Join Stephen for an introduction to the traditional method of brush stokes, posture and mindfulness necessary to produce a Sumi-e ink painting.

Sumi-e, ink painting, is the traditional art form of Japan. In this workshop we will learn and practice the traditional method of brush stokes, posture and mindfulness necessary to produce a sumi-e painting. We shall move through the “Four Gentlemen" (bamboo, orchid, plum and chrysanthemum), which give us our basic, necessary brush strokes for other traditionally Asian subjects.

Each person will move at their own guided pace, as it is not the finished painting that is important but an understanding of technique, water and ink control, type of paper and the essential mindfulness necessary to produce, not the perfect representation of an object but the essence of it. Being able to understand the essence of a subject is vital to sumi-e.

Stephen Carroll is an Australian artist living and working in Crookwell.

As an Australian artist working in the medium of sumi-e and Chinese brush painting, Stephen undertook training in Australia with Janet Twigg-Patterson of Red Crane Gallery in Canberra, in China with Mr Pi, and continues to work with Harumi Kobayashi, Director of the International Association of Sumi in Japan.

His work is in the medium of sumi-e and Chinese brush painting. After meeting Ransui Yakata in Japan, Stephen became the first Australian Director of the International Chinese Calligraphic and Brush Painters Society (ICCPS) and he has exhibited in Australia, China, and Japan.

“In sumi-e are the eloquent descriptions of the complex and infinite universe, while the blank space is equally eloquent with its silence of nothingness.” Motoi Oi in 'Brush Stokes of Sumi-e Painting', NY. 1963.