We had a theme of night over the horizon – the deep spaces of the night sky above the city or landscape, with the vast space of the cosmos and stars and planets. It was a very chilled out relaxing group with participants working from… Read More »Cosmic doodling at the Destress drawing group
At our recent seal engraving group we welcomed some new faces, helped them get started with their designs, and we also spent some extra time looking at 基本形 Kihonkei – the basic form. We found many options in the possible forms for 2, 3 and… Read More »Finding balance and space in seal designs – Tenkoku stampmaking
At our cultural and language group Kanji Club on zoom we enjoyed marking 節分 Setsubun – the end of winter in the Japanese calendar – even although many of us had snow and ice where we were! A couple of us followed tradition and threw some… Read More »The last day of winter 節分 Setsubun
The theme for our first Kanji Club was お正月 Oshougatsu – New Year! It was a lively and lovely group, thanks to everyone who took part and embracing the language and cultural elements of the class. We learned about Japanese and Chinese characters, finding out… Read More »Discovering Japanese and Chinese characters at 漢字 Kanji Club
Shodo returned again in the new year of the cow! This month we brushed the characters from the spacious 初心 shoshin meaning first time, heart mind, or commonly as ‘beginner’s mind’. Writing this and discovering more about the deeper meanings of the kanji characters in this… Read More »Shodo calligraphy – brushing Shoshin beginner’s mind
At our Destress doodling and drawing group we had an easygoing time with a seasonal wintry theme of snow lines and icy shapes and patterns to inspire us. Folk who joined us used whatever they had to hand, such as a pen or pencil or… Read More »Doodly relaxing with snowy and icy winter shapes
This month’s Creative Time is very laid back – please send us any photos you have taken of your wintry environment, or any poems you have written about the season. The February days are becoming longer and there is more sunshine to energise us. If… Read More »Creative Time – Reaching out to wintery open spaces
Let’s celebrate the New Year with some colour and pattern. For our first Creative Time activity of 2021 why not enjoy some fun doodling with any materials you have at hand – such as pencil ✏️, pens 🖊️, colouring pencils, or paints. 🎨 To inspire… Read More »Creative Time – Celebrating New Year with Colour and Pattern
Best wishes for the festive season! We hope you are keeping warm and well and enjoy the winter holidays. Here is our Season’s Greetings card with images of some of the many wholehearted and inspiring works by participants ? Huge thanks for all your encouragement… Read More »Season’s Greetings ✨
At Shakyō Sutra copying practice (online on zoom) we traced or copied two short verses which are often read or chanted in zen and other schools – the Kaikyōge Opening the Sutras Verse and the Fuekō Turning of Merit. They are deep and inspiring short verses, the Fuekō directly coming… Read More »Unsurpassed and deep – tracing the Kaikyōge and Fuekō