Category: Arts Apprenticeship

I had an incredibility liberating and empowering experience last night, inspired by Pat Allen. I allowed myself to give total free reign to my visual impulses, with absolutely no consideration of outcome or technique. Well, naturally my technique was informed by what I’ve already learned about Chinese brush painting, especially since I have so little…

11/13/21 Incidentally, today is the one year anniversary of my mother’s death. More on that later. As I begin Pat Allen’s book Art Is a Way of Knowing, I already know that I do not want to get lost in a sea of learning technique. I in no way mean to disparage the importance and…

So, family crisis hits and two weeks go by with nary a brush stroke. As the dust clears, delayed assignments are handed in, and I pick myself up and get back in the race. I seem to have gone backwards, struggling with mixing ink correctly to get pale, yet clearly defined, grays for stems and…

OK, well, yesterday I finally made my first “real” painting, following a class exercise to paint a simple orchid plant with leaves and flowers. The instructor is informed largely by a manual called The Mustard Seed Garden, which offers a number of “rules” for Chinese painting. The interesting thing is that, despite the use of…

My brain feels fried. A constant bath of stress hormones, amygdala on red alert 24 x 7 even though nothings wrong nothingswrong everythingswrong? Strands of trauma tentacles seething through neuron soup, feelingsarentfacts but you know this is what is happening you feel it now what even is it? Somehow trying to tie all the loose…

“Beginning is often the hardest part. I often urge clients or students to just begin even if they don’t know what to do. This is like diving off a cliff for some. What does it mean to just begin? How does one just simply engage in beginning? These are not easy questions to answer, but…

Well, I finally bit the bullet and tried working with ink. On actual paper no less. There are a number of forms of ink delivery used in Chinese brush painting these days, and I’ve opted as a beginner for an ink cake. It’s a solid block of ink that can be activated with a wet…

I’m still just working with the “magic cloth,” but today felt like a major step, as I followed along with one of Henry Li’s recorded zoom lessons, just getting comfortable with making some basic lines and shapes and practicing various brush strokes. I’m already finding that I’m feeling more comfortable and confident with the fluidity…

OK, so I’ve finally broken through my resistance enough to begin practicing brushstrokes, with the help of Anita Yan Wong’s tutorial. Using water and the “magic cloth” though, not quite ready for ink, but hopefully tomorrow! It was an enlightening and very humbling experience, but I’m so glad I’ve begun in earnest. I feel like…

Well, I finally went ahead and ordered some basic supplies for Chinese brush painting. I’ve been delaying really jumping in with this. I guess I’m feeling a lot of resistance because it’s pretty scary to really commit to a new art form and take it seriously. It’s already September 12, and I’m not sure how…