Sumi-e

So, this week has been rather slow, for I have been spending the majority of my time in the sumi-e classroom, backing and creating sumi-e.

First you walk into the CIE building and climb up four flights of stairs. By the time you arrive, your legs are feeling the starting burn and you nearly collapse at the top. “Boy am I out of shape,” you’ll think, before proceeding to the back of the building where you’ll open a lavender door. The scent that hits you as you walk into the room, will only be noticeable if you’ve spent a week or two not doing sumi-e. It’s a spicy, pine-like scent that envelops you and makes you feel at home. 

You then notice the amazing view outside.

 

But what is sumi-e? you ask. Sumi-e (sue-me-ay) is the traditional ink and brush paintings. “Sumi” refers to the ink used, and “e” means picture. Sumi is created by the burning of oil and collecting the dusty residue and then mixing it with glue to create an ink stick. You then grind the ink stick with a bit of water in an ink stone to create ink.

From there, you use little dishes to water down your ink to appropriate tones, and then you start brushing away!

Mita doing sumi-e

  

(You can also use watercolors for color, but then you have to spray your painting with something that is equivalent to hairspray to keep the color from running when you back it on stronger paper.)

In the class I took last semester I learned and practiced many different ways:

(please ignore my poor cropping skills and the weights I used to keep my pictures from curling…)

Bamboo:

Plum Blossoms:

Marsh Orchids:

 

 

Chrysanthemums:

 

My Midterm:

Mountainscapes:

 

Pine Trees:

 

 

Other Trees:

 

My Final Project: