how much can be conveyed in just one single brush stroke?
One brush stroke with double loaded brush: ink and metallic gold
One-stroke painting
What is a one-stroke painting?
It is literally making a complete painting in one brush stroke.
For a one-stroke painting, great care is taken in loading the brush. Several tones
of ink or different color inks are loaded on the brush in multiple areas.
The painting is then executed with just one movement of the brush—an entire
painting in one stroke.
An entire season in one stroke.
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summer
succulent, dripping, humidity
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autumn
dry, high energy falling
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winter
stout, hardy, dry, spare
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spring
burst of energy, moist, beginnings, up surge of energy
What is a 4 seasons in one-stroke painting?
It is taking taking one-stroke painting one step farther:
It begins with the focusing on the shape, much like creating a calligraphic character. The shape is created in just black ink. The intent is to paint four movements within one stroke, each representing the energetic essence of the season. This shape is then used as the basis for creating it in color.
The brush is loaded with colors for each of the 4 seasons. Painting begins, mindful of the essence of each season, remembering where on the brush each specific color has been placed, changing the energy/shape of each season within the discipline of containing all that movement and essence in just one-stroke.
Click below for a 2 minute video demonstration of painting all four seasons in one stroke.
enso & other zen paintings
My interest in the zen of brush painting goes back over forty years. I had found a slim volume by Kazuaki Tanahashi, Japanese calligrapher and zen teacher, entitled Brush Mind. That little book of pithy, often humorous sayings and big bold splash paintings kept alive in me an interest in zen painting. I attempted for years to practice on my own but learned much later that one can only go so far on one’s own effort. In the late 90s I was fortunate to begin to study with Lok Tok, Yitong Lok of Toronto and Hong Zhang in Minneapolis—three incredibly gifted Chinese brush painters and teachers. Their perspective radically changed my life. I was a beginner once again.
Now after 20 years of dedicated study in Chinese brush painting with master Hong Zhang, I found myself drawn back to the practice of painting enso and other zen paintings. With Hong’s grounding presence and the skills he has nourished in me, I have returned to exploring the essence of the simple circle, the reality of being present to this moment with this brush and this ink, and the mysteries that can be brought to light in a single brush stroke. And I find myself a beginner once again.
With these paintings, I share the fruits of this most recent work—the one-stroke enso and the calligraphy that flowed out of my brush to the paper in the course of this exploration.
Below are a few pages from my book, one stroke makes a painting: enso & other zen paintings
Click below to watch a 1.5 minute video tour of this work.
Below are a few pages from my book, one stroke makes a painting: enso & other zen paintings
Ox herder’s tale
The Ox Herder’s Tale is, in the tradition of Zen Buddhism, a series of 10 paintings and accompanying short poems that are intended to illustrate the stages of a Buddhist practitioner’s progression towards enlightenment, as well as his or her subsequent perfection of wisdom. The pictures first appeared, as drawn by the Chinese Chán (Zen) master Kuòan Shīyuãn, in the 12th century.
Here is Bob’s interpretation of them.
These ox herder’s tale prints are available as 5.5×8.5 print sets, and as a note card set.
What is a splash painting?
lake superior splash painting
The brush is carefully loaded. The intention is to have enough ink, loose enough ink so that when the brush is flicked with the wrist, a highly energized splash of ink lands on the paper. Not too wet, not too stiff and dry. The focus is on being as much in the moment as possible to be able to adjust the power, the movement of the splash as it is happening in the flick of the wrist.
The artist can stop just with the splash or add other elements or details to further call the painting out of the paper.
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