We had fun with trying out both the curved older Tensho style as well as the more stylized Kaisho style at the last session. First we worked with with Ki 木 – tree, experimenting with the branch like strokes, and then Yume – dream/ illusion,… Read More »Shodo calligraphy – in the middle of a dream
At Zen Brush Heart we worked from some inspiring characters related to life and the elements, such as tsuchi 土 – earth /soil, mei 命 – core, destiny, life, and jinzu 神通 – spiritual/ soul power. To get a fuller understanding and feel about these… Read More »Life force and lightning Shodo calligraphy
In the Garden room at KSD a small group of us began Shakyo – copying sutras – by chatting about the history and styles and looking at some examples of the characters such as mu – dream and ku – space. Then we slowly and… Read More »Relaxing and meditative tracing of the Heart Sutra
Some fluid markmaking with the Japanese fude brushes and sumi ink was a nice relaxed way to start the group, before working with the characters 春 Haru – Spring – and 光明 Koumyou – Brightness. We had fun trying out the expressive shapes of the… Read More »Exploring the characters for Brightness – Koumyou – at Zen Brush Heart
We worked on some kanji characters including nichi/hi (日) and nenbustsu (念仏) as well as ei (永) – eternal which is always a helpful character for practicing the eight strokes (永字八法) of shodo calligraphy used in China and Japan. Some flowing markmaking helped us to loosen… Read More »Nichi and nenbutsu at Zen Heart Brush
On February 17th we led a calligraphy and mindfulness day at Wiston Lodge with the friendly and enthusiastic members of the Border Collie Sangha. The setting and light was beautiful with lodge sitting next to Tinto hill south of Lanark, with ice and snow melt… Read More »Sansui – Mountains and Water calligraphy at Wiston Lodge
Laying out various materials for the Shodo Japanese calligraphy class on Saturday, such as shitajiki (felt mats), bunchin (paper weights), fude brushes, suzuri (ink wells), fudeoki (brush rests) and washi paper. The pavements are still snowy in Glasgow, so we recommend wearing boots and warm… Read More »Preparation for Zen Heart Brush calligraphy group
After a cuppa and a chat about Shodo calligraphy and Chinese and Japanese kanji, we worked on the characters 安楽 anraku, usually meaning comfort or carefree and also meaning ease and joy. Some temples in Japan have this in their name, and it appears in… Read More »Anraku – Ease and Joy brushed with ink
At our Zen Heart Brush calligraphy group, we began listening to some autumn themed haiku poetry before getting a feel for the fude brushes and suzuri ink well with some elemental shapes and marks. Then we practiced some simple shodo calligraphy strokes, before working on… Read More »Autumn dreams drifting on the breeze
It was super to be asked by Margaret Kerr to her inspiring place in Lenzie to work with her on this one day retreat combining meditation, outdoor walking and mindful practice with Shodo calligraphy. We began the day with a chat about the theme –… Read More »Skybrush Earthbrush
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