Welcome to In the Studio with Komikka

“The universe removes the illusion that things exist separately.”

AND

“Capacity of the observer to perceive.”

What a way to start off, but I do think these two little blurbs stand as a great entryway into this letter topics and a beautiful threading of art, thought, action, and life. Okay so I promised a super artsy newsletter this time around so… I’ve been contemplating whether or not it would be centered on brush and ink techniques or collage, but I am leaning towards brush and because currently this beautiful technique encompasses an entire way of life. Patience, discipline, even the art of letting go. The brush and the ink truly stand as a treasure of awareness of body, temperament, emotional mind-state, discipline, cultivation; a developed awareness of self, or a refining of self, and a relationship to order and spontaneity. I thought I understood the concept of brush and ink being a tool of cultivation, but without the practice or experience outside of filling in large areas of black and then switching immediately back to pen I had no clue how something so simple could lead to an entire rearrangement of ideologies. Am I being dramatic? I wish. The carefulness and intentionality of each stroke of an ink drawing begs to differ. One must be calm, confident and willing to work with what they have been given.

I bought a couple of brushes. I've linked them. The first set was not a big investment. I was trying something new and wanted to at least feel like I had an appropriate set up. I had “collected” brushes here and there, from things that had been given to me and little souvenirs from Japan, when I tested them, they actually felt cheap. They didn’t hold water very well, and their tip wasn't fine. So later on, I went on the hunt and landed on these TIUSUTA Store Set of 4 Chinese Painting Brushes Set Flower Bird Line-Drawing Brushes. I also used Dr. Ph Martin’s Black Star Ink in Matte and Ph Martin’s Watercolor Black for the gray moments.

Now this is before I was even thinking of creating 50 drawings so if I'm honest I didn't take very good care of these brushes. And if I'm really honest I might have even abused them a bit (ie using for paint they were not created for). My second Chinese set was a tad bit nicer. Probably 1 or 2 dollars more expensive. A set by Corciosy. The over quality with a little bit of research was exactly what I was looking for. There are so many options from goat hair to rabbit and wolf hair and surprisingly enough they make different marks. This set surprisingly had all three. I bought a porcelain ink dish shaped like a fish, and I was ready to commit to this little challenge I had given myself. I am at the point now where I am convinced, we should all convert to brush and ink for writing, drawing, everything, I have learned more from these little drawings than expected. I started this project to break out of some boundaries that I thought were small. To test myself in the medium that I felt knew, interpreted in a way that was foreign and spiritually rich, which has been giving me life. So, for me all of these interests’ stem from a common root of curiosity which lead us into the exercise or project. The goal was to complete 50 brush and ink drawings.

So here we go

The traditional brush 毛筆 (máobǐ) in Chinese, which typically consists of: A handle, traditionally bamboo, though other materials were used. A hair tip, made from animal hair. A binding structure that holds the hairs into a tapered point.

Photo credit: Shanghai Brush-Pen and Ink Museum

Different animal hairs gave the brush different personalities. Goat hair: soft, absorbent, capable of holding a great deal of ink Weasel/yellow weasel hair: firmer and more springy Rabbit hair: resilient and responsive Mixed hair: combines softness and control

In ancient China

This means that making the image began before the first mark.

The artist had to:

prepare the paper,
wet the inkstone,
grind the ink,
mix the water and ink,
choose the brush,
control the moisture,
then finally make the stroke.

So, the painting was already a kind of ritual of preparation and confidence in execution. Drawing and confidence go hand in hand. One can draw anything if they simply believe they can it’s the overthinking that gets in the way…. Make me think of that one quote that mentions that there’s really no bad note is just the note after the one you play, I it believes it was Miles Davis who said it. Similar with marking making or drawing or painting, the realization of a things comes with a continuous discovery of the things, which means not stopping because of perceived conflict, but seeing what the next mark offers, resolution or more conflict which still begs for more discovery. It is only the next one (mark) afterwards that determines if it’s a song is in harmony or if it’s a little bit chaotic.

In many ways, jazz and sex go together, too. The liquidation of the body during sexual exchange is such an interesting concept. When one thing turns into another, leaving it make up to become something nonsolid but filled with life. Whether by means of instinct; pheromones, or by touch and movement, by play, by reading, by imagining, by being with, or by oneself the liquefaction process is one that we celebrate. A real time transfiguration, similar to the not quite caterpillar, not quite butterfly. We clap our hands and stomp our feet to the in between stages of one thing becoming another, the body expanding in such a way. My 50 small-scale ink drawings based on water vessels, teacups and coffee mugs, and random souvenirs, serve as visual references for an ongoing body of work exploring embodiment, transformation, and fluidity.

Although I don't feel that this idea is original as far as depicting water vessels in ink. There is something beautiful in the incantations of vessels: a container designed to hold. I've been thinking about the design and making of things… I guess you can say purpose. And I won't go so far as to say the human body is made to have sex, just like a cup can hold pens and not water, but there is something beautiful that happens when a vessel shaped to hold liquid then overflows with its design. There is a crack that happens with the design not yet finished and the possibility of a new idea and there is the question of why did it overflow… What were the circumstances that caused such a thing and now what do we do the contents that are leaking on the table. What do we do with the crack in the system… well of course we celebrate.

I’ve been making erotic work for not even 2 years now, but what has come of it is what could be quite obvious but an understanding of the body not as a super tangible thing, but more in between than I ever considered before. We say wombs are portals, and sure that is a direct door for one way of living to another but bodies, all bodies themselves are… in my newsletter I described as a ship, but what are ships but vessels with a thousand windows and doors.

A vessel at rest tells us about its boundaries. An overflowing vessel tells us about abundance, pressure, generosity, desire, grief, love, memory, or life itself exceeding those boundaries. Overflow is evidence that something has become too large for the form that holds it.

In different contexts, overflow can signify:

Abundance: so much water, nourishment, or blessing that it spills beyond necessity.

Generosity: what cannot remain solely for itself and moves outward.

Transformation: the moment a container reaches its limit and a new state begins.

Relationality: what leaves the vessel enters the world; overflow creates connection.

Vulnerability: the inability to perfectly contain oneself.

Vitality: living things grow, expand, and exceed. Dead things remain neatly contained.

There is also a paradox: we often think of containment as strength, yet many of the most meaningful human experiences overflow. Joy overflows. Grief overflows. Desire overflows. Creativity overflows. Love overflows. The moments that shape us most are often the moments when our existing forms prove insufficient.

This project also gave space for the I to overflow, into the we. We, is full of abundance and infinite possibility for we contain all. Which I believe is full of this overflowing energy. Okay I could truly go on forever. Readings! I've started back reading the Gita. I’m also reading Taoism for beginners by C. Alexander Simpkins and Annellen Simpkins. As well as rereading one of my favorite books by Diane L. Eck India: A Sacred Geography. All of these books originally were picked for research purposes for my own writing, but I love the quiet altering of seeing they offer, especially when one thinks they know a thing, and the we says actually there is much more to discover here, beyond our limited imaginations.

The Universe removes the illusion that things exist separately, because surely when things overflow reality expands.

Okay so we are officially at the end of this letter. I am so grateful for those that have taken this ride with me. Those who are still interested in my words and my art. That stays curious with me and is able to take my strange vocabulary and syntax and make something of it. If you are interested in viewing all of the Ink drawings here you go. They were such a pleasure to explore. Until Next time

-Komikka