BEING ONE WITH THE BRUSH

I thought today that if we learned any more, we could possibly all explode with joy. We started off with Tom's presenting our three artists with their completed scrolls. Beautiful Beverly had an advance peek at my blog but it was even more exciting to actually see her scroll up close and personal. Tom explained that the material used at the top of the scroll represents Heaven and covers a larger area, while the bottom material represents earth and of course is smaller.

We then heard about Confucianism is a moral code of conduct which teaches individuals a set of proper behavior within the family in particular and society in general. Also, Taoism, being connected to nature and learning how to live in harmony. Interestingly, it also deals with fantasy and dreams. The Tao is 'the path is the Way'...the process.....how the world runs. So, the 'process' is as important as the end result.

Today's calligraphy was 'THE GREAT PATH HAS NO DOOR'. The symbols we used to create this were: 1. great or large, 2. path or way, 3. without or nothing and finally, 4. door.

It's important to remember that the void is as important as the calligraphy and the spacing should be spontaneous and done by intuition....always remembering that you can't have freedom without a framework of discipline.

On to Calligraphy and the beauty of it being that you can't control it (especially when you use a Soft brush). You're one with the brush and never do the same thing twice.






Tom explained the artistry involved in seal carving.











Showing us (Denise and Donald here) how our work can be improved and giving us a grand A+ when we nail it. It's so helpful as Tom uses Red Ink over our Black.