Time for an update

I've decided to move away from the OT side of me, swaying towards ABA and autism. In particular the undiagnosed adult with Aspergers. It's most likely going to be a mash of things I am looking up, researching, analysing, contemplating, etc. There will be events that I am planning on attending, people that I have questioned, and published articles that I have read. 

In the hub, when I should be sleeping!

Heya, I'm not very with it, but I thought I would share a little piece of excellent news.... I'm in the hub with two of my school friends, and I was attempting to create a poster for one of my classes... (what does Italian cooking, Vietanamese cooking, Sign Language (NZ) and Chinese Calligraphy has to do with each other?) Ok, so after writing them down like that, I guess I could incorporate a map highlighting the different countries?
Back to my good news, I spent all afternoon practicing my Calligraphy, and was having a hard time sticking to the rules... so when I began this poster, I thought about rules and procedure... each has the basic, or the building blocks, so I went looking for a picture showing the process (or stroke order for those who follow my blog).... and voila!!!!



I'm excited to keep going now....

http://www.archchinese.com/



http://blog.roodo.com/betterchinese/archives/3013301.html

On my way to finding Chinese Calligraphy paper...

http://www.art-virtue.com/principles/p7-paper-ink-stone.htm

I found this very helpful website, and it had the same orange ink calligraphy in my previous post!



Then I found this very inspired cheat sheet!

The whole website is informative, from chosing your ink, ink stone, paper, the list goes on and on, with youtube videos to help support your choices. I love this quote too: "never let a brat handle an inkstone"

I LIKE these clips!!

 

What caught my attention first was the orange ink! Then I started thinking, I should really get some of this paper... I'm unsure where to purchase some??

LESSON 2 - sharp horizontal

Again, turn the volume down... the videographer is quite comical, and the calligrapher goes out of shot, but the information is poignant.

LESSON 1 - HORIZONTAL STROKES

WARNING!!!!
turn the sound down!!! and watch the way that she is holding the brush.

RULES

RULE 1:
Horizontal stroke preceds a vertical stroke or a downward stroke either to the left or to the right.

RULE 2:
A downward stroke to the left precedes one to the right.

RULE 3:
The strokes are usually written from the top down.

RULE 4:
The strokes are usually written from left to right.

RULE 5:
When strokes are enclosed by another stroke or strokes on the top-right, top-left, or left-top-right sides (that is, with an open bottom), the enclosing strokes usually precede the enclosed strokes.

RULE 6:
When strokes are enclosed by another stoke or strokes on the bottom-left, or leftbottom-right sides (that is, with an open top), the enclosed strokes usually precede the enclosing strokes.

RULE 7:
When strokes are enclosed by other strokes on all four sides, the strokes on the left, top and right sides are written first, then the enclosed strokes, and finally the stroke at the bottom. This is commonly described as "putting everything inside before the door is closed".

RULE 8:
A vertical stroke in the middle usually preceds strokes on either side.

RULE 9:
If a vertical stroke in the middle crosses other strokes, it is usually written last.

I know it seems a lot, but they are all common sense... wet ink smudges!!!

CLARITY

This word means clarity or clear in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja. Looking at the parts of this character, you have three splashes of water on the left, "life" on the top right, and the moon on the lower right.

Because of something Confucius said about 2500 years ago, you can imagine that this character means "live life with clarity like bright moon light piercing pure water". The Confucian idea is something like "Keep clear what is pure in yourself, and let your pure nature show through". Kind of like saying, "Don't pollute your mind or body, so that they remain clear".

This might be stretching the definition of this single Chinese character, but the elements are there, and "clarity" is a powerful idea.

 

EXAMPLES:

I was practicing last night!

I sat down and had a good go last night, a couple of my examples were too inky, but I'm getting the hang of it slowly. I downloaded a program called "Chinese Primer" on my touchpad, which is fantastic if you are learning the language, however, it's not operating like a pressure pad which means that the strokes are all lines and not brush like. I did make too much ink as well, and tried to waste it on some art work.... Hope you enjoy, I definately did, apart from my leg falling asleep.

I am a geek!

Just a little diddy, about sword play and calligraphy... has got me hooked on the idea of a sand box. Wish I was back home where I could go to the beach and pick some up. :(

Parts of my presentation

Learning Chinese calligraphy can be started at any age if we know the right methods. Adults and kids can both make astonishing progress if we can apply the correct methods - it does not matter when we actually started. What matters more is how well we understand the basic principles and apply them carefully. Besides, we have lots of time in our life to learn over and over again. In fact, some masters of Chinese calligraphy and brush painting actually started later in their life.

http://www.art-virtue.com/tutorial/

 

These are the fifteen that I am going to attempt. Each has unique meanings, and unique strokes, which I will break down and practice and learn!

http://www.google.co.nz/imgres?imgurl=http://madmikesamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/chinese-

calligraphy.jpg&imgrefurl=http://madmikesamerica.com/2011/08/chinas-internet-generation-forgetting-calligraphy/&h=293&w=366&sz=49&tbnid=WRgfAu0kF8K9_M:&tbnh=90&tbnw=112&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dchinese%2Bcalligraphy%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=chinese+calligraphy&usg=__Hj3xpc3Z8j1ZBCJ15mNZod-c4ao=&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8pI6ULv3HK2ciAfBnoCgCw&sqi=2&ved=0CDsQ9QEwBw&dur=1

Here's the examples I promised

 This is the box I was gifted. It includes: brushes, stone, instructions, ink and papers.
This has got to be the worst(!!!!) first attempt!

 

I made the worst mistake in attempting something new, but I was so excited..... I jumped straight into the activity. I'm am going to go away now and learn the individual strokes and practice practice PRACTICE!!!!