When my children were little and had to study Japanese calligraphy in school, it was not one of their favorite subjects. I secretly envied them because I've felt an attraction to using the fude brush. I'd heard about Sumie-E, an old art discipline of scribes of the Orient, and I found myself charmed by its emphasis on simple lines. I'd wondered often if I could dabble in it, since I lived in Japan now.
But writing with that brush and ink, well, that was something my children disliked, I could see it was not something they would have the slightest desire to teach me.
I gave up the idea--thought I'd go back to doing "normal" art--techniques of the proper use of the fude brush really requires the personal instruction--whereas I could get plenty of other art teaching online.
My artist crow friend at the park, Ble Currie de Sans suggested I try "Kanji Art"; maybe it would be simpler than "Sumi-E" since I already knew some kanji?
Last year, gave me a chance to try it. Friends from Africa had a baby and named it "Tendo". I'm sure they'd want their child to know the "Heavenly Way" as well as to make known it known all his life, so I chose those 2 kanji characters for his name. I haven't studied any proper "shuji" (Japanese calligraphy), here is my first attempt at "Kanji Art".
Unfortunately, neither picture for today's post are done with fude brush; I need a teacher to show me how to use it properly.
