sumi-e Painting class – Animals

🌸 Ink Painting Workshop – Animals 🌸

🎨 Learn how to capture the vitality of animals with expressive brushstrokes in traditional Chinese ink painting.

🐱 Cat – grace & delicacy
🐶 Dog – loyalty & warmth
🦉 Owl – wisdom & serenity
🦅 Eagle – strength & freedom

📍 4 lessons × 2 hours each
📌 You will learn:

• The five shades of ink & water control

• Brush techniques (dry/wet, pressure, side strokes)

• Rendering fur, feathers & expressive eyes

• Creating four completed animal artworks

✨ No previous experience required – only your love for art!

Total 4  lessons

Every Friday 19:00-21:00

September 19-October 10

The Characteristics of Animals in sumi-e Painting

Chinese ink painting emphasizes capturing the spirit rather than merely imitating the form. When it comes to animals, the goal is not detailed realism but expressing their essence, vitality, and temperament through brushwork and ink tones.

Key characteristics include:

• Lifelike Spirit (Shen): A few expressive strokes can bring out the personality of a cat’s agility, a dog’s loyalty, or an eagle’s power.

• Economy of Brushstrokes: Instead of drawing every hair or feather, artists suggest texture and movement with controlled, simplified lines.

• Ink and Water Harmony: By varying ink tones (from dark, dry strokes to light, watery washes), different textures such as soft fur, shiny feathers, or dynamic wings are conveyed.

• Balance of Real and Abstract: While the structure of the animal is observed, emptiness and suggestion are equally important, allowing viewers to engage their imagination.

• Focus on Eyes and Expression: “The spirit lies in the eyes” — a few precise strokes can make the animal come alive.

Through this approach, Chinese ink painting transforms animals into symbols of energy, emotion, and atmosphere, resonating with both nature and the human heart.