Leigh Reyes. My Life As a Verb.

I couldn’t buy everything. Damn.

I tried to describe what I wanted in a brush – as if I knew – to the helpful lady in Man Luen Choon. I said, “Bouncy.” And “I’m just starting.” She said, “Wolf.” So I got wolf. In small, medium and large. I also decided to get an auspicious dragon wolf (because it was auspicious) and a large mixed-hair brush whose other end was pointed bamboo, to mark outlines on paper before painting.

Here’s the pointy end. It even has a breathing hole! I don’t know why.

This is a suspension of some sort. It makes special effects when mixed with sumi ink.

It can be applied directly onto paper, or mixed with ink before application.

I also bought a notebook.

It has rectangles inside. I assume they’re for quatrains. I can’t use them properly, so I intend to play with them in my own way.

These are very thin, delicate sheets.

When held up to the light, it is clearly watermarked.

I tried to use the watermark as a guide, but I need x-ray vision to make it work.

So far, the bigger brushes seem to make the finer lines. Go figure.

I’m not good at this! Gah. The chop is a gift from my friend and ex-accomplice in advertising, Trisha.

I pretended to make a dragon. Here’s a much better one (video).

There’s so much to learn. Dear universe, please lighten my hand, steady my shoulder, and unfog my glasses.

Tags: brush, ink, sumi

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 17th, 2010 at 5:14 pm and is filed under Calligraphy and Drawing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.