Seeing with the Senses

by | Sep 20, 2014 | Sumi-e

There is a cup, a simple cup on the table with a single flower in it. You are holding a brush in your hand, you are looking at the flower, you are to paint it. First thing comes to mind “flower” and like a filing cabinet, in your mind, you are trying to establish...

The Breathing Brush

by | Sep 6, 2014 | Sumi-e

Here I am in front of my students, teaching Sumi-e painting. They are attentively looking at me with their brush in their hands. I explain to them how to hold it, how to feel that brush as part of their body, how to feel the breath down into their belly ( dantian,...

Tao Te Ching for Artists

by | Jan 30, 2014 | Blog, Sumi-e, TAO Teaching for Artists

  Happy Chinese New Year On the dawn of the Chinese New Year (the year of the Horse), I have decided to take a big challenge. I am going to try to interpret Tao Te Ching (or Dao De Jing), the ancient Chinese text by Lao-tzu. This will also help me to re-visit the...

New Year, Old Wisdom

by | Jan 1, 2014 | Sumi-e

Well, it is New Year tomorrow! So what have I learnt? The year has bought me many present moments and also lost in the thoughts moments. So, Lesson 1. Paint and paint more. Here is where one is in the moment, here is where one finds the true self, unaffected by...

Everything is Extraordinary

by | Nov 27, 2013 | Sumi-e

    I have read somewhere a Zen quote, can’t find the author…which goes something like this; “ Everything ordinary is extraordinary”. Indeed, everything around us is fantastic. Our mind takes the repetitive events, images, thoughts of the world...