Sumie is Zen at play

Why Sumie is perfect play for children.



Preface;
Whilst I use children as a group I do know there will be exceptions and this is a generalization.

• Children have an open an inquisitive mind.
• Children are free spirited and this is encouraged in Zen while there is a disciplined framework that everyone has to work within too.
• Children naturally want to blend with nature which is the source of sumie as observation.
• Art is something that they feel they can do and are not usually inhibited.
• They like things that they just do but don't always have to learn or be taught.
• Sumie is an active physical as well as mental art (observation and brush skills) suitable for kids relaxation and attentiveness.  It has a good blend of the two.
• Kids love to do something and show others and be proud of their achievements.

Here are some of the images children work on.

Andre Sollier as a teacher

These are some wonderful paintings by Andre during my time as his student to share with you.

Weekly he would give me a painting to work on sometimes in silence and at other times while chatting to us.

Every moment was a magical time and we will always be indebted to him as a teacher and man 'of the literati'.

Sumie Paintings

Sumie Paintings for sale as Prints

Choose any painting and email me to order

Size A4 on photographic paper

Cost $30 each plus

Buy 2 or more prints for $25 each

Postage
 (postage $4 to Australia)

Wu Tai Chi

There are many different styles of Tai Chi and the Wu style was formed after the Yang style by a Northerner named Wu Quanyu (see Wu style Tai Chi bu Wang Peisheng P211)

In the 80's a teacher named Tibor from Poland taught in Carlton just off the main street Lygon in the first floor of a warehouse.  It was 1980 and this was the first form I studied. Needless to say I knew nothing about Tai Chi and how big it is how vast its philosophy or where it would take me.  I didnt know if Tibor was a good teacher or not but as you go you learn.

All I can say is he introduced me to Tai Chi and I learned as much as I could from him. That is to say, one can only learn as much as one is capable of at any given time, just hope that your teacher has a deep well if its your first form.

Looking back I probably did everything possibly I could wrong or shall we say, less than perfectly but nevertheless thank goodness there are no absolutes in Tai Chi so it does not matter.  We learn and grow as we mature and go along. Life teaches us in a meandering was.  As Chen Xio Wang said to our class once in Adelaide at a workshop, something to the effect of ..."sometimes we go off the path only to get on it later on in our practice, then go off again then get back on..."

Wu Form 108 movements