Tag: canvas painting course

Spend five minutes browsing social media and you will find brilliant swaths of black ink slithering over delicate rice paper. Around a course that transforms even the “stick-figure-only” people into full-fledged ink artists, there is buzz—a surprising sort of hype. What makes sense? While your hands are still clean, let us dig in Alcohol ink painting.

The speed is first really brisk. Ignore constant theory and stifling jargon. The teacher pushes you directly into splashing ink, experiments, laughs at blunders. One student even related to the course group, “My cat ran across my first masterpiece and now he’s part of the exhibit!” People get great pleasure in that. It is more about the journey than about the gallery exhibition.

This course clicks also for another reason. No, you need not need a degree in painting or hands more steady than those of a heart surgeon. In second lesson, the teacher freely blots, pours, and smiles—“Oops! Happy little mishap, she says, speaking from inside Bob Ross. Flubs suddenly seem typical. Eliminating the anxiety about blank pages and ugly ducks marks half the battle. Stray lines: They could simply be hidden bamboo. Drives? Rocks in abstraction.

The list of materials Affordable, simple, almost ridiculous. Ink, tool, paper. Perhaps a sleeve you hardly find interesting. And should you make a mistake? Crumble. Combine. Start over. One is forgiving. That is uncommon.

Perhaps the secret ingredient of the course is community. Pictures abound on forums, ranging from clean mountain ranges to crazy, whimsical splotches that somehow form clouds. Encouragement moves more quickly than negative remarks—a wonder on internet. Total strangers share embarrassing stories and celebrate improvements—like one dad who says their “ink koi” look more like potatoes. The responses are? All laughing and advice; no elitism at all.

Best of all, development slinks up on you like a cat in tall grass. Week one squiggles seem dead; week three’s attempts suddenly show grace and shadow. People find their own hands shockingly small. You could blink to see a dragon where a doodle formerly slouched.

Will this course make you the upcoming Sumi-e legend? Who else knows? But it will occupy your afternoons with splashes, shocks, and the odd, unannounced masterpiece. To be honest, these days it’s difficult to find a hobby that stains your fingers and makes you happier. Should your heart urge, “try it,” believe that little whisper. Dip a brush you already have to see what you produce.