Knitting Dragonflies

Playing around a bit with watercolor, just using black in different layers. Sumi-e style. When we moved down here one of the nicest things was seeing horses. I grew up in the city and never saw a live horse until I went to the fair. I couldn’t believe how big they were up close. Maybe nothing defines the culture of Kentucky better than the state’s obsession with horses. One visit to Kentucky’s Horse Country, and the thoroughbred affection is apparent in everything from the fields of grazing horses and racetracks to horse farms & tours. Above is charcoal, well I’ll keep trying..LOL So in the spirit of Kentucky and their beautiful horses I’m trying to paint them. It is hard to capture them, the movement, angles and shadows. But enjoyable.

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...