#4. Focus, rhythm and energy!

The biggest lesson after practising Chinese calligraphy for an afternoon.

Dear Lovely Human,

If you’re anything like me, I’m sure there are many things you enjoy quite a lot but aren’t sure why. Personally, one of those things is Chinese calligraphy. I can’t read it but enjoy painting and learning about the characters.

A few days ago, I was fortunate to explore this further as I spent an afternoon painting Chinese characters with Mr Wang Fei during a Chinese calligraphy workshop that took place at Fondation Baur in Geneve.

Taking a selfie as discreetly as possible so as not to disturb my fellow calligraphers while getting a memory to document this experience :)

Why are Chinese characters so interesting?

There are many things for sure, but if I had to resume it to one aspect, I would choose the visual story behind the written language. Chinese is a highly visual language. Each character was created after an interpretation of our natural/physical world.

For example, the Chinese character for snow is 雪 (Xuě). The top half represents rain, and the bottom half represents a hand. If we put the whole story together, it tells something like ‘rain you can hold in your hand’… How cool is that?

My art supplies for the afternoon were a very special bamboo paper (especially brought from China by our kind teacher), a calligraphy brush, and black ink.

Early attempts :-) If I remember correctly, during the workshop, I painted some of the following characters: snow, heart, dragon, harmony, piano, music, and some others I unfortunately can’t recall anymore.

What made this workshop so enjoyable?

• Having an encouraging teacher. Our small class was diverse, ranging from young kids to older adults. Mr Wang Fei was patient with all of us; he invited us to ask questions, explained the origin of each character and the differences between formal/informal written styles and encouraged us to be free with the brush while painting our characters.
• Chinese calligraphy is graphic and visually rich, and although it has been simplified over time, understanding where the characters come from was a good imagination exercise.
• Learning more about another culture through something important like their written language.
• Taking my practice with me, which I’m planning to hang on my wall shortly :)

By the end of the workshop, we were asked to select a character to paint on a bigger scale; I chose the character of Harmony.

The biggest lesson to remember:

According to Mr Wang Fei, that’s the secret to accomplishing the most beautiful calligraphy (Was he only talking about calligraphy?…Who knows?).

What a wise and pleasant way to conclude such a lovely afternoon.

How about you? What unexpected hobbies/discoveries have you been enjoying lately?

Best,

Natasha