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Students practice bamboo strokes
My videos show up in wonderful places! Sensei William Reed, a long-time bilingual resident of Japan, teaches brush calligraphy at the International College of Liberal Arts in Yamanashi Gakuin University near Mt Fuji. He recently used my Bamboo video as a teaching tool.
Watching Virginia's sumi-e bamboo video in class
Reed's students show great attention and mindfulness as they practice. They found it harder than expected to get the strokes right, but stayed well focused.
Student Practicing bamboo
Student Practicing bamboo
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Cover of my new painting book
I have exciting news! In February, I was approached by Walter Foster Publishing to write and illustrate a book entitled: “Mindful Artist: Sumi-e Painting”. Both subjects are very close to my heart, since being focused in the moment is essential for channeling the power and vitality of Asian brush painting. I weave the concept of mindful attention into my explanations on how to paint some of our favorite subjects, such as the Four Gentlemen (bamboo, orchid, plum, chrysanthemum) and iris, peonies, wisteria, grapes, bugs and birds. The idea is to demonstrate through step-by-step illustrations how to create paintings, but also how to use the practice and discipline of the painting techniques to focus the mind.
Table of Contents
This 128-page book will be available December 3, just in time for the Christmas market. Here are a couple of illustrations I have created for the book. There will be over 300 pictures, some in elegant black ink and others in full color, so the book will appeal to painters, philosophers and art lovers alike! You can pre-order the book now, either online or at your local bookstore. Visit https://quartokno.ws/MindfulArtistSumie for more information and for links to purchase from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and more.
How to Paint Grapes
Standing Bird Demonstration
Outline butterfly demonstration
Splashing happily in the ink here!