Enrolling to an ink painting course is like entering a whole new world. It may seem as though when you do the first brushstroke, you are walking into a fog because you are uncertain of what is on the other side. It is an odd business–ink moves by itself and you, the artist are only attempting to keep pace. However, once you start it becomes more of a sense of feeling the ink than manipulating the ink. The ink is known to tell its own story and you are simply there, to bring it to life. Follow the full lesson flow and continue reading about the program.

There is no rulebook on ink painting. When it comes to the first time of dipping your brush in ink, you may be a little afraid to make a mistake. However what you will soon be learning is that the beauty lies in the fact that errors are all part of the act. A heavy-handed stroke? Could be the perfect line. A smudge? It turns into a shadow or a cloud abruptly. The art is an unpredictable beauty of the ink. It requires you to toss perfection out the window and accept what is messy, what is real. That’s the magic of ink.

You get through the course and then you realize there is no right or wrong way to go about it. One day you can paint a small flower; you have to paint every single petal with a delicate touch. The following, you might be making wild and sweeping strokes to suggest the tumult of a storm. The opportunities are limitless. So, there is no recipe and that is the best part. You have the freedom to be expressive, to experiment and develop a rhythm that works best with you.

Ink painting involves more than the strokes and the ink. It is the relationship you have with the materials. By seeing each brushstroke you lose the outer world. The ink is a prayer, a silent time alone. Every brush stroke makes you further inside yourself. It does not matter what is on the paper, but what is going on as you paint, what you learn during the process. That is the real nature of beauty–the beauty in the experience itself.

Then, in case you are thinking about studying an ink painting, give it a chance. You might surprise yourself. It is not about making perfect pieces, it is about discovering freedom. As you stroke you come a bit nearer to discovering something new, regarding the ink, regarding the brush and above all regarding yourself. Take up that brush, and whither wilt thou go?