Search Results

You are invited to download and/or printout for ease of use. Enjoy the read. Get your own Japanese ink painting tools and materials - Choose from three sets carefully curated by Talia

Mastering the power of ink and brush - Richard Weihe / Shih-T'ao … Geshani discussed with the master the relationship between the tall mountain and the small piece of paper' between the hardness of the rock and the softness of the paintbrush. 'How is it possible to express magnitude through smallness, hardness through softness and light through darkness? How can one thing be expressed by another which it is not?' "You need to overcome the contradictions in your mind" the master began. 'Learn to combine them as you do ink and brush. A thing is a thing in relationship to itself, but also in relationship to other things. It is this and well as that. Even if we comprehend the thing only from the perspective of the this, it is nonetheless determined by both this and that.' The master paused for a moment. ' Do not, therefore, become enslave by the perspective of absolute oppositions. This is also that, and that is also this,' he reiterated. 'At the point they cease to be in opposition you find the axis of the Path. The Path becomes obscure if you walk down it only one way.' 'Your words themselves are obscure, Master,' Geshan said. 'How does what you say influence the handling of the brush?' 'For me as a painter the value of the mountain is not in its size, but in the possibility of mastering it with the paintbrush. When you look at a mountain you are seeing a piece of nature. But when you paint a mountain it becomes a mountain. You do not paint its size, you imply it. The importance of the brush lies not in the extent of its bristles, but in the traces it leave behind. The importance of the ink lies not in the ink, but in the power of expression and mutability of its flow. The importance of the mountain stream lies not in itself, but in its movement; the importance of the mountain lies in its silence.’ Then he continued: ‘ Your hand is your guiding spirit. You have everything in your hand. The line that unites is contained in all things.’ And he added: ‘When you dip your paintbrush into the ink, you are dipping it into your soul. And when you guide the paintbrush, it is your spirit guiding it. Without depth and saturation your ink lacks soul; without guidance and liveliness your brush lacks spirit. The one thing receives from the other. The stroke receives from the ink, the ink receives from the brush, the brush receives from the wrist and the wrist receives from your guiding spirit. That means mastering the power of both ink and brush.’ Quoted with special permission from - ‘Sea of Ink' / Richard Weihe Chapter 15 / origin from 'Shih-t'ao: Quotes on Painting' (3rd thesis)}

How to Look at Japanese Art Series A Crab Woodblock Print How to better appreciate Japanese art? In particular, lets explore the meaning of the crab in this 18th C. Japanese print. These kind of fine quality Japanese prints, known as surimono, were often made for festive occasions such as the New Year. They were usually commissioned by a poet or a poetry group and privately published. Although their subject matter may seem common, these prints are full of hidden meaning and subtle imaginative ideas, woven between the poem and image. Nature and its patterns When looking at the arts of Japan, flora and fauna were always integrated as part of its visual world. Their very essence quality iconography was used in conjunction with giving expression to notions, thoughts, and beliefs of a culture dependant on its visual language as communication connecting network. The composition representation of Japanese painted art, like in its poetry, seems to always be located in a particular span of time. Artists use of coded imagery as a specific set of vocabulary facilitated the expression of the transitory state of time. Observation of natural rhythms and planetary patterns is a key feature in the Japanese relation to the natural world and its phenomena and how it evolved in the painted art. In particular, the way animal behaviour reacts in specific time and responding to the changing nature of time. Be it ebb and flow, change of temperature and humidity, light and dark, as well as the magnitude of the changing seasons. This aspect of time flow, reveals to us the very essence character of the art work. The crab A particular interesting aspect of behaviour in the natural world is that of heralding time of phenomena not yet occurred. The crab (kani 蟹) comes out at the ebb of the tide, especially when the morning sun rise or the evening sun set. It waits on the water edge to feed, enjoying the early or late soft rays of light. The etymology of its name kan-i means both ‘court rank’ as well as ’bravery’, which indeed he is, in heralding dawn and dusk and in reacting with the water cycle and the ebb of tide. The crab knows to follow the ocean’s rhythm and the day and night cycle. The art of surimono This woodblock print, known as surimono - to mean ‘printed things’, is a limited edition and privately commissioned print, made for special occasions and times of the year. In particular surimono were designed as original gift cards for the New Year. The art of surimono was developed during the 18th century by top artists, usually commissioned by a poet or a poetry group. It was designed with subtle details, high quality paper and pigments, and refined technique of printing. Artist Utagawa Kunisada (1786 – 1865) was one of the most prolific woodblock print artist of the 19th C., with over 20,000 designs he has created during his lifetime. In this fine print by him, a giant crab is depicted from above, crossing the soft sand unto the water. Two poems are placed at the top part, with Kunisada beautiful designed round, red seal on the bottom right. Calligraphic poetry The two poems are placed carefully above the crab, as if coming out of the blue water. They are so well engraved that one may confuse them with calligraphy brush strokes. The first poem by Bunsō Takemasa on the right reads: 'The warbler sings to the moon and stars at Susaki Bay as the sun rises auspiciously at the dawn of spring.' The second poem is by Kubo Yasujūrō (1780-1837) , one of the many poets who came from samurai family and of the first to make a living out of the kyōka poetry, by holding competition and compiling anthologies of amateur kyōka poetry: 'Morning arrives in a sea of mist the giant crab crawls ever more slowly as the day goes by.' Both poems indicate the season and hour, describing Susaki Bay on the outskirts of Edo, which was a traditional place for gathering shells and seeing the first sunrise of the year over the sea. Time in poetry and painting was represented often with relation to a specific place, in defining not only the moment but also the emotional mood caused by that place and hour. In conclusion And so, a crab is not just a crab, it is part of the great clock of the natural world and was carefully chosen to be depicted here in this print. Although only one single crab is painted, its image alongside the calligraphic poetry, reveal to us, if only in our imagination, a whole landscape of the disappearing night time with its moon and stars, and the coming of the first New Year sunrise by the silver blue seashore. More on painting crabs - Learn how to paint crabs (and shrimps) with Japanese ink and brush in this easy step-by-step tutorial - HERE Sign up now for a one-time payment of £65 > You are welcome to download and/or print this article. Here is a pdf. copy for you. Enjoy the read.

Chrysanthemum by the Stream From Jackuchū to Murakami This hanging scroll of chrysanthemums by the stream was painted by Itō Jackuchū (1716 – 1800), one of Japan's most ingenious artists of the 18th Century. He is presenting an ethereal range of chrysanthemums flowers by a stream that seem to grow out of an old ragged trunk covered with moss. Four little song birds can be discovered as one observes the painting, adding sound to the flowers fragrance and the movement of the water. And suddenly, our senses are fully engaged within this scene. It is part of a series of thirty scrolls painted by Jackuchū over a decade, known as 'The colourful realm of living beings' (dōshoku sai-e) , created around 1765 when the artist was in his fifties. This painting, on silk, is a wonderful demonstration of the artist versatility in mastership the way of ink . On the whole, it may seems like a traditional theme, but on a deeper observation, you may begin to find the work reveals itself as almost abstract, and does not really make 'sense', in the logical way. For example, the white flowers at the top could not really, physically, be held by its fine dark branch. And the background river, itself designed as three shades of decorative patterned ink, is really only reminiscence notes on the flow of water. This abstract format and the realistic images somehow come together to make sense in our imagination. Itō jackucho (1716-1800) Jackuchū is one of the most prolific artists of Japan. He is loved and revered by the Japanese, and his unique style does not fall really into any school of practice. That is why he is often relates to as one of the 'eccentric' artists of the 18th Century. And yet, one can challenge the notion of eccentricity. As it can only be related to, if there is a 'norm' to be eccentric in contrast to. His extraordinary mastership of the brush demonstrate both strength and finesse. Manipulating the brush and ink in creating beautiful original compositions. A true pathfinder of the art of ink painting. Born to a wealthy family of fruits and vegetables merchants in Kyoto, Jackuchū, as the eldest son had to handle the business for the first part of his life. Although he painted throughout that time and was already well known, he has began his first most ambitious work when he was forty two and well into his fifties, creating the series of thirty large hanging scrolls of which this painting of chrysanthemum is part of. Jackuchū was a devoted buddhist, follower of Zen. His work range from the most wild abstract like images, such as, his well known cranes and roosters, to the refined detailed of buddhas images and the natural world around us. From seashells to landscape, from flora to fauna, his work essentially carry a deep sense of the buddhist belief in the universal unity of all things. The chrysanthemum The chrysanthemum is one of the four main subject to be mastered by the ink practitioner, known as the 'four noble ones'. It has a history within ink painting tradition which originated in ancient China. It is said that when an artist can master painting the leaves of the chrysanthemum, they can paint anything at all. In the two chrysanthemum painting here, we can see Jackuchū mastership of the two main schools of ink practice. Both line strokes of the flowers, on the left scroll, as well as the free brush stroke as seen on the flower on the right. Playful, detailed and ingenious, shifting our perception from the known to the imaginary (no flower grows in this fashion really), he is working the narrow space of the scroll format to its uttermost. The flower represent the season of autumn, the air is getting colder, time to prepare for the harsh season ahead. Chrysanthemum painted by the stream, carry a reference to deep healing, strength and longevity. It was told of a hidden water stream, in a small village in Japan, which had chrysanthemum flowers growing alongside it. The petals would fall into the water, and it was believed that they transformed the quality of the water so that those who drank it lived well for many, many, long years. We can find three styles of Jackuchū chrysanthemum painted here. Using white for the largest flowers, with a hint of green in the centre. Jackuchū only paint the edge of the white petals, creating an illusion of a whole flower. He then uses the same white with a hint of green to creates a smaller flower, adding orange red to define its contour edges. And in the third design, he picks the orange-red to create yet another type of chrysanthemum using the two painting styles of lines and washes together. Dream world Jackucū's creates a unique dream world and invites us to dwell in it. If you look carefully you begin to unravel the way he does it. We actually view the painting from multiple view points. To begin with, we view the stream from a bird's view, and the flowers from a side view. Oh, but then, some flowers are seen from above, as well as below, and from the front flower as well as the back, revealing all sides of the flowers as well as the sculpted trunk. We are not outside this dream world, we are inside it. The stream runs in a beautiful silhouette of a wave. It goes from the top of the paintings down the bottom of it. The stem of the chrysanthemum does the same movement, but mirror the stream. Together they make an eternity like sign. The dark trunk with its radiating malachite green, repeats yet again the wave shape, bringing it to a pause at the bottom centre, where we find a little bird. The artist invites us to look more carefully and find the song bird, and then another and another, like the very hidden soul of the pain ting. Each bird, glance to a different directions as if to make sure it covers the whole universe of the artwork. With this unique style of his, using no western vanishing point or shadows of any kind, Jackuchū creates depth and layers to the work as a whole. His dream world is alive and vibrant. Takashi Murakami chrysanthemum by the stream This circular print 'jumped' at me when visiting by chance an auction house in London many years ago. It was hang amongst a mix of contemporary western prints, and was clearly very different. At the time, I did not know the artist, however, I did recognised the theme of chrysanthemum by the stream. As the only bidder, on a rainy London day, I was delighted to walk home with it and hang it on the wall amongst my own artwork collection, only to discover later on it was actually the work of contemporary Japanese artist, Takashi Murakami. Born in 1962, Takashi Murakami is one of the most well known contemporary Japanese artist of today. In keeping with the Japanese ink painting tradition of following the footprints of masters of the past, Murakami has taken up Jackuchū theme of chrysanthemum by the stream, giving it his own unique signature interpretation. Using the latest print technology of colour and gold, and a good amount of humour with his flower faces, His skilful executed print echo the theme of Jackuchū's, exploring it afresh some two hundred years later. In a way, like the longevity essence nature of the chrysanthemum, both artworks are timeless. Perhaps their reflected atmospheric feeling rises from the same timeless source. Learn More > For an in-depth tutorial on how to paint chrysanthemum, using Japanese ink and water colours painting join ArtBrush online lesson. Sign up for a one-time payment of £65 > > and for the complete foundation course tutorial 'The Four Noble Ones' , which includes the chrysanthemum lesson, you are invited to join ArtBrush Foundation course Sign up for a one-time payment of £220 > > For other individual painting tutorials check ArtBrush Online HERE > For other essays and writing by Talia check out ArtBrush Library Sign up for a one-time payment of £55 > Images details * Chrysanthemum by the stream - hanging scroll / ink and colour on silk / 142.8 x 79.1 cm / ca.1766 age 51 / Sannomaru Shōzō-kan Museum, Imperial Household Agency, Japan * Portrait of Ito Jackuchū - by Kubota Beisen (1852-1906) / colour on silk / 55 x 35 cm/ Shōkokuji, Kyoto * Two chrysanthemum (from a set of three) - hanging scroll / ink on silk / 94.3 x 32.3 each / Kyoto national museum