Patience, Practice and enjoying the Process of creating each paint stroke is the goal of Sumi-e painters! Chinese Brush Painting is a beautiful art form that was developed in China, Japan, Korea and other Asian countries in which painters try to capture the essence of nature while leaving space in their work for the imagination to wander. Learning Sumi-e painting helps artists build skills that transfer to all types of painting and visual art, and stresses the importance of growing as artists as we learn to slow down, be patient with ourselves and have fun with the process of learning! 

This is a Flexible Schedule class so there are no live meetings. The material will be posted weekly and you can view it and create your paintings during the week at your convenience. Each week for 4 weeks students will be guided through learning a variety of traditional Sumi-e brushstrokes and then use these brushstrokes to create a new painting with demonstration videos that I have pre-recorded, along with presentations and discussions about the history of Chinese brush painting and some aspects of Asian art and culture.  My detailed and comprehensive video demonstrations range from 45 minutes to 70 minutes each week and allow students to work at their own pace. Students will also receive access to the PowerPoint presentations used in class. Students will upload their artwork each week  as a photo or video in the Outschool classroom and are encouraged to give encouraging feedback each week to their classmates. I reply quickly to submissions with specific feedback and tips and am happy to offer extra individual assistance whenever needed.  Sharing our ideas, tips, and artwork with others in the class will inspire us all to take our creativity to a new level!  

Each week, young artists will learn how to create a different painting of traditional subject matter:
Week 1: Bamboo 
Week 2: Koi Fish
Week 3: Orchids
Week 4: Chinese Dragon

The importance of patience and practice in Sumi-e painting will be stressed as we explore the different ways to hold and use the brush to create a variety of strokes with watercolor paint or ink. We will work step by step to learn all of the paint strokes needed for the subject and then combine them in our final artwork each week. Artists will be encouraged to add their own creative touches to their paintings!
I focus on building skills, self-confidence, and personal artistic expression in all of my classes and students at all levels of artistic ability are welcome!