What Fun!

Skills and Techniques Showcase

by Judy Thomas

As part of our "teaching/learning" model, we held our first "Skills and Techniques Showcase," with thanks to MinhChau Truong, Angel Zhao and Gail Goodrich Harwood!

Angel and MinhChau teaching

Angel began the first session by discussing the traditions, methods and materials of Chinese calligraphy (photo above).  She described the process to make the character for the word "flower" and members tried their hand at it, first on simple newsprint, then on xuan paper.  Angel gave the members handouts for other Chinese characters that we can try on our own.

Members practicing Chinese calligraphy

MinhChau demonstrated the various ways to paint orchids with black ink, in many different spatial orientations and stages of development, using black ink and Chinese brushes.  She made this difficult task look easy, and also demonstrated how to create different shades with ink and water.

MinhChau demonstrating painting orchids

The "Four Treasures of the Study" of Chinese brush painting and calligraphy.

Angel and MinhChau shared papers, tools and displayed traditional tools and materials.

In the second showcase, Gail showed members how to paint and draw (with colored pencil) water or dew drops.  Gail learned this method at an ASBA workshop.  She provided prepared papers, showed how to lift dry watercolor off the paper to create the water drop reflection, and how to use several colored pencils to draw the drops.

Thanks to these member/teachers, our first showcase was a success!