D+P Studio News
Here is a wee bit of news from the D+P Studio!
Carving the Three Treasures Seal
15 July 2021
At Tenkoku Japanese and Chinese Stampmaking group Blair showed participants some of the development of his three treasures zen Buddha Dharma Sangha stamp he was working on. He gave a demonstration of carving and then making adjustments to the stone, stamping, and discussed the process of making the design, styles of the characters and composition.
This time those taking part worked on classic white letter stamps, of their name converted into katakana or kanji, and also a fascinating one of Bato Kannon, the horse headed Goddess of Mercy.
The next date is Monday 6th September π
https://japanese-and-chinese-seal-engraving-tenkoku-sep-21.eventbrite.co.uk
Category: Art Groups Tags: Japanese and Chinese stamp making
Creative Time – Summer Landscape
3 June 2021
It is beautiful here into June in Glasgow, the days are bright and humid and the colours of trees, buildings and sky are vivid, people are wearing bright summery colours too! Why not take a moment to make a drawing of a summer landscape or cityscape view, or snap a photo. Here are some examples from Blair’s sketches, but feel free to do your own thing!
Please email to us for our Creative Time community – online on our blog and social media. It is a great way to engage with the environment and our community, relax and find inspiration. Thanks to Ken, Mark and M for sending their summery photos below!
Have fun, doodle or come up with some creative words at our free online art community. Our regular relaxing activities β Creative Time β encourage you to have some creative enjoyment and keep in touch with us and find inspiration from other participants in Scotland and beyond!
It would be great if you would like to send us an image of anything you make, for us to show online if possible, please either 1. email us your image, 2. post to instagram with this tag #dandpstudio_creativetime or 3. post on our Facebook page.
Category: Art Groups Tags: Creative Time
Shodo brushing the curves of ζη‘ Umu
3 June 2021
Our May Zen Brush was very relaxed and an enjoyable time brushing together. We worked with two characters u mu ζη‘, which together can be translated as something like – ‘nature of being is free and untethered’. We brushed them in the kaisho style, tried out the gyosho and with extra time on the curvy sosho style – they are fun and dynamic to brush together in the looser cursive styles.
The kanji and term comes up in zen writings and can be expressed as a middle way between views of being or non being. Mu is sometimes thought of in a negative way but Blair showed old examples of the kanji Chinese character going back to the very pictorial old oracle shell and bone style, and the tensho style, of the dancing person with ceremonial wood which gives a more open and positive expression of the character, and helps to engage with the kanji with the shodo practice.
Here is the poem Blair read by zen master Dogen (translation by Heine), one of his favourites, which the group enjoyed listening to whilst brushing –
Treading along in this dreamlike, illusory realm,
Without looking for the traces I may have left;
A cuckoo’s song beckons me to return home;
Hearing this, I tilt my head to see
Who has told me to turn back;
But do not ask me where I am going,
As I travel in this limitless world,
Where every step I take is my home.
It was super to see the group enjoying working on the three styles and finding it peaceful to practice. Thanks for taking part and also to those who sent their images for this blogpost π
Category: Art Groups Tags: Shodo calligraphy
Soothing meandering lines and relaxing ripples
3 June 2021
Our May De-stress doodling (on the third Wednesday each month) had a theme of flowing soothing water, with currents and ripples twisting along riverbanks.
It was a chilled zoom group with a happy atmosphere (with folk joining from North America as well as the United Kingdom mainly), some of us using pens, whilst others had coloured pencils, a graphite pencil, or watercolours. Most of us doodled water ripples and meandering rivers, some from imagination or using the images and artworks Blair provided for inspiration.
We embraced the delightful energy of water in our drawings and discovered it was a really nice theme to settle down with and relax. The Yellow Flower River poem excerpt from Wang Wei (see picture) captured the mood and guided us also.
Category: Art Groups Tags: De-stress therapeutic art
γεΌε½ Obento lunchbox fun, here we go!
3 June 2021
We had a ηΎε³γγ oishii tasty foodie theme of Obento lunchbox and takeaway meal at our May Kanji Club! π
Looking at our own example obento box and how to use it got the group started π±π₯’ This has been enjoyed and used many times! π
The old meanings from China related to the Japanese word Obento γεΌε½ , as well as the pictorial parts of each kanji were very interesting to explore. We wrote the kanji, learning the stroke order and pronunciation also, and the radicals. Then we practiced some vocabulary related to eating, such as ekiben rail station obento, and in our jigsaw like quiz we looked at how several kanji were created from a single radical, and had some fun playing around with the kanji pieces. Thanks to participants for sending photos.
Category: Art Groups Tags: Kanji Club
Diamonds and ovals – Tenkoku stamp making
3 June 2021
At our May Japanese and Chinese stamp making group online on zoom we had a relaxed session with participants working on very different and unique stamps with a range of characters.
We looked at example stamp designs, such as from Blair’s teacher Wakabayashi Shujo, and this helped us to explore the layout and spaces in our own designs and free up a bit, experimenting with outer and inner shapes, lines and negative spaces. Blair gave tips and suggestions about which characters could be combined in different ways, and finding balance between them.
For instance we had a graceful and mysterious cello instrument shaped composition with kanji Chinese characters and kana Japanese characters, and a diamond composition with ‘inten’ stamp tensho style characters which are boxy and have a graphic feel. It was lovely to have the freedom to explore our designs and share ideas with each other. Thanks to participants for sending your images π
Category: Art Groups Tags: Japanese and Chinese stamp making
Creative Time – colourful swirls
4 May 2021
This month why not take a few minutes to relax and doodle, we have a fun andΒ easygoing task for you to enjoy. Simply doodle some swirly spiraling lines, at your own pace. You can explore what sizes or materials, or colours or shapes you want to have.Β
In the examples below we have just a few colours, one piece is with pens and the other oil pastels. Or you could simply try it with a pencil or any pen. Please email us your doodle for our community blogpost!
Have fun, doodle or come up with some creative words at our free online art community. Our regular relaxing activities β Creative Time β encourage you to have some creative enjoyment and keep in touch with us and find inspiration from other participants in Scotland and beyond!
It would be great if you would like to send us an image of anything you make, for us to show online if possible, please either 1. email us your image, 2. post to instagram with this tag #dandpstudio_creativetime or 3. post on our Facebook page.
Category: Art Groups Tags: Creative Time
Discovering the meanings ofΒ Hanami θ±θ¦
4 May 2021
At our April Kanji Club group, we celebrated Spring with Hanami θ±θ¦, the Japanese custom of enjoying the beauty of flowers, often cherry blossoms.
We explored the visual meanings of the two kanji and sounds, as well as some other kanji characters and their radical parts, and we practiced related vocabulary. Also we enjoyed our lighthearted kanji quiz which helped bring sounds, connections and meanings to each of the kanji parts and so make more sense when brought together as various kanji.
Also we read some kanji, katakana and hiragana in sweets packaging Blair had collected – the cute and sugary Koala’s March!
The next date is May 10th (the second Monday of the month), here is the Eventbrite link –
https://kanji-club-may-2021.eventbrite.co.uk
Category: Art Groups Tags: Kanji Club
Edges, spikes and curves of leafy patterns
4 May 2021
We had a spiky and swirly theme of leaves and pattern, as more green leaves and blossoms have been appearing outside to joyfully greet us π
It was a friendly small group and a relaxing time doodling some funky leafy shapes. We had some warm up drawings to get us going before Blair read some poetry, talked about the theme and season, and then we had time for a free piece. Thanks to participants for sending your photos below.
Our short poem tonight by Basho about the season –
this time
expressing thanks to the blossoms
alas farewell
Category: Art Groups Tags: De-stress therapeutic art
Heaven and Earth in Shodo calligraphy
4 May 2021
At our recent Zen Brush calligraphy group we brushed a lot of strokes and had fun laying out the kanji.
The text we copied was the first line of Chapter seven of Lao Tzu’s mystical Tao Te Ching (ιεΎ·ηΆ The Way of Virtue Classic, expressing spontaneity and naturalness in how we live our life with others) – about the eternal duration of heaven and earth, and we explored it by brushing four kanji in the hanshi sized paper β¨
‘Heaven and earth are enduring.The reason why heaven and earth can be enduring is that they do not give themselves life.
Hence they are able to be long-lived.
Therefore the sage puts his person last and it comes first,
Treats it as extraneous to himself and it is preserved.
Is it not because he is without thought of self that he is able to accomplish his private ends?’
Blair showed participants how to fold the paper, find a good balance between the characters, and how and where to add their name. Everyone really enjoyed the challenge of brushing four kanji in the single page and expressing some of the poem (which one person described as sublime) in their own inky brushstrokes. Some participants kindly sent pictures of their shodo, thank you.
Category: Art Groups Tags: Shodo calligraphy
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