What is Sumi-e?

I ran across the word Sumi-e while playing around with Filters in Photoshop.

Oriental brush painting originated in China centuries ago. It spread to Japan where it became known as sumi-e. Sumi means ink and e means picture.

Whenever I think of Asian art, the first thing that comes to mind is bamboo and I remembered that I had taken a photo of this gorgeous black bamboo that stands out so vividly against the white wall of the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Chinese Garden in Vancouver's Chinatown. I remember thinking when I took the photo that it reminded me of the time I attended a Chinese Art workshop at the Chinese Cultural Centre. The woman taught us how to make a painting of bamboo by giving us a brush, water and an ink block and after showing us how to load our brush, we had to practice how much pressure to apply and how much water to use, painting at first on newspapers - and she would say "go, go, go, go, stop" and at the word "stop" we would lift up the brush and that would be the first joint in the bamboo. Then she would repeat the words "go, go, go, stop" and once again at the word "stop" we would lift up the brush and that would be the second joint in the bamboo. The kids couldn't stop giggling.

Original 1

Filter>Brush Strokes>Sumi-e

I liked it so much I sumi-e'd my other bamboo pic. Interestingly, the paint strokes out of which most paintings can be made are called the Four Gentlemen; these are the bamboo, the orchid, the plum tree and the chrysanthemum. Sumi-e instructors will insist that these be mastered before you progress.

Original 2

Filter>Brush Strokes>Sumi-e

For both of the sumi-e pics, I left the default values:

• Stroke width 10
• Stroke pressure 2
• Contrast 16

because any other values looked awful.

The summer bouquet is the very first pic I chose this filter on. The result is quite pleasing but sumi-e looks its best on a pic with one or two colours.

Filter>Brush Strokes>Sumi-e