Chop/Seal, a workshop with Ruth Renner.
By Dale-Cormack Pearson, our reporter in the field.
What a wonderful packed day, filled with lots to learn. The four of us - Glenice, Jan, Barbara and myself - were very spoilt to have Ruth to ourselves. Ruth started by showing us her seals and telling us their history.
This was followed by a lesson on carving into soft stone. We all found it much harder than we expected, but with practice, like all things we would hope to improve. Before we knew it was lunchtime. Ruth then talked about her latest exhibition 'She Dreamt'. Spending time explaining about mulberry paper, moon paper, a soft see through paper, and what magic you can create when you use chinese ink and a brush.
Our chance soon came and we had time to play with some mulberry paper, brushes and chinese ink. We practised bamboo, characters, learning about the meaning of the strokes, how the energy takes you from one part of the stroke to completing the letter. We all have a better understanding of the construction of characters now.
After that we went back to our chop/seal carving and finally produced something. I am not entirely sure that we were happy with them. I realised I had carved mine back to front, I had to laugh. Jan made one for Sue, as she had wanted to come but ill health prevented her.
We would like to thank Ruth making time during her holiday to teach us and look forward to her next visit.
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