April 10 to 12 were the days of my lessons with the ink painting master, Shukou. Each day they were from abot 10am to 2pm. The studio was located in Kitazawa, a nice suburb west of the main part if Tokyo. I found the lessons through the Vacation With An Artist website.
The first day started with basic line drawing with graduations of ink, but since I had already studied some sumie we didn't spend much time on it. They some basic flower painting.
Next was the rigurously defined, standard painting of an orchid with the long leaves and the flower. I must have done a hundred attempts, and it took me to part of the second day before I did a satisfactory one.
The rest of the second day was technique for rocks and trees, and it was harder than it seemed to make it look somehow natural.
The third day was abstract painting which I did surprisingly well at. This is a set of three.
On the 10th, after class I took the train to the Meguro area to meet a friend of mine, Kanako. Kanako and I met over 10 years ago when she was studying English in Vancouver, and we did a language exchange. She stayed and worked in Vancouver for a couple of years, then returned to Japan. Now she is married and has an 8 month old daughter. We arranged to meet at a restaurant and it was great to see her again and meet her family.
I got there a bit early so I had time to walk a while along the Meguro River.
After dinner with Kanako I took the train to Shinagawa station, and walked to the T. Y. Harbor area, to go to a craft brewery I had heard about. It's an interesting area, right on Tokyo Bay, with modern tall buildings, and canals and linear parks. It would have been a nice walk but when I got off the train it started pouring rain. I ran to the brewery.
On the 11th, after the ink painting class I took the train to the Shinbashi station. Being a major hub, I thought the area would be worth checking out, but there wasn't much. I went back to the hotel and went to bed early.
On the 12th, after the last ink painting class, I walked around the Kitazawa area. The narrow streets have a lot of restaurants and vintage stores. I think the area has a reputation for being kind of artsy. Then I stopped at a craft beer place the teacher recommeded, called Tap & Growler.
Afterward I went back to the hotel to do laundry. I sorted through all the papers I had from the ink painting class, keeping the best ones and putting my stamp on them.
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