10,000 brush strokes

still not a butterfly

You can see my art here: Sloppyperfect Art

I am halfway through my Japanese Calligraphy class. (You can read the first part here). While I have learned quite a bit about Japanese culture and calligraphy in general, things are still messy, still frustrating and the progress is minimal. And since we’re also halfway through autumn, I feel like a caterpillar in Basho’s haiku:

胡蝶にもならで秋経る菜虫哉 ~ Matsuo Bashō

Deep into autumn,
and this caterpillar
still not a butterfly

The good news is I’m still having fun, and I love experimenting. And while sometimes (or let’s be honest, often) I catch myself wanting to shortcut the process and become an expert overnight, I need to remind myself that journey is more important than outcome. Process is more important that the result. In reality, process is the only thing we can control. We can choose to show up, to go for a walk every day, to learn a kanji every day, to water and weed the seeds we plant. The outcome is never just ours. There are sunny and stormy days, traffic and doctors appointments, early frost and long winters, fallen trees and mosquitoes, rain and rainbows…

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The reason I’m still not a butterfly revealed itself on my walk this morning. As I was rounding the corner, admiring a pine tree with a million of pine cones weighing it down, I remembered a famous Bruce Lee’s quote:

I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times. ~ Bruce Lee

I have been doing just that: practicing 10,000 different brush strokes once. I am getting distracted looking at other students, getting excited about new information about Japan that I need to write down immediately, switching from kanji to hiragana and back. Did you know that each artist has a small red stamp? The red stamp serves as a signature of the artist and a mark of authenticity. It is also carved from wood. Some students in the class have it because it’s not their first rodeo, and at the end of each class, they pick their best work and stamp it. It adds a little magic to the already magical calligraphy experience. So of course, I want one. So now I’m waiting for the teacher to come up with a few kanji ideas for my name “Diana” that will sound out and mean something beautiful. You can’t blame me for wanting to talk about that during the last class instead of actually practicing my Shodo (書道).

I do promise to rein in my enthusiasm for the rest of the class.

🍃And now, drumroll, introducing the end of class project. Because of course there is one. It is: Making a fan with calligraphy on it. So I need to choose something to write beautifully (!) on the fan! What should it be? Decisions, decisions. Here are some of my ideas:

Kachō Fūgetsu. As I wrote in a previous post, it is a Japanese proverb, and literally means 花鳥風月 “flower, bird, moon, wind”. It is a concept that talks about the beauty of nature, seasons and impermanence. It’s a beautiful idea, but I’m still mastering the four kanji, and flower (花) is the only one I feel confident about.

Kawaakari: the gleam of light on a river’s surface at dusk or the reflection of moonlight on water in the darkness. Love the word, not so much the fact that it has two か. Every time I write it on paper, it feels unbalanced, but it actually might look beautiful on a fan.

Kintsugi: the art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with gold, silver, or platinum, making the object more beautiful than before it was broken.

Arigatou: Thank you. A simple word with a reminder to be grateful. I feel like it’s the easiest one beecause I will also write it in hiragana: ありがとう

Also, I only have 3 classes left. And I feel like I haven’t even started yet.

After all this, I’ll leave you with my own version of the haiku:

ten thousand brush strokes
agony and messy joy
still not a butterfly
~ me, hopeful

Off to google a few more of my favorite Japanese words to put on the fan instead of doing something more productive… Feel free to send me ideas!

What are you learning that you need some encouragement on?

p.s. Hit reply and ask me a question. Any, really.

***** Love notes from customers : “The painting that I bought from Diana was a piece that I knew would complement my den. It’s a beautiful work of art that brings vivid colors and happiness to the space. There is a real depth to it and the colors and texture bring my wall to life. I couldn’t be happier.” ~ Bobbi

p.s. here are the last few posts:

There aint no perfect without sloppy

The universe is NOT blue