The Japanese term Sumi-e meaning ink painting

The materials used to paint Sumi-e are called the Four Treasures.

Families throughout Asia have established themselves as the masters of making the ink, brushes, paper and ink stone also known as a sazuri. Each family hands down its secrets through the generations. The process today is the same as it has been for hundreds of years.

Four strokes form the basis of Sumi-e. They are called the Four Gentlemen. From those four strokes, you learn the skill of handling the various types and sizes of brushes. You soon learn that all things are made from these strokes; a bird’s leg is the Bamboo Stroke; a rock forms from the Craggy Branch Stroke. Becoming one with your brush, the ink and the paper, coupled with the skill of mastering the stroke, produces an absolute Zen like experience.

There are basically two styles that are studied in Sumi-e, the detailed style - Gong bi and the spontaneous style – Mogu-Fa. The Gongbi is simply that: creating an outline of the composition, layers of color are built up to create the desired hue. In Mogu-Fa, you strive to capture the chi or energy of the subject, in as few strokes as possible, a task easier said than done.