Chinese Calligraphy Brush for Good Whacking

Today it was time to clean up the studio because I have a class coming in tomorrow. I love having classes here – I love to share my space and my students can check put products they have seen but never used before. I hate having classes here.......cause I have to clean up. When you are in your studio – and you are spending time cleaning instead of working on things, sometimes it’s just frustrating. It seems like the minute I start cleaning, I always know exactly what to do with the bits and pieces that are laying all over the place as I am putting them away – except that I don’t have the time to do any of it cause I have to clean! Anyway....I am throwing things into boxes and bins – getting ready to teach the gessoed newspaper class. I am moving around way too quickly considering the amount of stuff that is precariously piled up on top of more stuff all over around here – and sure enough – BAM - ....down comes a big can of soaking bamboo Chinese calligraphy brushes right on top of some of the newspaper sheets I had made as samples for the class (which were drying out by laying on the floor).

I just stood there and stared down at the papers while time stood still for a moment – I was just kind of dazed..... then......I noticed the pattern..... It was kind of a spray of the perfectly sized droplets. I had tried before to apply paint splotches by bending back and releasing painted bristles on a toothbrush – but the droplets were too small for the scale of the newspaper. I had tried whacking paint brushes of all sizes but the droplets were more like splotches...they were either too big or too watery. The droplets I was looking at were perfect! I grabbed one of the Chinese brushes and my sunset gold Lumiere paint.

I mixed ½ paint with ½ water into a small dish – and then using the calligraphy brush - I flung and whacked beautiful perfectly round and perfectly sized random golden nuggets over my newspaper samples. It was so beautiful I decided to get a handful of background cards I had made the other day – and I whacked those as well.

Everything looked like it had just a breath of gold on it – in some places jeweled and in other spots just barely a hue..........including the black pants I was wearing.....and as it turns out, my tennis shoes. Oh well.....who can’t use more “art” clothes? I am sure these are appropriate attire for my trip to the store – which I have to go to right now......to get more Lumiere....