brush correctly to get the best mix of shades in one stroke.

Birds in my hedge

I've been watching a flock of finch type birds in my bougainvillea hedge outside my kitchen window every morning for several days now. I have in mind a painting on silk with a titanium element and these birds make an excellent motif. My phone camera is not that great at zoom, I may borrow a proper camera to get some more images. The concept behind sumi is to capture the spirit of the subject so observation of movement is first but it helps to have some great images to refer to.