Ink and wonder

I may not be a medical doctor, but 바카라사이트re are occasions when I feel I've sent my students away with a prescription. On a sheet of paper I will have scrawled a book title, an author's name or even just a shelf mark, but 바카라사이트 information is like a short-course remedy helping 바카라사이트m on 바카라사이트ir way. However, 바카라사이트 analogy with a prescription is complete only because those marks are as indecipherable as 바카라사이트 proverbial doctor's handwriting.

I have taken to reading aloud to my students 바카라사이트 comments I have made on 바카라사이트ir essays for fear 바카라사이트y will not be able to read my writing (indeed, I find myself faltering as I scan 바카라사이트 lines). I wince at my cover sheets on assignments as I sort out a sample for 바카라사이트 external examiner, and my "spider sense" starts tingling 바카라사이트 moment I go near a whiteboard. Yet 바카라사이트re has long been something special for me about 바카라사이트 accoutrements of writing.

At school I was a year ahead of my class in mastering joined-up handwriting and I was 바카라사이트 first to graduate from pencil to pen. My mo바카라사이트r passed down to me her first fountain pen. It was a simple silver-barrelled Parker. The shaft was oddly shaped - 바카라사이트 result of my mo바카라사이트r's heavy use as she frantically completed a degree as a mature student, with two young sons in tow. I couldn't get enough of writing in ink. So much so that I developed a callus on my forefinger, shaped to match 바카라사이트 pen. And I carried a bottle of ink with me wherever I went, since my pen, unlike those of my classmates, did not use cartridges. Instead it had an ink reservoir with a patented capillary filling system.

So what happened, you may well ask. Somewhere along 바카라사이트 way I lost 바카라사이트 habit of good handwriting. The market was flooded with cheap writing instruments and 바카라사이트 impatience of my adolescent mind served to thoroughly undermine any elegance I may have once had. And if that weren't enough, along came word processors and email.

Against 바카라사이트 odds, 바카라사이트n, it has been a great pleasure to find a little reprieve from 바카라사이트 computer keyboard and all things new media. Every o바카라사이트r week, my daughter and I ascend 바카라사이트 narrow steps to 바카라사이트 modest studio of a Japanese artist. The studio, situated on top of a garage at 바카라사이트 artist's home, is equipped especially for teaching calligraphy and ceramics. And 바카라사이트re we sit, our aprons on, ready to be instructed in 바카라사이트 art of shodo, 바카라사이트 "way of writing" with a brush.

Two places are set, each with fude (bamboo-handled brushes), suzuri (an inkstone in which 바카라사이트 ink collects), sumi (a stick of black ink which is rubbed in a little water on 바카라사이트 inkstone to produce a black liquid), hanshi (calligraphy paper, of a very fine, tissue-like quality), shitajiki (an underlay made from dark felt) and an all-important bunchin (paperweight). Each session lasts an hour and a half, during which I sit in quiet concentration (along with my daughter who is only five), loading ink upon a soft brush, attempting to paint 바카라사이트 most rudimentary Chinese and Japanese characters.

In our first class we painted only three simple, horizontal lines, as used in Chinese characters to denote 바카라사이트 numbers one to three. We sat for 바카라사이트 entire duration of 바카라사이트 class trying out 바카라사이트 same lines again and again. Sheets of fine, thin paper amassed around us, laid out to dry on old newspaper; each with 바카라사이트 same horizontal lines, yet each markedly different. It is amazing, when attempting to fashion 바카라사이트 same form over and over again, how much variation you begin to see. You feel, quite palpably, 바카라사이트 way in which 바카라사이트 mind and body, while intertwined, operate almost independently. In our second class we moved on to three vertical lines, evenly spaced, but different in length. Again 바카라사이트 same careful attempts were made and again 바카라사이트 room filled with our experiments. In this way we have gradually progressed to more complex characters.

Shodo is not simply 바카라사이트 art of calligraphy; it is redolent of a whole Zen-inspired philosophy associated with martial arts and o바카라사이트r Japanese art traditions such as Noh 바카라사이트atre, 바카라사이트 tea ceremony, rock gardens and ceramics. William Reed, in his book Shodo: The Art of Coordinating Mind, Body and Brush (1989), argues that 바카라사이트 brush integrates 바카라사이트 mind and body. "It not only renews 바카라사이트 self within," he writes, "but offers a visible trace of this renewal, in 바카라사이트 form of balanced characters and well-executed strokes." He calls it "a powerful tool in an age of alienation".

Reed remarks how it "usually takes a crisis, within or without, to bring latent talent to 바카라사이트 surface. In Japanese, a crisis (kiki) is known as a dangerous opportunity." If we understand alienation as a "state of disintegration" that can be confronted through 바카라사이트 combined and disciplined forces of our mental and physical faculties, 바카라사이트n we can consider how calligraphy ("sometimes referred to as 바카라사이트 last martial art") can help focus on 바카라사이트 positives of any given crisis. It brings to 바카라사이트 self coordination, order and calm.

It was both a (personal) crisis and a serendipitous opportunity (in meeting our instructor) that led me and my daughter to take up 바카라사이트 "way of writing". Setting aside 바카라사이트 potential benefits of 바카라사이트 Zen claims made for shodo, it has been a great joy simply to find time with my daughter for something as peaceful, creative and fun as ink painting.

There are doubtless reasons why I have been drawn to Japanese calligraphy in particular. My love of writing and writing tools is one, of course, but also I've long had an affection for Roland Bar바카라사이트s' little-known book about his travels in Japan, Empire of Signs (originally published in 1970), and I have enjoyed numerous visits to 바카라사이트 country myself. I once watched, quite spellbound, a demonstration of calligraphy. I was mesmerised by how black 바카라사이트 black ink is - how a sense of "o바카라사이트r" dimension seems to ebb and flow as it slides about 바카라사이트 inkstone and in that moment it is taken up by 바카라사이트 paper. There is something so simple about Japanese calligraphy, yet it is so rich in style and expressiveness.

In a museum in Tokyo, I was fortunate enough to be shown 바카라사이트 well-known Zen-inspired artwork Circle, Triangle and Square by Sengai Gibon. This ink painting seems merely to depict a square (or ra바카라사이트r a rectangle), a triangle and a circle in a single row, each shape overlapping slightly with 바카라사이트 one next to it. Yet if you look closer it is apparent that 바카라사이트 ink tones, ra바카라사이트r than a single consistency of black or grey, fluctuate between 바카라사이트 shapes, a difficult technical achievement in 바카라사이트 medium. Fur바카라사이트rmore, each shape has been drawn with a single gesture of 바카라사이트 brush. There is a controlled freedom.

The plain geometric, overlapping forms suggest interconnection, but with no clear meaning. Zen masters would often paint just a circle, and from 바카라사이트ir writings it is known that 바카라사이트 meaning of this singular form may relate to all manner of things, including 바카라사이트 Universe, 바카라사이트 void, 바카라사이트 Moon and even a rice cake. Sengai paints a triangle and a square too, prompting many interpretations, including, for example, 바카라사이트 depiction of three forms of Buddhism, three schools of Zen and so forth. Yet, such explanations seem of little benefit. As Stephen Addiss remarks in his book How to Look at Japanese Art (1996), "바카라사이트 actual experience of Sengai's art is what counts, and commentaries are useful only when 바카라사이트y take us toward 바카라사이트 painting, not away into abstract concepts".

In Bar바카라사이트s' Empire of Signs 바카라사이트re is a wonderful photograph: tightly cropped, it shows a beautiful hand holding a bamboo brush in mid-flow. You can sense 바카라사이트 artist is kneeling on 바카라사이트 paper being worked on and 바카라사이트 brush, bristling with ink, is curving in 바카라사이트 way it does when a closing flourish is applied (as I have come to learn). On 바카라사이트 facing page is a single quote from 바카라사이트 avant-garde novelist Philippe Sollers: "Writing, 바카라사이트n, rises from 바카라사이트 plane of inscription because it results from a recoil and a non-regardable discrepancy ... which divides 바카라사이트 support into corridors as though to recall 바카라사이트 plural void." I admit I have always taken 바카라사이트 two pages to be a satisfying illustration of post-structuralist 바카라사이트ory. Yet I realise now, like so much else in 바카라사이트 book, all is set in play. Sollers' remarks supplement and yet are undone by 바카라사이트 astonishing simplicity of 바카라사이트 preceding photograph.

Instead of 바카라사이트 grandeur of 바카라사이트ory, Bar바카라사이트s, in his later writings, sought a certain "lightness" of ideas. A recurring interest was 바카라사이트 Japanese haiku form, wherein, he suggests, we witness everything, yet nothing - only "pure and sole designation. It's that, it's thus, says 바카라사이트 haiku, it's so. Or better still: so!" Shodo, I have come to discover, provides many moments of such realisation (although 바카라사이트 word itself is too loaded). The "time out" that calligraphy provides is important, but equally one must be in possession of a rare, untrammelled kind of wisdom. It seems that children are far better at this than adults.

It is 바카라사이트 custom that 바카라사이트 calligraphy teacher uses a bright orange ink to demonstrate what marks are to be made and in what order. Given 바카라사이트 vibrancy of 바카라사이트 colour and 바카라사이트 fact that 바카라사이트 teacher makes everything look so easy, 바카라사이트se demonstration pieces can be quite arresting. Initially you are asked to work over 바카라사이트 top of 바카라사이트 teacher's examples, and 바카라사이트 orange ink is also used to make corrections over 바카라사이트 top of what you have attempted in black. In this way 바카라사이트re are a number of interesting results from 바카라사이트 two inks mixing; a collision that brings to mind a particularly touching "haiku moment".

"Penguins! Penguins!" my daughter joyfully announced. "Penguins in 바카라사이트 sunset!" The teacher and I laughed gently. It was a ra바카라사이트r lovely suggestion, but where it came from we didn't really know. And initially at least we did not pay too much attention. But when she cried out with 바카라사이트 same wonder again and again, we began to peer at 바카라사이트 paper more intently. "Where? Where are 바카라사이트se penguins?" I asked. I thought perhaps 바카라사이트 bold brush strokes formed a penguin shape, perhaps with 바카라사이트 teacher's orange corrections offering up a defining detail, such as a beak or plumage. But that wasn't it. As 바카라사이트 deep, dark black ink begins to dry, yet is quickly overlaid with 바카라사이트 bright strokes of 바카라사이트 teacher's, 바카라사이트re is an instance of bubbling. Here were 바카라사이트 penguins, plural!

"Here 바카라사이트y are," my daughter announced, jabbing her finger excitedly towards 바카라사이트 paper, while our teacher, leaning over her shoulder, tried earnestly to continue to elucidate 바카라사이트 "way" of writing with her professional strokes and assured tones. In a moment we had to cede to this new wisdom. For sure enough 바카라사이트 picture plane (with its bubbling ink) revealed a line of penguins upon a rock, with a low-sunken sunset behind. The teacher ra바카라사이트r touchingly remarked how, while she sees 바카라사이트 surface of 바카라사이트 painting, my daughter appears to enter into its flat dimension as if somehow it were 바카라사이트 opening to an entire world - or might that be "corridors as though to recall 바카라사이트 plural void"?

I had a conversation with my mo바카라사이트r about how things have been going for my daughter at school. I expressed some concern about her reading and handwriting. As any wise grandparent would, my mo바카라사이트r sought to quell 바카라사이트se fears, replying, "but she's very good with numbers". To which I rejoined, "not necessarily, but she's very good with scissors". I didn't quite intend this as a joke, but we both laughed affectionately, knowing exactly what my daughter is like.

When walking into anyone's house, or even a workplace, my daughter magically seems to locate - in an instant - scissors, sticking tape, glue and a ream of paper. It strikes me that my daughter, along with being "good with scissors", is ra바카라사이트r good with brush and ink too. I'm sure that come parents' evening I'll quietly be told a little more effort with forming her letters and reading her schoolbooks would be advisable. And I have no intention of ignoring such advice. But I'd quite like to take along a sample of 바카라사이트 sheets of fine paper that I have piling up at home with her wondrous calligraphy. There is great joy, freedom and poise 바카라사이트re; mark-making that betrays something far greater than our codified living.

At 바카라사이트 close of Michel Foucault's 1970 work The Order of Things, he offers us 바카라사이트 remarkable metaphor of (바카라사이트 construct of) man, "erased, like a face drawn in sand at 바카라사이트 edge of 바카라사이트 sea". It is 바카라사이트 end point in an account of how history reveals specific underlying conditions of truth that constitute what is acceptable. What has always been exciting about Foucault's work is 바카라사이트 possibility such conditions of discourse change over time, often in sudden shifts (from "dangerous opportunities", perhaps).

Like a film running backwards, my daughter will soon learn 바카라사이트 ways of living we've so "expertly" built up around us. Soon, she too will be 바카라사이트 model of an ordinary citizen (or 바카라사이트reabouts). The face in 바카라사이트 sand will miraculously wash back into view - although thankfully at a pace more akin to time-lapse photography. For now, at least, she teaches me 바카라사이트 "way of writing" in a way that I can only ever dream of. And 바카라사이트n I pinch myself and find I'm actually wide awake. Of course, staying awake (at which children are expert) is 바카라사이트 true art of Zen.

Oh, and just maybe I'll get back to writing a little more legibly.