The Sumi-E Dream Book: An Impressionist Approach to the Art of Japanese Brush Painting

About this book

Sumi-e is the classic painting style of Japan and its graceful simplicity is admired around the world. A natural follow-up to the best-selling The Sumi-e Book The Sumi-e Dream Book demonstrates how to take the classic brushstrokes of sumi-e to a new level of painting where creativity is inspired by deeply felt memories and spiritual expression. First sumi-e artist Yolanda Mayhall provides a brief history and explains the philosophy behind this classic Japanese painting style. She highlights its many masters one of them her ancient mentor the master brush painter woodblock and dream journey artist Hokosai. Next she reviews the classic materials and the basic brushstrokes of sumi-e known as the Four Gentlemen: Bamboo Wild Orchid Chrysanthemum and Plum Branch along with their variations. Finally Mayhall puts it all together to demonstrate the sumi-e art of dream journey painting. Readers will learn a variety of creative and exciting techniques for using color to add a delightful dimension to the sumi-e image as well as discover exciting techniques for visually capturing important life memories and spiritual reflections in a painting.