At our monthly zoom shodo calligraphy group Zen Brush we embraced the spring breeze – with 春風 harukaze. There have been signs of spring here now, especially in the mild wind and sunnier days! We brushed harukaze – spring wind – in the kaisho style, the… Read More »Embracing the Spring breeze at shodo calligraphy 書道
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
Inspired by one of Chinese poet Han Shan’s Cold Mountain poems, we brushed the characters for autumn moon – shūgetsu 秋月, at our online Shodo group Zen Brush. Some of us were lucky to catch a glimpse of the waxing crescent moon in the early evening above the… Read More »Shodo of the autumn moon shining in the blue pool..
We brushed 愛 Ai – Love, care, affection, craving/ attachment – at our Monday online Zen brush Shodo calligraphy 書道 group in October. It was inspiring to work with this single kanji (Chinese character) as it is so delightful to brush in the shodo styles. Please have… Read More »Opening your heart to 愛 Ai Love in Shodo
Brushing Love 愛 ai in the old tensho style of Japanese and Chinese calligraphy with deep orange-red sumi 🙂 Ai is also fun to brush in the more flowing sosho grass style of shodo calligraphy, in a much more simplified form. As well as love or… Read More »Love 愛 Ai in Shodo calligraphy
妙法 Myouhou – all life and things wondrous – was captivating to brush in the kaisho and sousho styles of Shodo calligraphy 書道. On its own myou means mystery, or excellent, strange or wonderful and hou can mean method, teachings, dharma, or process ✨ It was… Read More »Shodo – Brushing the wonderful with Myouhou
Here is an example of stamped calligraphy (this is kokotsubun shell and bone style). You can stamp on your shodo calligraphy, artwork, poetry or sutra copying, or anything else you fancy ? This example is of stamped artwork by Blair was inspired by the dynamic… Read More »Carving seals and stamping onto calligraphy and artwork
At Zen Brush we worked with the graceful eight strokes of eternal eijihappoh 永字八法, also known as the eight principles of yong – getting a feel for them and having some fun with the flow of the brush. Inspired by some Japanese haiku and old… Read More »Eternal peace with the eight strokes of 永 Ei – Yong
永字八法. Practice the eight classic strokes of Ei or Yong 永 brushed in Japanese and Chinese calligraphy.
At the last Zen Brush calligraphy group on zoom we were inspired by the two well known characters dou 道 (Way/ road/path) and shin or kokoro 心 (heart/mind/spirit). Brushing them in the kaisho as well as the sousho ‘grass writing’ styles, we explored their meanings,… Read More »Spirit of the way in each Shodo stroke