Learning to See, Not Just to Paint

I have held the brush for more than thirty-five years, but the first thing I teach is not brushwork. It is how to see.

Learning to see, not just to paint.

How to hold the brush, how to read the gradations of ink, how to not fear the empty space. As students learn the techniques of traditional East Asian painting alongside the philosophy within them, at some point they begin to trust their own hand and eye.

Every student can discover

I believe every student can build confidence and creativity through the practice of brush painting. At first, even drawing a single line makes the hand tremble; but within patience and encouragement, anyone finds their own path with the brush. There are not, on one side, people who can paint and, on the other, people who cannot. There are only people who do not yet trust their own eye.

Slowly, but deeply

East Asian painting is not a painting finished quickly. To draw a single orchid leaf, you lift and set down the brush hundreds of times. In that repetition the hand learns, the eye opens, the mind grows still. I believe that slow time is the greatest gift this painting gives.

Beginner or long-practiced, there is always a place in my studio. What matters is not skill, but a heart ready to look for a long time.