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The
Way of The Brush
I am very fond of ink and
brushpainting as an art and an activity. The use of the pointed, round
soft-haired
brush with black ink
or with black ink and watercolor requires patience, skill and
discipline in
order to get it just right. The Chinese brush is extremely responsive
to every
nuance of hand and arm motion. There is a meditative quality about it,
when
making each stroke count, and the satisfaction of being part of
both
an ancient and modern tradition. I created these paintings while
studying under Japanese and Chinese masters of the art. I suppose I am
drawn to this
art form because of my taste for the graphic qualities of color and
line,
which it has in abundance.
I am a member of the Thousand Oaks Chinese Brush Painting and
Calligraphy Association. My brush paintings have been shown at
various venues in Thousand Oaks, Santa Paula, Camarillo and Monterey
Park, California.
My Japanese art-name is
Jo-Sen. It consists of two Japanese Kanji (Chinese characters)
meaning city or castle(Jo) and spring or fountain(Sen). It was
given me by Master Green Jade artist and instructor Tomi Ito-Levin. She is in Ventrua County and is an excellent
instructor. More information about Japanese sumi-e and a source for
high quality sumi-e art supplies can be found at her website http://www.greenjadeorientalart.com.
It is tradition for Japanese
teachers to
pass on part of their art-name to their students who have shown
sufficient mastery. In this case Sen (spring) is part of her art-name
and then Jo was added to make
mine. Jo-Sen is similar to my middle name John. Below is one of my
seals for Josen.
I carved this seal in soapstone, with ancient forms of the Chinese
characters
which make up my Japanese art-name.
My Chinese name given to me by
the excellent Chinese artist and instructor Harris Ha
is Bai-Shu, "bai" meaning cypress and "shu" meaning to cultivate ones
intellect or character. It consists of two Chinese characters and is a
transliteration of my English name Parshall. Below is an imprint of one
of my seals. I carved this seal in soapstone, with ancient forms of the
characters for my Chinese name. The seal is imprinted in red pasty ink
onto a
painting when it is finished. A western obsever, who is used to
everything being smooth, may wonder why the seal appears broken or
chipped in places. To the Chinese point of view, this is not a
negative. It
is a style made to appear old and venerable, and the apparent
imperfections
make
the seal more difficult to counterfeit.
Below are some of the tools of the art. The beautiful fan in the
pictures was painted for me as a gift by the teacher and Master Chinese
Artist and
Calligrapher, Professor Zhu, Chengun, who has exhibited in both America
and China. His studio and store, Art Service Center, is located in
Alhambra.
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