A Copybook for Japanese Ink-Painting

This book is designed for the amateur artist who is eager to find a new outlet for his talents as well as for the one who has already discovered the enchanting world of Japanese ink-painting. It is, quite frankly, a copybook, and it does not pretend to be anything else.

The paintings are the work of Shutei Ota, an artist who has had a long career of introducing Japanese ink-painting to Westerners. Ota teaches by showing, and by holding the hands of her students - beginning immediately with strokes and foregoing preliminary sketches. 'Paint Now' is her philosophy. She likes to think of her paintings as written compositions. Each stroke is a sentence, and each sentence builds up to a complete message or picture.

In this books, examples graded from easy to difficult, are provided. Westerners will no doubt make practical use of the art to create place and greeting cards. This study of Japanese ink painting will lead to better understanding of the discipline of Asian arts in general.