Knitting Dragonflies

In an effort to loosen up my paintings and brush strokes I became interested in the ancient Sumi-e Japanese (I have also seen it called Chinese) painting. Sumi_e roughly translates as ink painting It is an art form that strives to distill the essence of an object or scene in the fewest possible strokes. A few carefully placed broad strokes that fade off abruptly, a few thin lines and a dot, and a bird is clearly called into being on the paper. Sumi-e is sometimes confused with calligraphy, because the tools used are the same. Calligraphy is the graceful, artistic representation of written characters, using ink and brush, while sumi-e is painting a scene or object. In the West, sumi-e is often called Chinese Brush Painting , although it has been a major art form in Japan and Korea as well. To paint with ink requires the use of the Four Treasures . This refers to the must-haves of sumi-e: an ink stone , an ink stick , a brush , and the appropriate kind of paper . The ink stone is a