Special brushes made in the Orient are used, brushes are considered the most important of the artist's tools because success of the painting depends on masterful brushwork. Although there are hundreds of different kinds of brushes, made of several types of animal hair, they fall in two three basic categories: hard for drawing, soft for coloring and a combination of the two.

The paper is hand made and generically referred to as rice paper but it is made basically from bamboo pulp. Rice paper comes in many varieties, papers which are sized with alum and glue have a less absorbent surface and are best suited for fine line work (bone painting). The most common paper used is Xuan, a soft white absorbent paper

Ink painting has evolved from the elegant Calligraphy of China. The stroke that forms the character for number one, becomes the trunk and branches for the bamboo tree. If you look closely at the Chinese word for horse, you can see the legs, tail and mane.
The basic brush strokes learned in calligraphy are the same used in painting, they are considered to be the "Twin Arts". The fundamental brush techniques are best learned by practicing calligraphy, this allows the painter to concentrate on the brush strokes without becoming concerned with color and composition. It is necessary for brush painters to know enough calligraphy to sign their names and add characters of descriptive or poetic calligraphy to their finished paintings.
The artist must learn to use the ink freely with a controlled brush stoke. The goal is to capture the essence, the Chi, the Qi, the spirit or the life of the subject in the painting, evoking the poetry of nature.
In brush painting, the brush is held perpendicular to the paper, almost at a right angle to the hand, and is firmly grasped at a considerable distance from the point by the thumb, index and middle finger. During the process of drawing, the fingers remain almost immobile and the work is done by the arm unsupported. For painters trained in the Western tradition, this seems clumsy, to say the least. As one wise teacher would say, "If holding the brush in this manner seems uncomfortable, too bad, get used to it." No sympathy! Well, he was right, in time (a long time) it seemed natural.

If you are interested Sumi-e Classes and Workshops, visit our Sumi-e Instuction Page. We will list as many teachers and workshops we can. If you are a teacher or Sumi-e, Chinese Brush Painting, Calligraphy, Suminigashi, Haiku or any of the Asian arts & crafts and would like to be included in this FREE listing, please E-mail DraSan' Nitti, Webmaster.