Jim O'Neil's photos with the keyword: sumi

Ink (sumi) on 11 by 14 inch wood panel.

This is the sumi (ink stick) I used for the preceding painting.

The two most respected men in an Eskimo whaling crew are the Captain and the Striker. The Striker is responsible for harpooning the whale, while the Captain must bring the crew and the boat in the position, close, very close, but not too close, where the Striker can throw the harpoon, while at the same time he must assure his boat and crew are not capsized and destroyed . I once had an invitation to go out with a whaling crew but, alas, I had work I had to get to and a family to support. I did this painting using a light watercolor wash and sumi, fresh ground Japanese ink, on 140 pound cold pressed paper.

I took this a few months ago when I was doing some sumi painting.

二 墨, 四 硯, 三 硯箱 (Ni sumi, yon suzuri, san suzuribako). My grammar, etc., is probably all wrong but the picture is of 2 of my ink sticks (sumi), 4 of my favorite inkstones for grinding the ink (suzuri) and 3 ink stone boxes (suszuribako) ... and two boxes for the 2 ink sticks, I don't know if there is a specal name for these boxes in Nihongo, in Japanese

Sumi (hand ground ink) on fan.

雪兎 snowshoe hare ゆきうさぎ yukiusagi For you who are not familiar with 'our' traditions, it is the custom of all us young Japanese school children to, at the first of the New Year, carefully write an auspicious kanji. Kakizome (書き初め) 'first writing'. In so far as this is the year of the rabbit, or year of the hare, and I live in the sub-arctic, I chose the Arctic, or snowshoe hare. Golly, I sure hope my teacher likes it!! :-) Sumi, ink on 'rice' paper, 13 by 33 inches, unmounted

This is my basic setup for sumi-e painting. As the paper is highly absorbent one works on a piece of felt that leeches away excess water. There are many sizes and types of fude (brushes) but for one painting I can usually get by using one, two or, at the most, three brushes. The suzuri (ink grinding stone) is usually carved from natural stone. The sumi (ink stick) is made from a combination of soot and animal glue. The ceramic dish, kikuzara (chrysanthemum shaped), is used to mix shades pf gray from the freshly ground black ink. The orange toweling rags are to pat and dry the fude. Sitting on the top of the painting on the felt is the bunchin, a weight to hold the paper in place. A container to hold water, of course. Last but not least is the bamboo thingy holding the sumi, ink stick stub, sitting on the suzuri. I have no idea what it's called in Japanese (the Japanese that I've asked about it didn't even know such a tool existed, even though I bought it there!), but it's designed to and works great to hold stubs of your sumi for grinding when they become too short to hold in your hand.

元旦,いえ. Gantan; the first kanji of the new year. It is customary, especially for school children in Japan, to carefully write a kanji to celebrate the start of the new year. Often the Kanji is carefully considered to express a mood or a profound thought. I couldn't think of ______ so.....

Snob! :-)