Tuesday 4 December 2007

Yoko Sumi-e "cats + mice"

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge
Click image to enlarge


This work is by a Japanese artist called Yoko, who is active in producing various Sumi-e work mainly consisting of nature, cats and other domestic pets. She has been producing these charming works as a proffessional artist for over a decade now. Her work has been showcased in various galleries in the UK, Germany, Sweden and numerous other countries including the USA.


Sumi-e (墨絵). is an East Asian type of brush painting. It is also known as wash painting, by its Chinese name "mo-shui". Only black ink — the same as used in East Asian calligraphy — is used, in various concentrations.


In Sumi-e, as in calligraphy, artists usually grind their own ink using an ink stick (sumi) and a grinding stone (suzuri) but prepared inks are also available. Most ink sticks are made of densely packed charcoal ash from bamboo or pine soot combined with glue extracted from nikawa, Japanese for fish bones. An artist puts a few drops of water on an ink stone and grinds the ink stick in a circular motion until a smooth, black ink of the desired concentration is made.


Once a stroke is painted, it cannot be changed or erased. This makes sumi-e a technically demanding art-form requiring great skill, concentration, and years of training. These items here are the original works painted by hand. The inscription in black is her signature, and the red seal is her artist seal. We hope these works will be enjoyed by you for many years to come.


1 comment:

Agnès said...

Bonjour, je cherche à acheter des sumi-e de Yoco comme la deuxième image... Pouvez vous me contacter via mon blog? Merci!