Chinese New Year, Kids Painting
I had an amazing opportunity to make connections with Chinese characters on my last teaching trip to China. This trip gave me time to observe the Chinese art of brushstrokes around some of the provinces I visited. I was fascinated to learn Hanzi characters originated as pictographs as far back as the Qin Dynasty! As a beginner level… and I mean beginner trying to speak Chinese, I was curious how ancient scripts evolved over generations to simplified Chinese.
As an artist I certainly see the beauty in the scripts, but there’s so much more to learn! Being a visual learner the pictograph nature of where these characters originated from is the art I’m presently hooked on! Which has now led me to the art of creating Sumi-e Ink Paintings.
Another fantastic opportunity I had was to visit Sumi-e material supplier. I bought my first set of bamboo brushes, ink and stone. Once I got home I started practicing Sumi-e brush strokes. I quickly discovered my students would love doing this also because it’s similar to how I teach painting. In fact I would say Sume-i type exercises are idea for beginner painters!
Why Sumi-e Ink Painting is Better
Sumi-e ink painting is perfect for children to learn because of its simplistic pictorial nature type imagery using only line brushstrokes. Sumi-e subject matter is usually natural landscapes or creatures. The focus is line brushstrokes with minimal detail, no texture, or blending. What I like most about practicing Chinese brushstrokes is there’s no correction.
No sketching or outlining is done beforehand, unlike most painting lessons. The movements are graceful flowing brush marks done once. In fact I would say Sumi-e type exercises are idea for starting children after the age of five. Because the technique is focused on getting control of thin and thick brushstrokes.
Sumi-e Art Supplies
Now, if you’ lucky and have access to Chinese paintbrushes with bamboo handles and animal hair great, but don’t let that stop you! One of my good art teacher friends Annie MacPherson has walked up to my art workshops and made Sumi-e brush marks just using my regular paint brushes.
She’s left me some beautiful bamboo paintings with just using a plain paintbrush. You can teach the basics of Sumi-e techniques without traditional bamboo paintbrush. You need paper, black paint, and a pointy tip paintbrush.
Any black paint can work like kids; watercolor, tempera, liquid paint, or acrylic paint. But here’s the trick to making your paint work like Chinese Ink, you need the right consistency. Think about the thickness of milk, water down paint to this consistency. Only thin out paints with water, not paint thinners, or paint flow solutions. Paint thinners are usually toxic and for adult artist.
Materials List
- Black Chinese ink, or paint
- Bamboo paint brushes, or a pointed plain paintbrush
- Stone well, or jar as a to hold paint
- Light colored paper
Sumi-e Ink Painting Basic Lessons
- Lesson 1: Load paintbrush without twisting the fibers
- Lesson 2: Wipe excess ink off the brush using the sides of a jar or ink stone
- Lesson 3: Practice making thin, long brushstrokes with the tip of the paintbrush
- Lesson 4: Practice making thick brushstrokes with a larger amount of the paintbrush
- Lesson 5: Practice making spirals and lines very slowly
- Lesson 6: Practice making dots and dashes
- Lesson 7: Practice making bamboo leaves, with simple short and long strokes all in only one try
57 Beginner Brushstroke Lessons
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