In Japanese, “sumi” means “black ink” . “E” means “painting”. Sumi-e means to paint in black ink, using all the all possible gradations ranging from pure black to the lightest tone by diluting the ink  with water. But Sumi-e is more than painting with black ink.

Practiced by zen monks for a 800 years, sumi must embody, spirit and life. Sumi-e is a spontaneous gesture of putting bush to paper in a meditative, alive way.

Sumi-e is simple as it seeks pure form. Working over sketches, overworking brush and paper touching-up mistakes as means to find the subject of a painting or improve results is not sumi-e. Like zen, few strokes of ink painted with a brush on a sheet of white paper, can represent an essential, complete concept. Meditative painting seeks to capture essence and reveal reality.

Learn to paint with meditative insight into the subject of your painting, using the materials of black ink and brush on paper in individual and small group practice. Adults and teens welcome. No experience necessary.