TO LEARN MORE ABOUT Camellia House students and the process of study, visit this page for more information:

http://camelliateas.net/camelliastudies.htm

2011- 2012 BRUSH WORK COURSES
at Camellia House

Sui-Boku-Ga's literal translation is: water-black-art.
This involves using black ink, ground in an inkstone, to create images, paintings and pictures. Tonality is essential; a strong painting should have at least 5 - 7 clearly distinct tones. This form of painting takes many hours to acheive and is seldom done in one short sitting. Sui-boku-ga painters are also able to paint Sumi-e paintings as this is part of their early, beginner training.
- Sui-boku-ga is taught at Camellia House by Rebecca Cragg (see below for bio and more info).

Sumi-e's literal translation is:
'ink-picture'.
Often done in a single touch and seldom done with more than one sitting, these paintings are more abrstract, impressionistic, sometimes lacking in realism and can evoke feelings and moods. Sumi-e painters are usually not able to paint with the depth and detail of Sui-boku-ga painters.
Sumi-e is taught at Camellia House **as part of beginner training**. Students study this form of painting as a foundation for more detailed work in Sui-boku-ga by Rebecca Cragg (see below for bio and more info).

Sho-Do's literal translation is:
brush-way.
This involves using black ink, ground in an inkstone, to create calligraphy, either in one of Japan's two alphabets (hiragana, katakana) as well as kanji, Chinese ideographs. Calligraphers work first on over 30 basic strokes. Once these are familiar to the students, (this process can take many years), they progress to the easier Hiragana and Katakana alphabets, eventually moving on to integrating the strokes to create Chinese ideographs. Working on these Chinese ideographs (kanji) happens throughout the basic training, beginning with simple characters.

Students first learn Kai-sho (printing), before Gyo-sho (cursive) and finally So-sho (stylized cursive). Skipping or abbreviating these steps is not done in Asia, and we follow this same approach at Camellia House. Laying a strong foundation in basic technique precedes stylizations. Once students have a thorough understand of and appreciation for the process, the results in the long-term resonate with more truth, more authenticity, accuracy and integrated understanding of this artform.
- Sho-do is taught at Camellia House by Yuko Sugihara and Johanne Leveille (we will resume classes in Spring 2012 - more details to be updated in January 2012)
For more on styles of calligraphy see: http://www.japanese-name-translation.com/site/japanese_calligraphy_article.html

CAMELLIA CLASS LOCATIONS:
http://www.steppingstonesgallery.net/

A) - Stepping Stones Art Gallery within Camellia House (from fall - winter)
B) - Tranquility Garden, Camellia House
(Spring-summer, fresh-air classes)

The Stepping Stones Art Gallery is a small private gallery. Since 2005, we have hosted over 55 exhibitions of various mediums. We strive to offer our artists and guests a variety of exhibition styles each season. Each year, the Camellia House Suibokuga students hold an exhibition and are encouraged to collaborate with other artists.

CLASS TIMES: SEE ABOVE LEFT

CLASS FEES:
Contact Rebecca for more details; we have reasonable rates for retirees, students and more.

Can I take private lessons?
Yes. Private lessons with the instructors are 1.5 hours, and during that time you will work in the same method and with the same curriculum as in group lessons, but with individualized attention which, depending on your capacity to absorb instruction and apply the information, can lead to greater progress than group lessons.

I have a busy lifestyle; Can I take just one or two lessons, every now and then?
This is is possible. Please understand that your committment level will be reflected in your progress. As with all forms of art, the greater consistency we show, the more steady and reliable the progress is there. You may purchase 10 class sets, and these can be used within a 4-month period of time. Your place in the class is held during that 4-month time frame.

I just want to learn how to paint ____. Can you teach me to paint just that specific topic?
At times we offer workshops on particular topics. If the timing of these workshops do not suit your schedule, I suggest booking a private class. We do receive this request for SHODO (certain characters) as well as certain topics in SUIBOKUGA. Please understand that leaping into a new artform, attempting to use a very different brush and subject, in the hopes than in a class or two you can 'master' the capacity to generate that topic is largely unrealistic and likely to lead to frustration. If you have something you would like to do for a special reason, perhaps in this case, books or YOUTUBE videos might be a better option for you. All of these artforms require patience and committment.

Do you offer Gift Certificates? Certainly. We are happy to offer these as gifts and you can make arrangements for the amount you would like to offer your friend or family member. For these Gift Certificates, if you would like to offer a different time than those currently in session, we can also make a special arrangement.

What is the ideal brush student like? What qualities and character do they have?
There are of course, many, many different kinds of brush practitioners. The most SUCCESSFUL brush artists share some basic similarities (this is not a complete list):

PHYSICAL
- DEXTERITY of the hand; those who have a tremble in the hand will find holding the brush steady for fine work very frustrating. Because we use ink, erasing is impossible. Thus you need a good arm and steady hand.

- STAMINA: painting classes are usually 2-3 hours long in Asia. Painting sessions get longer over time. In Japan, the traditional painting position was in seiza (kneeling) in order for the arm to hang from the body in a straight line. In the West now, this position is unlikely or impossible for most - so the best next position is standing, or sitting at a high stool. Sitting at a desk with chair (as we do here at Camellia House) is challenging to the arm as it must be held up by the shoulder. So painting is also a physical practice that requires some energy and effort.

ANALYTICAL
- VISION (not just with eyes); an ability to 'see' what a subject is about; extract its essense, look at another's composition and understand where to begin a painting as well as the capacity to glean the focal point and techniques.

EMOTIONAL
- PATIENCE - PERSISTENCE - DEDICATION
- COMMITMENT - TEACHABILITY**. Students who have these in abundance will make quick progress. Those who do not may struggle with both the subject, materials and curriculum. To make good progress in any field, requires an investment of time. Traditional arts are no different.
** This one is perhaps most important; this means letting go what you already know and allowing yourself to be guided in another method.

CAMELLIA HOUSE LEVELS
Suibokuga (Sui = water; boku = black; ga = art) is a form of ink painting on paper and silk established in China and proliferated throughout Asia. Suibokga is also known at times in the West as 'Sumie' (perhaps easier to say/remember; sumi = ink; e = picture).

At Camellia House, I teach students privately and in small-group settings to increase the quality of instruction. Each student has a set of individual goals, aspirations and physical characteristics which makes individualized instruction more effective and efficient.

The effective study of Suibokuga is a long-term project. Students in Asia spend hours a week over their lifetime working on differing elements. The approach I take at Camellia House is not a short-term, 'quick fix' taste to this ancient art, but rather I hope that student enjoy the process of learning and respect the considerable journey required to achieve basic competancy.

LEVEL 1
Instruction begins with the Four Gentlemen taught in this sequence first: bamboo, chrysanthemum, orchid plum. Basic foundational work begins with the Mustard Seed Garden Manual (Chinese painting text dating to the 17th Century when painting was at its zenith).

Students at Camellia House are taught in the traditional way still used today in Asia:
- work on the basics (holding the brush, understanding brush loading, paper and how to correctly grind ink).
- patient work on strokes in order to create beautiful paintings (like doing scales in piano, or stretching before exercise).
- diligent analysis of good compositions by recognized master painters followed by copying these works
- eventually quoting elements or aspects of master works into new, original compositions.

With home study and consistent weekly lessons, most students can do an overview of this level within 2 years.

LEVEL 2
Once students have general competancy with the Four Gentlemen, study proceeds to architecture, birds, additional flowers, people, animals, trees, mountains and rocks, water and clouds etc. etc.

Due to the vast number of subjects within Suibokuga, students generally specialize after a period of time after first at least acquainting themselves through study of all of the forms.

By Level 2, students are expected to have a firm grasp of how to load the brush and manage different kinds of papers. Students at this level have proper brush-holding technique and a good sense of analysis when looking at a composition (knowing where to start, understanding where the painter started; ability to distinguish the painting's focal point etc.)

After 3 years of weekly study, we have several students now exploring some elements in Level 2.

LEVEL 3: SPECIALIZATION
Once students have acheived a general competance in all of the elements in the 8 technique volumes of the Mustard Seed Garden Manual, and can, with great comfort, consistency and ease, reproduce all the techniques described well, they begin to explore their own areas of preference within Suibokuga.

We do not currently have any students at this level.